Greenland’s Last Bookstore Closes: A Cultural Loss In The Age Of Screens

After three decades at the heart of Nuuk’s cultural life, Atuagkat Boghandel, Greenland’s most iconic bookstore, has closed its doors. Its longtime owner, Claus Jordening, stepped away with no one to take the reins. In its place now stands a hair salon—symbolic of the quiet replacement of culture by commerce.

Atuagkat wasn’t just a bookstore; it was a hub for literature lovers, a lifeline for local publishers, and a rare space where readers could connect with Greenlandic identity through the written word. In a country of just 57,000 people, even selling 50 books could help sustain small publishers.

Now, books are relegated to souvenir shops, art galleries, and supermarkets, with limited selection and no literary events. Greenland’s geography makes distributing books a challenge: cities aren’t connected by roads, and shipping delays are routine. Online orders are the only option—but European titles may take weeks to arrive.

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Culturally, the landscape is also shifting. As in the rest of the world, young people gravitate toward video content and social media, not printed stories. Homes once filled with bookshelves now feature big screens.

Still, Greenlandic literature endures. Writers like Niviaq Korneliussen continue to tell bold, modern stories rooted in local identity. Children’s books aim to preserve the Greenlandic language and heritage. And though Atuagkat is gone, Greenland’s deep tradition of oral storytelling survives in written form.

The bookstore’s closure is a blow—but not the end. As long as there are storytellers, the spirit of Greenland’s literature will remain.

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