Birgir Sigurðsson (28 August 1937 – 9 August 2019) 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.
A journalist and schoolteacher in Iceland from the early 1960s, studied classical singing in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in the late sixties but returned to teaching in Reykjavík and writing prolifically on the side. He established himself as a playwright and a poet during the seventies and became a full-time writer during the early 1980s, translating
Sam Shepard
Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...
for the
Icelandic National Theatre and Doris Lessing's
The Grass is Singing, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. With his play
Dagur Vonar he cemented his reputation as one of Iceland's greatest dramatists. Later he turned to writing novels, popular history books and TV documentaries.
From 1982 to 1986, Sigurðsson was the vice president of The Writer's Union of Iceland. From 1985 to 1987, he served as president of the Association of Icelandic Artists. He was also a member of the Reykjavík Art Festival committee from 1985 till 1987.
A list of works
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Réttu mér fána'' 1968 (poetry)
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Á jörð ertu kominn'' 1972 (poetry)
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Pétur og Rúna'' (play)
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Selurinn hefur mannsaugu'' (play)
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Skáld-Rósa'' 1978 (play)
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Grasmaðkur'' 1983 (play)
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Dagur Vonar'' 1987 (play)
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Frá himni og jörðu'' 1989 (short stories)
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Svartur sjór af síld : síldarævintýrin miklu á sjó og landi'' 1989 (illustrated history)
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Hengiflugið'' 1993 (novel)
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Óskastjarnan'' 1998 (play)
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Ljósið í vatninu'' 2000 (novel)
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Dínamít'' 2005 (play)
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Prívat og persónulega'' 2009 (autobiographical short stories)
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Er ekki nóg að elska'' 2015 (play)
See also
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List of Icelandic writers
Iceland has a rich literary history, which has carried on into the modern period.
Some of the best known examples of Icelandic literature are the Sagas of Icelanders. These are prose narratives based on historical events that took place in Icela ...
*
Icelandic literature
Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic wo ...
References
External links
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1937 births
Birgir Sigurdsson
Living people
International Writing Program alumni
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