Helsinki - Danish author Naja Marie Aidt on Tuesday accepted the 2008 Nordic Council Literature Prize, worth 350,000 kroner (59,000 dollars). In remarks at the award ceremony, Aidt referred to her childhood in Greenland where she was born in 1963, recalling the distinct contrasts between light and darkness during different seasons.
Her parents often read stories to her and through literature, Aidt discovered "you can travel wherever you want, that what is familiar can be transformed and people can be moved into different moods, places and worlds."
She said people in the Nordic region shared a special relationship to the "twilight," where "days and nights meet" suggesting also an enhanced "sensitivity to change."
Aidt was recognized for a collection of short stories, titled Bavian (Baboon).
The jury said the book was both "beautiful and sinister," noting that it highlighted undercurrents in everyday life.
Aidt made her literary debut 1991 with a book of poems. Her production includes eight books of poetry, three short-story volumes, a movie script and several theatre plays.
Last year, Swedish writer Sara Stridsberg won the award.
The prize was presented during the Nordic Council Session in Helsinki.
The Nordic Council Literature Prize has been awarded since 1962, 10 years after the Nordic Council was formed.
The council is the forum for inter-parliamentary cooperation between the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and three autonomous territories including Greenland.
