Vónbjørt Vang and Kim Simonsen published in Estonia

Vónbjørt Vang’s poetry collection Svørt orkidé (Black Orchid) and Kim Simonsen’s poetry collection Lívfrøðiliga samansetingin í einum dropa av havvatnið minnir um blóðið í mínum æðrum (The biological composition of a drop of seawater is reminiscent of the blood in my veins) have been published in Estonia.

The Estonian translations are by Andry Arro and the books are published by Nordur.

Later in May both authors will participate in literary events in Tallinn and the Prima Vista literary festival in Tartu.

Vónbjørt Vang: Svørt orkidé (2023)

A mother’s experience of having a son struggling and finding his path in life.

Faced with difficulty finding the proper expression, the work provides the hardships of motherhood an artistic language through poems, lyrical glimpses, essayistic parts, collages, flashbacks and diary excerpts with references and quotes from the history of literature.

The work is part of a current wave of motherhood literature, which it both discusses and refers to. This literature creates a starting point for the work’s search for form and meaning in grief. At the same time, the collection of poems touches on topical issues of parenting in today’s society; on a system that is failing and young people who are increasingly having a bad time in life.

Winner of the 2025 Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Kim Simonsen: Lívfrøðiliga samansetingin í einum dropa av havvatnið minnir um blóðið í mínum æðrum (2023)

The poetry collection works with the ocean as an element. Thematically the speaker deals with his dead father, who has been a sailor his whole life and the ocean that is eating away the land, which simultaneously is our organic original home.

In four parts the collection dissects everything that we touch and the joy of turning to the world, our skin, mites, viruses, and the whirlwind of bacteria, that is the biological foundation of every living thing.

Nominated for the 2024 Nordic Council Literature Prize.