{"id":108,"date":"2010-10-14T10:04:39","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T10:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uni.hi.is\/rhv\/?page_id=108"},"modified":"2025-06-10T08:56:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T08:56:48","slug":"the-author","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/rhv\/english\/the-author\/","title":{"rendered":"The Author"},"content":{"rendered":"

R\u00fanar Helgi Vignisson<\/strong> is the author of novels, short stories, essays, and works of creative nonfiction. Born in the small fishing town of \u00cdsafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur 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 Universit\u00e9 de Grenoble in France and the Goethe-Institut in Germany.<\/p>\n

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 Gar\u00f0ab\u00e6r in 2006. His latest book, the memoir You Confused Man: An Attempt at a System Upgrade<\/em>, was awarded a prize from the J\u00f3n Sigur\u00f0sson Fund.<\/p>\n

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<\/em> by Coetzee and the Reykjav\u00edk City Children\u2019s Literature Award for Sunwing<\/em> by Kenneth Oppel. His translation of Atonement<\/em> by Ian McEwan earned him a DV Cultural Prize nomination in 2003, and his translation of As I Lay Dying<\/em> by Faulkner was nominated for the Icelandic Translation Prize in 2013. In 2020, he and Sigurl\u00edna Dav\u00ed\u00f0sd\u00f3ttir received the Icelandic Booksellers\u2019 Award for their translation of Waiting for the Barbarians<\/em> by Coetzee.<\/p>\n

Vignisson has been active in Icelandic literary life for decades. He has served on the board of the Icelandic Writers\u2019 Union, co-founded and chaired the Icelandic Translators\u2019 Association, and served on the boards of Reykjav\u00edk 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\u2014more or less continuously\u2014since 2008.<\/p>\n

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