Rakel Helmsdal is a Faroese writer. Her mother is the Faroese poet Guðrið Helmsdal and her father the wood artist Ole Jakob Nielsen. Rakel was born in Tårnby, Amager, Denmark, but has lived in Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands for most of her life. She lived for five years in France, where she wrote four of her books. She teaches creative writing.

West Nordic Council's Children and Youth Literature Prize is a literary award, which was established in 2002 by the West Nordic Council. The prize is awarded every second year at the annual meeting of the West Nordic Council, normally in August. The three countries of the North West region of Northern Europe are Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. These countries nominate one literary work each. The winner gets a reward of DKK 60 000 and his or her book is translated into the other two languages of the region and into one of the Scandinavian languages: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or Finnish, without any expenses for the winner.