Niviaq Korneliussen

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Niviaq Korneliussen
Niviaq Korneliussen.jpg
Niviaq Korneliussen (2016)
Born (1990-01-27) 27 January 1990 (age 35)
Nanortalik, Greenland
OccupationNovelist
Language Greenlandic, Danish
Years active2013 – 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.

Contents

Biography

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  [ dk ] presented Korneliussen a cultural award for her writing. [10]

Works

References

  1. "Korneliussen, Niviaq". Inuit Literatures ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐊᓪᓚᒍᓯᖏᑦ Littératures inuites. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  2. Kembrey, Melanie (26 April 2019). "Niviaq Korneliussen on growing up gay in Greenland and her breakout book". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Allatta! — Let us write!". NAPA/Nordens Institut i Grønland. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Homo Sapienne". Inuit Literatures ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐊᓪᓚᒍᓯᖏᑦ Littératures inuites. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  5. Gee, Alastair (31 January 2019). "The Young Queer Writer Who Became Greenland's Unlikely Literary Star". The New Yorker. New York City, New York. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. Scherrebeck, Emil Eggert (15 November 2014). "'Danmark har lært mig mere end at lave brun sovs'" ["Denmark has taught me more than making brown sauce"]. Dagbladet Information (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  7. "HOMO sapienne". Milik Publishing. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  8. "HOMO sapienne". dziwny pomysł (in Polish). Retrieved 16 May 2025.
  9. "Niviaq Korneliussen wins the 2021 Nordic Council Literature Prize". Nordic Co-operation. 2 November 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  10. Veirum, Thomas Munk (21 June 2022). "Korneliussen og Kreutzmann får kulturpriser". Sermitsiaq.AG (in Danish). Retrieved 28 June 2022.