Literary Prizes and Awards of 2019
Works of literature and their authors received various awards and prizes last year, such as the Icelandic Literary Prize, The Women's Literature Prize, the Icelandic translators prize, the Maístjarnan Poetry Prize, and the Blóðdropinn Crime Writing Award.
Here are the awards and prizes granted last year where the pool was all published Icelandic books in various genres.
The Icelandic Literary Prize
The President of Iceland, Mr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, presented the 2019 Icelandic Literary Prize at a ceremony at Bessastaðir on Tuesday 28 January 2020. This time around a total of 135 books from 36 publishers were long listed, with five books nominated in each category.
Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson received the prize for his book Selta: apókrýfa úr ævi landlæknis (publ. Sögur) in the category of fiction, Bergrún Íris Sævarsdóttir for Langelstur að eilífu (publ. Bókabeitan) in the category of children's and young adult category, and Jón Viðar Jónsson received the prize in the category of non-fiction for his book Stjörnur og stórveldi á leiksviði Reykjavíkur 1925-1965 (publ. Skrudda).
More on the winning books of the Icelandic Literary Prize.
Fjöruverðlaunin – The Women's Literature Prize
Fjöruverðlaunin, the Women's Literature Prize was presented on 15 January 2020 by the mayor of Reykjavik, Dagur B. Eggertsson.
Bergþóra Snæbjörnsdóttir received the prize in the category of fiction for her novel Svínshöfuð (publ. Benedikt), the prize in the category of non-fiction went to Sigríður Kristín Þorgrímsdóttir for Jakobína: Saga skálds og konu (publ. Mál og menning), and the prize in the category of children's and YA books was awarded to Bergrún Íris Sævarsdóttir for Kennarinn sem hvarf (publ. Bókabeitan).
This was the fourteenth time that Fjöruverðlaunin was awarded. More on the nomination here.
The Icelandic Translation Prize
Jón St. Kristjánsson received the Icelandic Translation Prize for his translation of De Usynlige by the Norwegian author Roy Jacobsen into Icelandic. The prize was presented by the President of Iceland, Mr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson in Gljúfrasteinn on Saturday 15 February 2020. The translation, Hin ósýnilegu, was published by Mál og menning in 2019. This was the sixteenth time the prize was awarded.
Maístjarnan – the Icelandic Poetry Prize
Eva Rún Snorradóttir was awarded the Maístjarnan prize for her book of poetry Fræ sem frjógva myrkrið (Benedikt). The prize was presented in the National Library on 20 May 2019, making it the third time the prize was presented.
The Writer's Union of Iceland and the National Library award the prize and all Icelandic books of poetry published in 2018 were eligible for the prize.
The Hagþenkir Non-Fiction Award
The Association of Icelandic Non-Fiction Writers presented the Hagþenkir Award on 4 March 2020 in the National Library to Björk Ingimundardóttir for Prestaköll, sóknir og prófastsdæmi á Íslandi I-II.
Blóðdropinn – The Blood Drop: The Icelandic Crime Writing Award
Lilja Sigurðardóttir was awarded the Blóðdropinn award for her crime novel Svik. The book is Iceland's nomination for the Glass Key, the Nordic Crime Fiction Prize. Blóðdropinn was first awarded in 2007.