Gerður Kristný

Gerður Kristný was born on June 10, 1970 and brought up in Reykjavík. She graduated in French and comparative literature from the University of Iceland in 1992. She won the Icelandic Literature Awards 2010 for her book of poetry Bloodhoof (Arc Publication, 2012) which is based on an ancient Nordic myth, told in the Eddic poem Skírnimál, about the attempt of the Nordic fertility god Freyr to fetch the poet's namesake Gerdur Gymisdóttir from her far away home as his bride. Bloodhoof was also nominated to the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Gerður Kristný is one of the most prolific contemporary writers in Icelandic, writing poetry and short stories, novels, books for children and a biography, for which she received The Icelandic Journalism Award. Other awards for her work include The Icelandic Children's Choice Awards, The Halldór Laxness Literary Award and The West-Nordic Children's Literature Award. Last year Gerður won the Jónas Hallgrímsson Award for her contributions to the Icelandic language.