Jón Stefán Sveinsson, better known as "Nonni" (16 November 1857 in Möðruvellir in

Hörgárdalur Hörgárdalur () is a valley in north Iceland, the valley of the river Hörgá. It is long and extends southwest from Eyjafjörður, which it meets inland. It is now part of the municipality of Hörgársveit. The valley is wide and fertile at ...

– 16 October 1944 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic children's writer and member of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. He left Iceland in 1870 for France, where he converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His children's stories concerning a character named Nonni are well known in Iceland and parts of Europe.

Nonni's House Nonni's House ( is, Nonnahús ) is a museum in the Akureyri municipality in Iceland. The small wooden house, built around 1850, is one of the oldest houses in Akureyri. It was the home of the well known children's author and Jesuit priest Jón ...

(Nonnahús) his childhood home in

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nicknamed ...

is now a museum to his life and works and he has featured on postage stamps. Jón Sveinsson's stories of growing up with his brother Ármann, nicknamed "Manni", were adapted into the television series ''

Nonni and Manni ''Nonni and Manni'' is an adventure children's television series produced as a joint venture between Iceland and West Germany. It debuted on 26 December 1988 on West Germany's ZDF channel and lasted for six episodes with the last one being aired o ...

''.

Bibliography

Titles are currently listed in German. * Nonni * Nonni und Manni * Sonnentage * Die Stadt am Sund * Abenteuer auf den Inseln * Auf Skipalon * Nonni erzählt * Zwischen Eis und Feuer * Wie Nonni das Glück fand * Aus Island. Erlebnisse und Erinnerungen. Freiburg, Herder 1913 * Die Feuerinsel im Nordmeer * Nonnis Reise um die Welt Band 1: Nonni in Amerika Band 2: Nonni in Japan

External links

Postage stamp with bioNonni House museum in Akureyri
1857 births 1944 deaths Icelandic Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism Icelandic Jesuits Jon Sveinsson Icelandic women children's writers {{Iceland-writer-stub