Niviaq Korneliussen | |
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![]() Niviaq Korneliussen (2016) | |
Born | Nanortalik, Greenland | 27 January 1990
Occupation | Novelist |
Language | Greenlandic, Danish |
Years active | 2013 – Present |
Notable works | Homo Sapienne (2014) Naasuliardarpi (2020) |
Notable awards | Nordic Council Literature Prize (2021) |
Niviaq Korneliussen (born 27 January 1990) is a Greenlandic writer, who writes in Greenlandic and Danish. Her 2014 debut novel, Homo Sapienne , was written in Greenlandic, as well as in a Danish translation by the author, with both published by Milik in 2014. Naasuliardarpi (2020) was her follow-up a few years later, and earned her the prestigious Nordic Council Literature Prize.
Korneliussen was born in Nanortalik, Greenland. [1] She studied social sciences at the University of Greenland and then psychology at the University of Aarhus, but ended up dropping out of both programs as her writing career launched. [2]
In 2012 she took part in the Allatta! writing project, which encourages young Greenlanders to write literature that reflects their lives. [3] Korneliussen's short story "San Francisco" was one of the 10 Allatta! works published in Greenlandic and Danish in the project's 2013 anthology. [3]
Her 2014 debut novel Homo Sapienne focuses on the lives of five young adults in Nuuk. [4] It was noted for both its use of modern storytelling techniques and for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ people in Greenlandic society. [5] As a lesbian, Korneliussen said it was important for her to write about gay life in Greenland because she had never encountered anything about homosexuality in Greenlandic literature. [6]
Homo Sapienne was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Politiken Literature Award in 2015 and has subsequently been published in English, French, [4] German, Swedish, Norwegian, Romanian [7] and Polish. [8]
In 2020, she published Naasuliardarpi in Greenlandic and a Danish translation, Blomsterdalen (Flower Valley), which won the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2021. [9] In 2022, Greenlandic Culture Minister Peter P. Olsen presented Korneliussen a cultural award for her writing. [10]