Skip to main content

Hallgrímur Helgason

Biography

Hallgrímur Helgason

Hallgrímur Helgason was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1959. He started out as an artist and debuted as a novelist in 1990, gaining international attention with his third novel, 101 REYKJAVÍK, which was translated into 14 languages and made into a film. He has thrice been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize, including for his novel WOMAN AT 1,000 DEGREES. Also a columnist and a father of three, he now divides his time between Reykjavík and Hrísey Island.

Hallgrímur Helgason

Books by Hallgrímur Helgason

written by Hallgrímur Helgason, translated by Brian FitzGibbon - Fiction

From her childhood in the remote islands of Iceland, where she was born the granddaughter of Iceland’s first president, to teen years spent living by her wits alone in war-torn Europe while her father fought on the side of the Nazis, to love affairs on several continents, Herra Björnsson moved Zelig-like through the major events and locales of the 20th century. She wed and lost husbands, had children, fled a war, kissed a Beatle, weathered the Icelandic financial crash, and mastered the Internet. She has experienced luck and betrayal and upheaval and pain, and --- with a bawdy, uncompromising spirit --- she has survived it all. Now, as she awaits death in a garage in Reykjavík, she shows us a woman unbowed by the forces of history.