Þórunn Elfa Magnúsdóttir (20 July 1910 – 26 February 1995) was 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 writer. The daughter of Magnús Magnússon and Margét Magnúsdóttir, she was born 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 ...

and was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in northern Iceland when she was six. She had to leave school because of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. She later attended college in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

and Ósló, and university in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. She published her first work, a trilogy of novels ''Dætur Reykjavíkur'' I-III in 1933, 1934 and 1938. She was active in the Icelandic Women's Rights Association and was also involved in writers' associations. She married Jóni Þórðarsyn, a professor and author; the couple had two sons and a daughter.

Selected works

* ''Að Sólbakka'', novel (1937) * ''Snorrabraut 7'', novel (1947) * ''Sambýlisfólk'', novel (1954) * ''Frostnótt í maí'', novel (1958)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorunn Elfa Magnusdottir 1910 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Icelandic novelists 20th-century Icelandic women writers Icelandic women novelists