Name: Rakel Helmsdal
Born: 1966, Tårnby
Selected work: Toran gongur (2023)
Awards and nominations: 

  • Nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2024 for Toran gongur.

  • Faroese Children’s Literature Award 1996

  • Barnabókaverðlaun Menntaráðs Reykjavíkur 2007

  • ‘Skrímslahæddir’ nominated for Fjörðuverðlaun in Iceland 2011

  • Nominated for ALMA (Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award) 2013 & 2014

  • Nominated for The West Nordic Children’s Literature Prize 2010, 2016 & 2020.

  • Winner of the West Nordic Children's Literature Prize 2016.

  • Entered the IBBY Honour List 2016.

  • Nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize 2019 for “Miljuløtur” and for “Loftar tú mær?” in 2020

Rakel Helmsdal (1966) is an author and artist. She has written 28 works for children, YA and adults. Several of Helmsdal’s books have been nominated for and awarded prizes in the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Scandinavia. Her books have been translated into 19 languages, including Polish, Chinese, Saami and Arabic to name a few. Rakel constantly strives to take her art in new directions and lives by the wise words Pippi Longstocking never said: “I never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do it.”

Rakel has also become a well-known name in Nordic literature for children and young people. In 2016, she entered the IBBY Honour List and received the West Nordic Council’s Children and Youth Literature Prize for the book "Hon, sum róði eftir ælaboganum", and in 2018, together with Áslaug Jónsdóttir and Kalle Güettler, she was awarded the Icelandic Literature Prize in the children and young people literature category for Skrímsli í vanda (“Monsters in Trouble”). In 2019 her musical fairy tale "Veiða Vind" was performed at the Barbican Centre by the London Symphony Orchestra. She has also been working with her own puppet theatre "Karavella Marionett-Teatur" since 2011, in which she creates the characters, stage, and script herself .With the picture book "Loftar tú mær" from 2019, Rakel Helmsdal made her mark as an illustrator by making use of her puppet theatre work; she made the figures, objects and scenes, and with them created the scenes which were then photographed and graphically manipulated. Her graphic novel "Kjarr" (Scrub) is about a skeleton in the scrub. A shattered childhood. Rakel’s most recent book is “Leyp nú, Eva!" (Jump, Eva!) 2024.


Works:
2024 Leyp nú, Eva!
2023 toran gongur (English sample translation available HERE)
2023 Dreymsótt (English sample translation available HERE)
2021 Reiggjan (English sample translations available)
2020 Kjarr (English sample translation available)
2019 Loftar tú mær? (English sample translation available)
2018 Miljuløtur
2014 Hon, sum róði eftir ælaboganum (English summary here)
2014 Skrímslakiskan
2012 Klandursskrímsl
2011 Revurin við silkiturriklæðnum
2011 Veiða vind
2010 Skrímslahæddir
2009 Skrímslavitjan
2009 Veturin hjá Undu, Úr Mosakulluni 2
2008 Várferðin til Brúnna, Úr Mosakulluni 1
2008 Skrímslasótt
2007 Myrkaskrímsl
2007 Gott hugflog, Hugo (Hugo 4)
2006 Stór skrímsl gráta ikki
2004 Nei! segði lítla skrímsl
2003 Kom yvirum, Hugo! (Hugo 3)
1998 Drekar og annað valafólk
1997 Hvørjum flenna likkurnar at, Hugo? (Hugo 2)
1996 Søgur úr Port Janua
1995 Tey kalla meg bara Hugo (Hugo 1)

Translations:
2022 Hon sum róði eftir ælaboganum, Dziwny Potmysl, Poland
2019 Monster klammeri, Torgard, Denmark
2019 Hun som roede gennem regnbuen, Torgard, Denmark
2018 Hun som rodde mot regnbuen, Orkana, Norway
2014 Skrímslakiskan (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Chinese, Arabic)
2013 Veiða vind. Translated into Icelandic by Thórarinn Eldjárn (Forlagið)
2012 Klandursskrímsl (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian (nynorsk), French, Chinese)
2010 Skrímslahæddir (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Chinese, Arabic)
2009 Dei kallar meg berre Hugo. Translated into Norwegian by Lars Moa (Kapabel)
2009 Skrímslavitjan (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, French, Chinese, Arabic)
2008 Skrímslasótt (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian (nynorsk), French, Chinese, Arabic)
2007 Myrkaskrímsl (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian (nynorsk), French, Chinese, Arabic)
2006 Stór skrímsl gráta ikki (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian (bokmål & nynorsk), French, Chinese, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Lithuanian, Arabic, Czech, and soon in Latvian)
2004 Nei! segði lítla skrímsl (in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian (bokmål & nynorsk), French, Chinese, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Lithuanian, Arabic, Czech, and soon in Latvian)