Gerður Kristný Iceland

Gerður Kristný was born in 1970 and brought up in Reykjavík and graduated in French and Comparative Literature from the University of Iceland in 1992. She is now a full-time writer.

Gerður Kristný has published poetry, short stories, novels and books for children, and a biography Myndin af pabba – Saga Thelmu (A Portrait of Dad – Thelma's Story) for which she won the Icelandic Journalism Award in 2005.

Other awards for her work include the Children;s Choice Book Prize in 2003 for Marta Smarta (Smart Martha), the Halldór Laxness Literary Award in 2004 for her novel Bátur með segli og allt (A Boat with Sail and All) and the West-Nordic Children;s Literature Prize in 2010 for the novel Garðurinn (The Garden).

Three of her poetry collections, Höggstaður (Soft Spot), Blóðhófnir (Bloodhoof) and Sálumessa (Requiem) have been nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize, with Blóðhófnir winning the prize in 2014. Bloodhoof and Drápa (The Slaying), translated into English by Rory McTurk, were published in bilingual editions by Arc in 2012 and 2018 respectively, and publication of Sálumessa (Reykjavík Requiem) completes the trilogy.

Gerður Kristný lives in Reykjavík but travels regularly around the world to present her work.

(2018)