Vanliga skrivi eg hesar bloggar á føroyskum og so eitt sindur á enskum, men hesaferð eru so nógv fólk við, sum ikki duga føroyskt, at eg velji at skriva á enskum.
When Miljuløtur (Miljas Moments) in April was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2019 there would be half a year of waiting to do, until the winner would be announced in Stockholm.
This half year is the time span, where the book is nominated, a time, where the publisher can use the nomination for promotion, and where there might come some long wished for reviews and maybe possibilities for translations.
For Miljuløtur it brought some reviews, a very nice one in bornebokkritik.no and some smaller ones in Danish papers. The big thing it brought, was a contract for the Norwegian translation with Orkana Forlag.
What it also brought, was a voyage to Helsinki and Stockholm for the two creators, author and illustrator.
I began my trip to Helsinki by taking 3 extra days in a town I have been in many times, but not had the time to explore. Here you can read of my small explorations.
On October the 26 all the nominees for the two Nordic literature prizes were invited to the offices of Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki, where we had a lovely session of presentations. The best thing about this presentation was that no matter what category the authors were nominated for, whether it was for children, adolescents or adults, we were simply writers and illustrators presenting our works. The age of our readers was not relevant to this context. This is a rare occurrence; under ordinary circumstances the children and youth writers are presented in one group and then the “real” writers. The failure to comply with the order of cut meant that we then had five wonderful days together on an equal footing, as it always should be.
The writers who came to Helsinki were these:
Cecilie Eken (DK) Styrke. Karanagalaksen. Log I, novel
Eli Hovdenak (NO) Det var ikke en busk, picture book
Inga Ravna Eira (Sápmi) Ii dát leat dat eana, poems
Kathrina Skarðsá (FO) Miljuløtur, illustrator
Kristín Eiríksdóttir (IS), Elín, ýmislegt, novel
Kristin Roskifte (NO) Alle sammen teller, picture book
Lars Sund (FI), Där musiken började, novel
Lena Ollmark (SE) Den förskräckliga historien om Lilla Hon, novel
Liselótt Willén (AX) Det finns inga monster, novel
Maria Turtschaninoff (FI) Breven från Maresi, novel
Marianna Kurtto (FI) Tristania, novel
Marika Maijala (FI) Ruusun matka, picture book
Nina Ivarsson (SE) Risulven risulven, novel
Per Gustavsson (SE) Den förskräckliga historien om Lilla Hon, illustrator
Pivinnguaq Mørch (GL) Arpaatit qaqortut, short stories and poems
Ragnheiður Eyjólfsdóttir (IS) Rotturnar.
Rakel Helmsdal (FO) Miljuløtur, novel
Sami Said (SE) Människan är den vackreste staden, novel
Sigrún Eldjárn (IS) Silfurlykillin, novel
We had four appearances at the Helsinki Book Fair, then traveled to Stockholm with more happenings and it all ended in a grandious event with all the nordic ministers. The prize went Kristin Roskifte and Alle sammen teller.
