Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir is a prize-winning Icelandic novelist, playwright, and poet. Auður Ava’s novels have been translated into over 25 languages.

Auður Ava Olafsdóttir was born in Iceland. She studied art history and theory at Sorbonne in Paris and completed her doctorate in 2002. Later Olafsdóttir lectured on the History of Art at the University of Iceland.

Ólafsdóttir has written several novels, plays, and poetry collections. Her works often explore themes of love, loss, identity, and human relationships. She debuted in 1998 with the novel Upphækkuð jörð (Raised Earth)

One of her most well-known books is The Greenhouse (Græn­hú­sið), published in 2007. It received critical acclaim and won the DV Culture Award for literature. The Greenhouse also was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Award.

The novel tells the story of a young man who becomes a single father after the sudden death of his wife and finds solace in his work at a greenhouse.

Another notable work by Ólafsdóttir is Butterflies in November (Rigning í nóvember, 2004). It follows the journey of a woman who embarks on a road trip around Iceland with a young deaf boy and a dead friend in the trunk of her car.

Her Hotel Silence (2016) won the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize. It was chosen Best Icelandic Novel in 2016 by booksellers in Iceland.

Auður Ava Olafsdóttir currently lives and works in Reykjavik.

Photo credit: pushkinpress.com