Kristján Karlsson (26 January 1922 – August 5, 2014) was an Icelandic poet and writer born at Eyvík in

Tjörnes Tjörnes () is a peninsula situated at the northeast of Iceland, between the fjords of Öxarfjörður and Skjálfandi. Tjörnes is known for its particularly dense population of Rock Ptarmigan and the rich fossil record of Miocene - Pliocene ag ...

in Þingeyjarsýsla South. He studied

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1945. He went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for graduate studies at the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, completing an M.A. degree in

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

in 1947. Karlsson was a member of the Board of the

Icelandic Literary Society The Icelandic Literary Society (Hið Íslenzka Bókmenntafélag), founded in 1816, is a society dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language, literature and learning. The society was founded in 1816, when the Icelandic independence m ...

in 1979 and the Patriotic Society from 1984 to 1985. He has written poetry, short stories, essays and articles, as well as being a translator. He has also edited several books. He published the poetry collection ''Kvæði'' ("Poems") in 1976. He was awarded the Davíðspenninn (the Pen of Davíð) in 1991 for ''Kvæði 90'' ("Poems 90") and The National Broadcasting Service Writer's Award a year later.Icelandic literature / Kristján Karlsson

References

1922 births 2014 deaths Kristján Karlsson Icelandic expatriates in the United States University of California, Berkeley alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni {{Iceland-writer-stub