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Árni Bergmann

Bio

Árni Bergmann was born on August 22, 1935 in Keflavík. After finishing highschool, he went to Moscow and received a M.A. degree in Russian from The University of Moscow in 1962. Árni was a journalist at the daily Þjóðviljinn for years, he started working there in 1962 and was the Editor in Chief for 14 years, until 1992. He was also the paper's main literary critic. Árni was a sessional teacher at the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland and in Russian at the same school. He also did some tv programs for the Icelandic Broadcasting Company in the years 1973 – 75. Árni sat on the board of the Nordic Culture Fund in 1990, and has also been on the board of the Icelandic Fund for Translation. He was on the editorial committee of the literary magazine Tímarit Máls og menningar for a number of years.

Árni has written numerous articles about Russian and Soviet literature for journals and newspapers, and translated many plays for the National Theatre, The City Theatre and the National Radio. His first novel, Geirfuglarnir (The Great Auks) was published in 1982 and since then he has published novels, children's books and memoirs. His novel, Þorvaldur víðförli (Thorvald the Widely-Travelled), was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize in 1994 and for the Nordic Literature Prize in 1998.