Vilborg Dagbjartsdóttir (18 July 1930 – 16 September 2021) was an Icelandic writer, poet and teacher.

Career

She published her first book of poetry in 1960 and became one of the few women in Iceland to write

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

poetry. Her third book of poems, ''Kyndilmessa'' (1971; Candlemass), has been described as a "breakthrough".Tierney 1999: 679. Innovative features in her works include the use of colloquial language and images of daily life. Like

Jón úr Vör Jón úr Vör (1917–2000) was an Icelandic poet. He has been credited, along with Steinn Steinarr, as being one of those who brought a modernist approach into Icelandic poetry Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by ...

she combined lyrical realism with romantic imagery. Vilborg was active in the

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

movement, and her works are concerned with the status of women in society as well as social inequality in general. She published a number of books for children, including non-fiction works and translations.

Early and personal life

Vilborg was born in Vestdalseyri,

Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the Municipalities of Iceland, municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarhe ...

in the

Eastern Region Eastern Region or East Region may refer to: * Eastern Region (Abu Dhabi): Al Ain *Eastern Region, Ghana *Eastern Region (Iceland) *Eastern Region, Malta *Eastern Region, Nepal *Eastern Region, Nigeria * Eastern Region, Serbia *Eastern Region, Ugand ...

of Iceland.

Gerður Kristný Gerður Kristný (born 1970) is an Icelandic writer who is best known for her poetry and books for children. Early life Gerður Kristný was born on 10 June 1970 and brought up in Reykjavík. She graduated in French and comparative literature fro ...

. 24 October 2020. "Også de var barn" and they too were children"

Klassekampen (Lit. translation: ''"The Class Struggle"'') is a Norwegian daily newspaper in print and online. Its tagline is "The daily newspaper of the Left". The paper's net circulation was 33,265 in 2022, and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper ...

Bokmagasinet. P. 7 She studied to become a teacher, and became one in 1955. She taught at elementary school all together for 46 years. In regard to her political views, media has written that "she converted to communism before she was eighteen and went to Reykjavik to study"; she was also described as a "socialist". Vilborg was married to

Þorgeir Þorgeirson Þorgeir Þorgeirson (30 April 1933 – 30 October 2003) was an Icelandic writer, translator and filmmaker, one of the first Icelandic graduates of foreign film schools. In 1987 he was found guilty of defaming the Icelandic police in two newspaper ...

(1933–2003), a writer and filmmaker. Vilborg died on 16 September 2021 at the

National University Hospital of Iceland National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Works

;Poetry * Laufið á trjánum ('foliage on the trees'), Heimskringla 1960 * Dvergliljur ('dwarf lilies'), Helgafell 1968 * Kyndilmessa (Candlemas), Helgafell 1971 * Ljóð (heildarútgáfa) (''Poems''), Mál og menning 1981 * Klukkan í turninum (''The Clock in the Tower''), Forlagið 1992 * Ótta (ljóðaúrval), Valdimar Tómasson 1994 * Ljósar hendur (safnrit 3 skálda), Fjölvaútgáfan 1996 * Orðin vaxa í kringum mig (1989; Words Grow All Around Me)

Notes

References

* Bandle, Oskar et al. (2002). ''The Nordic Languages: an International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages''. Walter de Gruyter. * Neijmann, Daisy L. (2007). ''A History of Icelandic Literature''. University of Nebraska Press. * Tierney, Helen (1999). ''Women's Studies Encyclopedia''. Greenwood Press.
Vilborg Dagbjartsdóttir
Reykjavík City Library

External links

Selected works with English translations {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilborg Dagbjartsdottir Dagbjartsdottir, Vilborg Dagbjartsdottir, Vilborg 20th-century Icelandic women writers 20th-century Icelandic poets Icelandic communists Icelandic feminists Icelandic socialists Icelandic women poets