Guðrið Helmsdal Nielsen (born 26 February 1941 in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

) is a Faroese poet. Born as Guðrið Helmsdal Poulsen, she added her husband's surname when she married. She writes as Guðrið Helmsdal.

Biography

Born on 26 February 1941 in

, Guðrið Helmsdal Nielsen spent the first 12 years of her life in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, her parents being Annie Helmsdal and Hans Poulsen. When she was 12, the family moved to Denmark, where her father worked as a captain. She, her two sisters and her parents lived first in

Tårnby Tårnby () is a town in Denmark, the seat of Tårnby Municipality in the Capital Region of Denmark. It is located approximately south of central Copenhagen on the island of Amager. Neighbouring settlements include the Copenhagen suburb of Sundb ...

, then in Amager, and later in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Guðrið returned to the Faroe Islands when she was 26 years old.MS.fo
Guðrið Helmsdal. She began to write poems at the age of 13, and in 1958 she published her first poems in a Faroese paper for Faroese students in Denmark, called Oyggjaskeggi. In 1961, she published some poems in the Faroese literary magazine ''Varðin''. Her first collection of poetry, ''Lýtt lot'', which was published in 1963, was the first modern collection of poems in the Faroese language. The collection was also the first in Faroese written by a woman. Her second collection of poems, ''Morgun í mars'', was published in 1971 and is written in two languages: Faroese and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

. In 1965, she married the Danish teacher and sculptor Ole Jakob Nielsen. They have one daughter, Rakel Helmsdal, who is also a writer, and one son who is a movie director and camera man.

Bibliography

Poems

*1963 - ''Lýtt lot'', illustrated by Zacharias Heinesen *1971 - ''Morgun í mars'' ("Morning in March")

Non-fiction

*1979 - ''Føroyskur dansur og vertskapur í Leynum'' (About the Faroese chaindance in the village Leynar)

Published in other languages than Faroese

*''Færøske digte 1900–1971.'' 1971. (Danish) *''Færøysk lyrikk.'' 1974. (Norwegian Nynorsk) *''Bränning och bleke.'' 1976. (Swedish) *''Regnbogastígur.'' 1981. (Icelandic) *''Rocky Shores. An Anthology of Faroese Poetry.'' Edited and translated by George Johnston. Wilfion Books, Paisley 1981. (English) *''Modern Scandinavian Poetry - The Panorama of Poetry 1900–1975 in Eight Northern Countries.'' 1982. (English) *''Stjørnuakrar – Sternenfelder.'' Edited by

Paul Alfred Kleinert Paul Alfred Kleinert is a German writer, editor and translator. Kleinert was born in Leipzig in 1960 with family roots in Silesia and Danzig. He studied theology and did theological and celtic studies in East Berlin at Humboldt Universität zu ...

. Translated by Anette Nielsen, the frontpage is illustrated by Zacharias Heinesen. Halle/Saale (Projekte Verlag) 2006, (German). * ''Frá Áarstovubrøðrunum til Tórodd - føroysk yrking í hundrað ár / Von Djurhuus bis Poulsen – färöische Dichtung aus 100 Jahren.'' Trilingual edition, edited by Paul Alfred Kleinert. Academic advice:

Turið Sigurðardóttir Turið Sigurðardóttir (born 12 August 1946) is a Faroese educator, writer and translator, specializing in the history of Faroese literature. She lives in Tórshavn and teaches at the University of the Faroe Islands. Biography Born in Copenhagen, ...

, rough translations: Inga Meincke. In adaptations by Annemarie Bostroem, Günther Deicke and Paul Alfred Kleinert. Leipzig (pernobilis edition im Engelsdorfer Verlag), 2007, *Four poems in '' Structo'', a literary magazine from the UK. Randi Ward has translated the poems from Faroese to Danish and English. The poem in the magazine are these: "Fjarðakvirra", “Morgunfjøll", "Heystfjøll" and "Solnedgang". (English)Vencil.wordpress.com
Guðrið Helmsdal á enskum (''in Faroese'').

Prizes

*1974 - Received the

Faroese Literature Prize The Faroese Literature Prize, also known as the Mentanarvirðisløn M. A. Jacobsens (M. A. Jacobsen's Cultural Award), is a prize for Faroese literature that was begun by the Tórshavnar kommuna (Tórshavn City Council) in 1958. Its winners includ ...

for the poetry collections ''Morgun í mars'' and ''Lýtt lot''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmsdal, Gudrid 1941 births 20th-century Danish women writers 20th-century Faroese poets Faroese women poets Faroese women writers Faroese-language poets Living people