Authors
Jón Kalman Stefánsson
About the author
Jón Kalman Stefánsson was born in Reykjavík on December 17th 1963. He lived there for the first 12 years of his life, then moved to Keflavík and returned to Reykjavík in 1986 with his highschool diploma. From 1975 – 1982 he spent a good deal of his time in West Iceland, where he did various jobs, worked in a slaughterhouse, in the fishing industry, doing masonry and for one summer he worked as a police officer at Keflavík International Airport. Jón Kalman studied literature at the University of Iceland from 1986 until 1991 but did not finish his degree. He taught literature at two highschools for a period of time and wrote articles and critique for Morgunblaðið newspaper for a number of years. Jón lived in Copenhagen from 1992 – 1995, reading, washing floors and counting buses. He worked as a librarian at the Mosfellsbær Library near Reykjavík until the year 2000. Since then he has been a full time writer.
His first published work, the poetry collection, Með byssuleyfi á eilífðina, came out in 1988. He has published two other collections of poetry and a number of novels. His novel Sumarljós, og Svo kom nóttin (Summer Light, and Then Came the Night) won The Icelandic Literature Prize in 2005. Three of his books have also been nominated for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize.
Publisher: Bjartur.
Further reading:
Fiction
Novels
Harmur englanna, 2009: Bjartur
France, La tristesse des anges, 2011: Gallimard
Germany, Der Schmerz der Engel, 2011: Piper
Netherlands, Het verdriet van de engelen, 2012: Anthos
Norway, Englenes sorg, 2011: Press
Sweden, Änglarnas sorg, 2011: Weyler
Himnaríki og helvíti, 2007: Bjartur
Denmark, Himmerige og helvede, 2010: Batzer at Batzer & Co.
France, Entre ciel et terre, 2010: Gallimard
Germany, Himmel und Hölle, 2009: Reclam Verlag
Italy, Paradiso e inferno, 2011: Iperborea
Netherlands, Hemel en hel, 2010: Anthos
Norway, Himmelrike og helvete, 2010: Press
Poland, Niebo i piekło, 2011: Iperborea
Sweden, Himmel och helvete, 2010: Svante Weyler Bokförlag
UK, Heaven and Hell, 2010: Maclehose
Snarkið í stjörnunum, 2003: Bjartur
Germany, Das Knistern in den Sternen, 2005: Reclam
Birtan á fjöllunum, 1999: Bjartur
Germany, Das Licht auf den Bergen, 2003: Lübbe
Sumarið bakvið brekkuna, 1997: Bjartur
Germany, Der Sommer hinter dem Hügel*, 2001: Lübbe
Ýmislegt um risafurur og tímann, 2001: Bjartur
Germany, 2006, Verschiedenes über Riesenkiefern und die Zeit: Reclam
Sumarljós, og svo kemur nóttin, 2005, 2006: Bjartur
Sweden, Sommarljus och sen kommer natten, 2008: Svante Weyler
Hjarta mannsins, 2011: Bjartur
Short Stories
Skurðir í rigningu, 1996: Bjartur
Germany, Der Sommer hinter dem Hügel*, 2003: Lübbe
Poetry
Hún spurði hvað ég tæki með mér á eyðieyju, 1993: Forlagið
Úr þotuhreyflum guða, 1989: Höfundur
Með byssuleyfi á eilífðina, 1988: Höfundur