Naja Marie Aidt Biography: Danish Poet

Naja Marie Aidt

 Modern life is central to Naja Marie Aidt's writing. Most recently in the novel Sten saks papir, but also in her poems, short stories and plays, she revolves around how people live together, communicate and get along with each other. And it is heavy subjects that are taken up, such as infidelity, illness, death, violence, anxiety, sexuality and love. For example, in the collection of short stories "Bavian" from 2006 and in the work of mourning "Has death taken something from you, give it back". In the collection of poems "Alting blinker" these themes push into the background in favor of exile - a theme that is based on Aidt's own experiences with a childhood in Greenland, a youth and adult life in Denmark and a contemporary life in New York. Aidt has won several prestigious awards, e.g. The Nordic Council's Literature Prize, the Danish Academy's major prize in 2020, and most recently in 2022 the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize, also called the Little Nobel Prize, for his writing.

• Blue Book
• Born: 24 December 1963 in Egedesminde, Greenland.
• Education: HF, Copenhagen 1985.
• Debut: As long as I'm young. Gyldendal, 1991. Poems.

Literary awards: Martin Andersen Nexø prize, 1996. Edvard Pedersen's library fund's author prize, 1996. Beatrice prize, 2004. Critics' prize, 2006 and Nordic Council's Literature Prize, 2008. Weekendavisen's Literature Prize, 2017. The Danish Academy's Store Prize, 2020. The Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize, 2022 .

Latest publication: About breakup. Gyldendal, 2019. Short stories.

Period: Minimalism in the 1990s

Genre: Short story

Naja Marie Aidt participates at NORD 2020 in connection with the launch of the book 'Værksteder'.

Naja Marie Aidt (DK): (b. 1963 in Greenland) debuted as a writer in 1991 with the poetry collection 'Så länge jeg er ung' and has since published a large number of poetry collections and short story collections, most recently 'Bavian' (2006), which she received Nordic Council's literature prize for The novel 'Sten saks papir' was published in 2012.

Aidt's moving work of mourning 'If death has taken something from you, give it back. Carl's book' from 2017 was written after the loss of the author's 25-year-old son. It is a book about love, about community, about the grim duplicity of memories and about going from living off and through your language and suddenly realizing that you cannot form a sentence, that the language has become barren. The book was awarded Weekendavisen's literature prize. Aidt has also produced books in collaboration with e.g. Mette Moestrup, Line Knutzon and the painter Cathrine Raben Davidsen.

Naja Marie Aidt's writing is characterized by a precise, unsentimental and powerful language that revolves around everyday experiences, longings, family relationships, the enigmatic and being in the fringes of life. "I go my own way, just like everyone else." Well, Marie Aidt's path has turned out to occupy a very central position in Danish contemporary literature.

Naja Marie Aidt takes part in the book 'Workplaces - to write in light and darkness', which was written by journalist Jeppe Bangsgaard.