Svava Jakobsdóttir (4 October 1930 – 21 February 2004) was one of

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 ...

's prominent 20th century authors and feminist politicians. Her writing was characterized by "a unique brand of surreal feminism." Her father ''(Hans) Jakob Jónsson''Torfi Jónsson: Æviskrár samtídarmanna. Oliver Steins, Skuggsjá 1982–1984 was a Lutheran minister. From 1935 to 1940 he and his family lived in

Wynyard, Saskatchewan Wynyard is a town in eastern Saskatchewan, Canada, west of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Yorkton and east of Saskatoon. Wynyard is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Big Quill No. 308. It is located on the Yellowhead Highway just south of Big ...

where he served as the pastor of the Icelandic-Canadian congregation. She graduated from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in 1952. After that she studied at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. She was a member of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, the Icelandic parliament, from 1971 to 1979 for the left-wing party Alþýðubandalagið (People's Alliance).Literature.is page on Svava Jakobsdóttir
Her best-known works are the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

''Gunnlaðar saga'' (''The Saga of Gunnlod''), the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

''Leigjandinn'' (''The Lodger'') and the macabre

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

"Saga handa börnum" ("A Story for Children"). Besides prose she also wrote poetry and plays. She won the

Henrik Steffens Henrik Steffens (2 May 1773 – 13 February 1845), was a Norwegian philosopher, scientist, and poet. Early life, education, and lectures He was born at Stavanger. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents to Copenhagen, where he studied ...

Award in 1997.

References

Jakobsdóttir, Svava Jakobsdóttir, Svava Icelandic feminists Icelandic women novelists Jakobsdóttir, Svava Jakobsdóttir, Svava Members of the Althing Women members of the Althing 20th-century Icelandic novelists 20th-century Icelandic women writers 20th-century Icelandic women politicians 20th-century Icelandic politicians {{Iceland-writer-stub