Steinunn Sigurdardottir

(b.1950) is one of Iceland´s most highly acclaimed novelists and poets and has sustained a writing career since 1969, as well as a distinguished career in journalism. Her first novel, The Thief of Time, was made into a French feature film, directed by Yves Angelo and starring Emmanuelle Béart and Sandrine Bonnaire. The novel was later adapted to the stage by The National Theatre of Iceland.

Sigurdardottir studied philosophy and psychology at University College Dublin and made a name for herself at the age of nineteen with a volume of poetry entitled Continuances (Sifellur, 1969). She has since become one of Iceland’s most frequently translated writers, with her works available in almost twenty languages. She is one of the most lauded writers in Iceland, having won the Icelandic Literary Prize, the VISA Cultural Prize, and the Icelandic Broadcasting Service Writer’s Prize, and having been nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize and the Aristeion Prize.

Sigurdardottir’s book about President Vigdis Finnbogadottir was an all-time bestseller in Iceland. Her book of non-fiction, Heida, The Mountain Farmer, was published by leading European publishing houses.

Steinunn Sigurdardottir has lived for long and short periods of time in various places in Europe, in the US, and in Japan. She currently divides her time between France and Iceland.