Sørine Steenholdt: Zombieland

Young people are truly at the cutting edge of the Greenlandic literary scene, producing well-written, thoughtful, contemporary, and socially critical works that captivate readers and draw them into unsuspected worlds.

Zombieland transports the reader into an underworld of all the emotions, one that has been spawned by a tough upbringing characterised by neglect and alcoholism. No emotions have been left out; every nook and cranny in the dark parts of the small child’s mind are explored, brought about by an alcoholic and impotent parent. They are told within the framework of ten well-written, angry, powerless novels that are at times so deeply accurate that the reader can almost smell the sickening stench of many days spent at home drinking. The child enters a zombie state - zombieland - yet retains the ability to observe.

But what is reality and what is fantasy? Taking her experiences of real life and putting them into fiction where the different roles play out is an art that Steenholdt has mastered. In this her first book she shows what dwells in the dark side of a community, and that the community around the child can in no way pretend that nothing is happening nor evade its responsibility to intervene. If the parents aren’t up to the job, the community must take over. Accurately captured and portrayed.

Further to the above motivation, Greenland hereby nominates Zombieland by Sørine Steenholdt for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2016.