Gudbergur Bergsson

(b.1932-2023) was one of Iceland’s leading authors, the first one to win the coveted Icelandic Literary Prize twice, first in 1991 for the widely acclaimed The Swan and then in 1997 for the first volume of his biographical novel Father and Mother and the Mystery of Childhood, which was also nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1992. Bergsson was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the Department of Foreign Languages of the University of Iceland.

“A great European novelist.”

MILAN KUNDERA

“Bergsson is one of this century’s principal geniuses and rarely has he been more successful than in this novel.”

DAGUR NEWSPAPER (About The Swan)

Awards

2004 - The Swedish Academy’s Nordic Literature Prize
1997 - The Icelandic Literature Prize: Faðir og móðir og dulmagn bernskunnar (Father and Mother and the Mystery of Childhood)
1991 - The Icelandic Literature Prize: Svanurinn (The Swan)
1983 - DV Cultural Prize: Hjartað býr enn í helli sínum (The Heart Still Lives in its Cave)
1978 - The Icelandic Broadcasting Service Writer’s Prize
1967 - The Icelandic Newpaper’s Literary Award Orden de Merito civil. The Spanish Royal Cross
NOMINATIONS
2016 - The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Þrír sneru aftur (Tree Came Back)
2014 - The Icelandic Literature Prize: Þrír sneru aftur (Three Came Back)
2010 - The Icelandic Translators’ Awards: Öll dagsins glóð. Safn portúgalskra ljóða 1900-2008 (A selection of Portuguise poetry)
2006 - The NONINO Award (in Italy): Il Cigno (Svanurinn), translated to Italian by Silvia Cosimini
2000 - The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Faðir og móðir og dulmagn bernskunnar and Eins og steinn sem hafið fágar (Father and Mother and the Mystery of Childhood and Like a Stone Smoothed by the Sea)
1999 - The Icelandic Literature Prize: Eins og steinn sem hafið fágar (Like a Stone Smoothed by the Sea)
1999 - The Aristeion Prize: Faðir og móðir og dulmagn bernskunnar (Father and Mother and the Mystery of Childhood)
1998 - DV Cultural Prize: Faðir og móðir og dulmagn bernskunnar (Father and Mother and the Mystery of Childhood)
1993 - The Icelandic Literature Prize: Sú kvalda ást sem hugarfylgsnin geyma (Tormented Love)
1993 - The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Svanurinn (The Swan)
1982 - The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Sagan af Ara Fróðasyni og Hugborgu konu hans (The Story of Ari Frodason and his Wife Hugborg)
1975 - The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize: Það sefur í djúpinu and Hermann og Dídí (It Sleeps in the Depths and Hermann and Dídí)