Novel about Estonia nominated for Nordic Literature Prize

Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen, who has Estonian roots, may win next year’s Nordic Literature Prize for her novel Purge, which talks about the recent past of Estonia through the story of a family and shows the effect violence and fear have on the human psyche.

The Literature Prize Committee of the Nordic Council will decide who will win the prize in the end of March next year in Helsinki. The laureate will receive the prize and the envelope for DKK 350,000 at the Nordic summit that will be held in Reykjavik in November 2010.

Oksanen’s Purge has already won the Finlandia and Runeberg prizes.

The list of candidates for the Literature Prize of the Nordic Council to be issued next year is:

Finland
– Sofi Oksanen, novel Purge, WSOY 2008
– Monika Fagerholm, novel The Glitter Scene, Söderströms och Albert Bonniers Förlag 2009
Denmark
– Peter Laugesen, poetry collection Photorama, Forlaget Borgen 2009
– Ida Jessen, novel The Children, Forlaget Gyldendal 2009
Iceland
– Einar Kįrason, novel Fury, Mįl og menning 2008
– Steinar Bragi, romaan Women, Mįl og menning 2008
Norway
– Karl Ove Knausgård, novel My Struggle, Part 1, Förlaget Oktober 2009
– Tomas Espedal, novel Towards Art (the Notebooks), Gyldendal 2009
Sweden
– Steve Sem-Sandberg, novel The Destitutes of Lodz, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2009
– Ann Jäderlund, poetry collection What Does It Help a Person if She Pours Clean Water over Herself for All of Her Days, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2009
Faroe Islands
– Gunnar Hoydal, novel In the Heart of the Sea, Forlaget Sprotin 2007