A poetic and sensual picture book that gives a clear voice to an Arctic way of understanding the world, the opening words read when the Nordic Council presents one of the nominated books for the Children's and Youth Literature Prize 2026.
- Naja arferlu is a poetic and visually enchanting story that gives Greenland a clear and distinctive voice in Arctic children's literature - and thus also in the Nordic literary conversation. At a time when the Arctic is often discussed in a context of strategic interests and global power relations, the book reminds us of something more fundamental, namely that the Arctic is first and foremost a living landscape. A place where people, animals and nature enter into deep and mutual relationships, and where stories are a way of understanding the world.
First children's book
It is Karline Nathansen's first children's book, published last year, which has excited the award committee. She was born in 1979 and is from Paamiut, where she grew up with her four siblings close to nature. She has an education in sports and event management and is an authorized interpreter and translator in Greenlandic and Danish within the healthcare sector.
Today she lives in Randers, where she works both as an interpreter for Greenlandic citizens and at the reception at Randers Art Museum.
Pernille Kreutzmann-Larsen, who illustrated the book, "is crucial to the book's artistic strength", it says.
- In a lively watercolor style, she creates a visual universe where light, colors and movement give the story an almost dreamlike character. The depths of the ocean, the Arctic landscapes and the encounter between children and animals are shown in pictures that are both detailed and open to the reader's own imagination, says the presentation of the nominated picture book.
The passion
Pernille Kreutzmann-Larsen, who was born in 1987 and from Sisimiut, already had a passion for singing, drawing, painting, writing stories, writing songs and needlework as a child. And this is not the first time that she has been nominated.
- Her interest in history has always been an important part of her life, and she is also educated in cultural and social history from the University of Greenland. In the music world, she is known as a singer and songwriter in the band TIU. Since 2017, Pernille Kreutzmann-Larsen has illustrated a number of books, including Tuttuarannguaq (The Reindeer Cub) by Camilla Sommer, which was nominated for the Nordic Council Children's and Youth Literature Prize in 2019. Today, she works independently in art and music, and she also runs the publishing house Masaatsiaq, it is reported.
Karline and Pernille's ability to deliver an interplay between text and images has excited the Nordic Council, because the book is a "complete picture book, where the visual and linguistic layers lift each other and create a comprehensive artistic expression".
About the story
The story of the book itself is built around Naja and her close relationship with her grandmother. The Nordic Council presents it as follows:
- In their togetherness, a space opens up where fantasy and reality flow together. When Naja meets the whale and is taken on a dreamlike journey through the world of the sea, the reader enters a universe where nature does not just function as a backdrop, but as a living co-star. The sea, the animals and the landscape appear as part of a relational community, where humans do not stand outside of nature, but are woven together with it.
- This worldview is closely linked to the Arctic and native form of knowledge, where land, sea and life are perceived as interconnected. In Naja arferlu, this perspective is conveyed with rare ease through the child's gaze. Naja's encounter with the whale thus becomes not just an imaginative adventure, but a poetic experience of being in relation to the surrounding world – a world where nature has its own presence and dignity.
The award ceremony
The two nominees can be delighted by the nomination, but must be patient as to whether they win the prize, which will only be revealed at the Nordic Council session in Helsinki on 27 October.
At a special award ceremony, the winner will receive a "Northern Lights" statuette and 300,000 kroner.
Karline and Pernille are up against 12 other nominees from Sweden, Norway, the Sami language area, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Finland and Denmark.
