The Nordic Council Literature Prize 2018 goes to Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

30.10.18 | News
Vinder af Nordisk Råds litteraturpris 2018

Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2018: Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

Photographer
Johannes Jansson
The Icelandic author received her award from Crown Princess Mette-Marit for the novel Ör (Hotel Silence, Pushkin Press 2018, translator Brian FitzGibbon) at the award ceremony for the five Nordic Council prizes held at the Opera House in Oslo.

Ólafsdóttir has been awarded the prize for a work full of subtle humour and sparkling, vital language, which asks the big questions about life and death.

The jury said:

“I write against the darkness in the world,” says Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2018. In the novel Ör, we encounter a middle-aged man who takes his literal and metaphorical toolbox with him to a war-torn European country, intent upon putting an end to his life. In the course of his travels, he realises that we all have our own toolbox – what matters is how we choose to use it. This is a small book with a big heart. It is full of subtle humour and sparkling, vital language, which asks the big questions about life and death, about the individual versus the collective, about our privileges, rights and duties. Ultimately, it is duty that provides humanity with the tools to challenge the darkness.

About the Nordic Council prizes

The Nordic Council awards five annual prizes: the Literature Prize, the Children and Young People’s Literature Prize, the Music Prize, the Film Prize, and the Environment Prize. The DKK 350,000 prizes are awarded at a gala event during the annual Session of the Nordic Council.