Mariane Petersen

Mariane Petersen (born 1937 ) is a Greenlandic poet, translator, museum curator, and politician.

Biography Petersen was born in Maniitsoq, a town in western Greenland that was then known as Sukkertoppen. She is trained as a translator and has translated various books from Danish into Greenlandic. Significant works of translation include Vinterbørn by Dea Trier Mørch and Århundradets kärlekssaga by Märta Tikkanen.

She also worked for many years as a curator at the Greenland National Museum, serving as director from 1982 until her retirement in 2004.

In 1988 she published her first volume of poetry, Niviugaq aalakoortoq allallu. It was the first poetry collection published by a woman in Greenlandic. For this work, she was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1993. That year she published Inuiaat nunaallu, an epic poem bout the history of Greenland, followed by the collection Asuliivik asuli in 1997. In 2012, she was honored with the Frederik Nielsen Memorial Fund's 10,000-kroner prize.

Her latest work, Piniartorsuit kinguaavi, was also nominated for the Nordic Council prize in 2013, though she lost to the Danish-Norwegian author Kim Leine.

Petersen's poetry is generally humorous in tone and often deals with everyday life in Greenland. She writes in both Greenlandic and Danish, translating her own work.

She is also a politician, having previously sat on the Nuuk Municipal Council.

Selected works

Poetry

1988: Niviugaq aalakoortoq allallu 1993: Inuiaat nunaallu 1997: Asuliivik asuli 2010: Piniartorsuit kinguaavi taallat/Storfangernes efterkommere

Translations

1977: Svend Otto S.: Tim og Trine, translated as Tim aamma Trine 1978: Dea Trier Mørch: Vinterbørn, translated as Íssip nalâne inúngortut 1980: Mogens Hoff: Børnene ved Krokodillesøen, translated as Meeqqat kuukkooriarsuit tasiata sinaamiut 1981: Barbro Sedwall: Fiskarbarn, translated as Aalisartukkut paniat 1981: Ole Hertz: Tobias pa sælfangst, translated as Tuppiarsi puisinniartoq 1981: Ole Hertz: Tobias fisker fra isen, translated as Tuppiarsi sikumi aalisartoq 1986: Aage Gilberg: Verdens nordligste læge, translated as Avanersuarmi nakorsaq 1988: Glen Rounds: The Blind Colt, translated as Hesti piaraq tappiitsoq 1989: Märta Tikkanen: Århundradets kärlekssaga, translated as Asanninneq naliitsoq 1989: Mette Newth: Bortførelsen, translated as Aallarussineq 1992: Ole Lund Kirkegaard: Mig og Bedstefar – og så Nisse Pok, translated as Uangalu aatagalu aammalu Nissi Pooq 1993: Kenneth Thomasma: Naya Nuki, translated as Naya Nuki – niviarsiaraq qimaasoq 1994: Torbjørn Borgen: Svampe i Grønland, translated as Pupiit Kalaallit Nunaanni 1996: Jørgen F. Nissen: Erfaring, styrke – og håb, translated as Misilittagaqarneq, sapiissuseqalerneq, aamma neriunneq 1996: Maaliaaraq Vebæk: Navaranaaq og andre, translated as Navaranaaq allallu 1997: Jørgen F. Nissen: Uliv, translated as Inuunipalaaq 2003: Ole Hertz: Tobias fisker ørred, translated as Tuppiarsi eqalunniartoq 2006: Hans-Christian Gulløv: Grønlands forhistorie, translated as Kalaallit Nunaata itsarsuaq oqaluttuassartaa 2016: Gunvor Bjerre: Månemanden og andre fortællinger fra Grønland, translated as Qaammatip inua oqaluttuallu allat Kalaallit Nunaanneersut