Author Niillas Holmberg has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for the Sami language area.
Author Niillas Holmberg is running for the Nordic Council Literature Prize with his novel Goatnelle, representing the Sami language area. The Nordic Council Literature Prize is a prestigious yearly award founded in 1962 and aiming at fostering interest in the literature and the language of Nordic countries. This is the third nomination for Holmberg.
The novel follows the figure of Halla Helle, a Sami artist who is also at the centre of Holmberg’s novel Halla Helle (Gummerus 2021).
Niillas Holmberg (b. 1990) is a Sámi poet, musician, actor, and cultural and environmental activist living in his native Utsjoki in Lapland. He combines spoken word with singing and joik, traditional chanting, and performs his work with various bands. His poetry collection Lest the Weird Become Weirder (Amas amas amasmuvvat, 2014) was awarded the Saami Council’s Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Also his latest collection Underfoot (Juolgevuod¯d¯u, 2019) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize and has travelled to Estonia and Germany.
Congratulations to the author!