Author and former Middle East correspondent travels to Greenland

Puk Damsgård, former Middle East correspondent for DR, and who has written several books from and about the Middle East during his time as a journalist, will be heading up here in June to begin a longer reporting journey throughout the country, which will culminate in yet another book.

This time about 'Greenlandic identity marked by historical change', as the publisher Politikens Forlag itself writes.

- I have spoked with many Greenlanders who experience that when the pot is boiling, journalists come pouring in who want to talk to people in Nuuk about what is going on. But I want something different, Puk Damsgård tells Sermitsiaq.

- I would like to invite people who are not necessarily involved with Greenland to Greenland, she says.

- That's what I've also been used to doing from the Middle East.

In collaboration with her publisher, she has decided to go on a 'slow journey' around the country with the aim of talking to Greenlanders about their lives.

Because in Denmark, there is a need for more knowledge and insight into the different nuances and aspects of Greenland and life here, Puk Damsgård believes. And a book of reports should help to fulfil that need.

- Because Greenland cannot be reduced to something that is black and white, she says.

Has resigned from DR

The last time Puk Damsgård was in Greenland was when she was in Sisimiut in September 2023 as a journalist for DR.

- It was an absolutely fantastic and eye-opening experience. And it dawned on me how much we as Danes don't understand. And it's stuck with me ever since, she says.

- And with everything that has happened in recent months, I've thought that we need to investigate it much, much deeper, she says.

Now, after 15 years as a journalist for DR, she has resigned, partly to travel around Greenland and collect stories, knowledge and impressions for the next year and a half.

- The first trip will begin soon – I'm going with the coastal ship from Nuuk and north, and will stop at the various stops along the way, from where I'll sail to the other settlements, she says.

- And I'm looking forward to it.

She doesn't know when a book will be published, but when it is published, it will also be published in Greenlandic, she says.