Naja Dyrendom Graugaard: And you mean to say that Greenlanders infected you and that you became ill because of them? My voice trembles…

Naja Dyrendom Graugaard is a Danish-Greenlandic poet, researcher, and educator based at the University of Copenhagen. She is one of the prominent voices of the contemporary Nordic literary, theatrical, and academic scene. In her work, she combines poetry with theatrical and autobiographical writing, focusing on intergenerational experiences of colonialism, the lived experience of otherness, and the search for and formation of identity in families with Greenlandic roots living in Denmark. Her approach is interdisciplinary and strongly autobiographical. She understands literature as a means of knowledge as well as social reflection. In addition to her own writing, she participates in theatre and multimedia projects, including as co-author and dramaturge of the production Inuk Ingerlaartoq (The Wandering Human, 2025), and she is also engaged in bringing issues of Nordic colonial history to a broader public. Her work is characterised by the interconnection of literature, research, and artistic activism, through which she addresses urgent questions of memory, power, and cultural identity. The documentary film Orsugiak – The White Gold of Greenland (2025) sparked significant controversy and censorship. It explores her family story linked to Denmark’s cryolite mining in Ivittuut in southern Greenland. In May 2026, the film received the award for Best Documentary at the Edinburgh Film Awards.