Nordic Literary Prize

   The Nordic Literary Prize, in the amount of 350,000 Danish kroner, is awarded by the Nordic Council each year for a literary work written in one of the languages of the Scandinavian countries. The work may be a novel, a drama, or a collection of poetry, short stories, or essays. The Nordic Council is an organization consisting of members of parliament from each of the Scandinavian countries, including the Faroes and Greenland.

   Among the recipients are Johan Borgen, Bo Carpelan, Lars Saabye Christensen, Sven Delblanc, Gunnar Ekelof, Kerstin Ekman, Per Olov Enquist, Kjartan Fløgstad, Thorkild Hansen, William Heinesen, Snorri Hjartarson, Eyvind Johnson, Jan Kjærstad, Sara Lidman, Väino Linna, Ivar Lo-Johansson, Henrik Nordbrandt, Klaus Rifbjerg, Peter Seeberg, Dag Solstad, Per Olof Sundman, Villy Sørensen, Pia Tafdrup, Tomas Transtroämer, Goäran Tunstroäm, Nils-Aslak Valkeapaäaä, Tarjei Vesaas, Thor Vilhjalmsson, Herbjørg Wassmo, and Dorrit Willumsen.

   While it took 18 years before the prize was first awarded to a woman, approximately one-third of the prize winners in recent years have been women. The prize winners are fairly equally distributed among the five Scandinavian countries.