Linda Vilhjálmsdóttir

English Enska Franska French Galician Galisíska German Ljóð Poetry Polish Pólska Swedish Sænska Þýska

Linda Vilhjálmsdóttir (b. 1958) is a poet, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. She was already known from her magazine contributions when her first collection, Bláþráður (Hanging by a Thread) was published in 1990, the best début by an Icelandic poet for a long time. Two aspects of Vilhjálmsdóttir's work were perhaps most striking: the depth she achieved in her introspective poems, and her original approach to nature poetry. Her second book, Klakabörnin (The Children of Ice, 1992), testified to her growing stature as a poet as she tackles perennial subjects such as human relationships and emotions with a singular lyrical sensitivity. In 2003 she published a semi-autobiographical novel: Lygasaga (Story of Lies).

Her plays have been staged at the Reykjavik City Theatre as well as other ventures.

Linda Vilhjálmsdóttir has received numerous prizes and awards for her literary work, including two literary awards from the daily newspaper DV, the Jón-úr-Vör Poety Award and the Icelandic Booksellers' Prize for the best volume of poetry in 2015. The volume frelsi (liberty) was also nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize (2017) and brought her the title “European Poet of Freedom” 2018 in Gdansk.
Her poems have been published in various anthologies in English, Swedish, French, German and Galician.

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Works in translation

• humm (2022) 

Poland (Wydawnictwo Literackie)

• smáa letrið (2018)

Germany (Elif Verlag, 2021), transl. Jon Thor Gislason and Wolfgang Schiffer; Sweden (Lil'Lit Förlag, 2021), transl. John Swedenmark

 

• frelsi (2015)

Germany (Elif Verlag, 2018), transl. Jon Thor Gislason and Wolfgang Schiffer; Poland (City Culture Institute, 2018), transl. Jacek Godek; Sweden (Lil'Lit Förlag, 2019), transl. John Swedenmark

 

• frostfiðrildi (2006) & öll fallegu orðin (2000)

Alle schönen Worte. Öll fallegu orðin / Alle schönen Worte. Frostfiðrildin / Frostschmetterlinge: Ljóð / Gedichte. Poems in Icelandic and German. Illustrations by Bernd Koberling, Kleinheinrich, Germany, 2011 Transl. Tina Flecken

 

• Mona Lisa (selected poems from Bláþráður (1990) and Klakabörnin (1992).)

UK (Greyhound Press, in association with The Essex festival, 1993), transl. Sigurður A. Magnússon. In Icelandic and English.

• Beneath the Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry. Edited by Helen Mitsios. 

Talisman House, US, 2014: Hekla volcano; Rhapsody; Weather; Morning Poem; The Sea; Happiness. Transl. Sigurður A. Magnússon

• Isländsiche Lyrik. Insel Verlag, Germany, 2011: Island, (transl. Gregor Laschen & Franz Gislason); Wetter – Zwei (transl. Tina Flecken); Frostschmetterlinge (transl. Tina Flecken).

• Wortlaut Island, Isländische Gegenwartsliteratur. 

Edited by Franz Gislason, Sigurður A. Magnússon, Wolfgang Schiffer. Edition die horen, Germany, 2000: Wetter; Himmelsbref (transl. Franz Gislason, Wolfgang Schiffer & Johann P. Tammen); Sturm im Blut (transl. BarbaraKöhler); Das Schiffsradio (transl. Franz Gislason, Wolfgang Schiffer & Johann P. Tammen); Nacht. Eins; Nacht. Zwei; Nacht. Drei (transl. Johann P. Tammen); Island (transl. Gregor Laschen); ja doch selbstverständlich; weixss nicht; komm (transl. Franz Gislason & Wolfgang Schiffer)

• A booklet of translation from The 30th Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 1999 (available in English or Dutch at www.poetry.nl)

• Brushstrokes of blue – The young poets of Iceland. An Anthology. 

Selected by Pall Valsson. The Greyhound Press, UK, 1994: Bus Stop; Nights; Mona Lista: First Mosaic; Mona Lisa: Second Mosaic; Mona Lisa: Third Mosaic; Side by Side. Transl. Sigurdur A. Magnusson

• Ich hörte die Farbe blau – Poesi aus Island, an anthology of Icelandic poetry, published by Edition die horen, Germany 1992 

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