Rúnar Helgi Vignisson is the author of novels, short stories, essays, and works of creative nonfiction. Born in the small fishing town of Ísafjörður in northwestern Iceland in 1959, he earned a BA in English from the University of Iceland in 1981 and an MA from the University of Iowa in 1987. He also pursued doctoral studies there before ultimately choosing to become a writer. Earlier, he studied at the Université de Grenoble in France and the Goethe-Institut in Germany.

Vignisson has received numerous accolades for his writing, including the DV Cultural Prize for Literature, a nomination for the Icelandic Literature Prize, and various grants from the Icelandic Ministry of Culture. He was named Honorary Artist of the town of Garðabær in 2006. His latest book, the memoir You Confused Man: An Attempt at a System Upgrade, was awarded a prize from the Jón Sigurðsson Fund.

A prolific translator and editor, Vignisson has introduced Icelandic readers to a wide range of world literature. He has translated works by authors such as Amy Tan, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, Elizabeth Jolley, Dave Eggers, Jhumpa Lahiri, William Faulkner, and J. M. Coetzee. He won the Icelandic Translation Prize in 2006 for Boyhood by Coetzee and the Reykjavík City Children’s Literature Award for Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel. His translation of Atonement by Ian McEwan earned him a DV Cultural Prize nomination in 2003, and his translation of As I Lay Dying by Faulkner was nominated for the Icelandic Translation Prize in 2013. In 2020, he and Sigurlína Davíðsdóttir received the Icelandic Booksellers’ Award for their translation of Waiting for the Barbarians by Coetzee.

Vignisson has been active in Icelandic literary life for decades. He has served on the board of the Icelandic Writers’ Union, co-founded and chaired the Icelandic Translators’ Association, and served on the boards of Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature and the Association of Teachers of Icelandic. He is a co-founder and board member of the newly established Short Story Research Center at the University of Iceland and chairs the Institute for Research in Literature and Visual Arts at the same institution. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Iceland and has directed the Creative Writing Program there—more or less continuously—since 2008.

See also: Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature