Ármann Jakobsson (born 18 July 1970) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic author and scholar.

Biography

Ármann was born and raised in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. His father was a banker and his mother a psychologist. His sister is

Katrín Jakobsdóttir Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic former politician who served as the prime minister of Iceland from December 2017 to April 2024 and was a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency from 2007 to 202 ...

, the former prime minister of Iceland. Ármann holds a PhD from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

, graduating in 2003. Ármann became a lecturer in Early Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland in 2008. He was a senior lecturer from 2008–2011, and then a full professor from 2011. From 2022, he is the president of the

Icelandic Literary Society The Icelandic Literary Society (), founded in 1816, is an organization dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-E ...

and chairman of the Icelandic language commission since 2020. His first novel was published in 2008, and since then he has published eleven works of fiction. He has been nominated twice for the Icelandic literature prize, and was on the IBBY honour list of 2016. Many of his novels engage with medieval and folkloric themes. His first novel was a historical novel taking place in 1908, during the heated debate about Icelandic independence. As a medievalist scholar, Ármann has published extensively on Old Norse literature, focusing on medieval attitudes towards kingship as an institution, childhood and old age, masculinities, paranormal figures and concepts and most recently on disability in the Middle Ages. As a teenager, Ármann competed alongside his twin brother, Sverrir Jakobsson, in the quiz show

Gettu betur ''Gettu betur'' () is an Icelandic team quiz show, broadcast on public television channel RÚV. Each team consists of three students from one of Iceland's high schools or colleges. Two teams play against each other in each episode. Two preliminary ...

, winning the competition in 1990. In 2020, he read the most famous of the sagas, ''Njáls saga'', on Icelandic radio. From 2020, he is the editor of the scholarly journal Andvari.

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''Vonarstræti'' (''Hope Street''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2008). * ''Fréttir frá mínu landi: Óspakmæli og örsögur'' (''News from My Country: Microprose and unaphorisms''). (Reykjavík: Nýhil, 2008). * ''Glæsir'' (''Bull''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2011). * ''Síðasti galdrameistarinn'' (''The Last Witch''). Children's book. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2014). * ''Brotamynd'' (''Fractals''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV útgáfa, 2017). * ''Útlagamorðin'' (''Outsiders''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2018). * ''Urðarköttur'' (''Werecat''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2019). * ''Bölvun múmíunnar, 2 bindi'' (''The Curse of Horemheb, I–II''). Young adult novel in two parts. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2019–2020). * ''Tíbrá'' (''Mirage''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2020). * ''Goðsögur'' (''Legends''). Short stories. (Akureyri: Pastel, 2020; transl. in 2022). * ''Skollaleikur'' (''Gaslight''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2021). * ''Álfheimar 1: Bróðirinn'' (''Fairyland 1: Abduction''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2021). * ''Reimleikar'' (''Apparitions''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2022). * ''Álfheimar 2: Risinn'' (''Fairyland 2: Giant''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2022). * ''Prestsetrið'' (''The Vicarage''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2023). * ''Álfheimar 3: Ófreskjan'' (''Fairyland 3: Fiend''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2023). * ''Álfheimar 4: Gyðjan'' (''Fairyland 4: Goddess''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2024).

Non-fiction (selection)

*
Í leit að konungi: Konungsmynd íslenskra konungasagna
' (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 1997). *
Staður í nýjum heimi: Konungasagan Morkinskinna
' (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2002). *
Tolkien og Hringurinn
' (Reykjavík: Forlagið, 2003). * ''Illa fenginn mjöður: Lesið í miðaldatexta'' (Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun: Háskólaútgáfan, 2009 nd edition, 2015. * ''Morkinskinna I-II'', Íslenzk fornrit 23-24 (ed. with Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson) (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2011). *
Nine Saga Studies: The Critical Interpretation of the Icelandic Sagas
' (Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press, 2013). * ''A Sense of Belonging: Morkinskinna and Icelandic Identity c. 1220'', transl. by Fredrik J. Heinemann (Odense: University press of Southern Denmark, 2014). *
Íslendingaþættir: Saga hugmyndar
' (Reykjavík: Bókmennta- og listfræðastofnun Háskóla Íslands: Háskólaútgáfan, 2014). * ''The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas'' (ed. with Sverrir Jakobsson) (New York: Routledge, 2017 nd paperback edition 2019. *
The Troll Inside You: Paranormal Activity in the Medieval North
' (punctum books, 2017). * ''Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150-1400'' (ed. with Mariusz Mayburd) (Boston/Berlin: de Gruyter), 2020. * ''Íslenskar bókmenntir: Saga og samhengi,'' 2 volumes (ed.) (Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 2021).

References

External links