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íslenska

Einar Kárason

Bio

Einar Kárason was born in Reykjavík on November 24, 1955. After finishing highschool in 1975, he studied literature at the University of Iceland until 1978. He did a variety of jobs with his studies, but since 1978 Einar has been a full time writer.

He sat on the board of the Writer's Union of Iceland from 1984 to 1986, was vice-chairman from 1986 to 1988 and chairman from 1988 to 1992. As chairman of the Writer's Union, Einar sat on the boards of among others The Federation of Icelandic Artists and The Icelandic Association on Books. He has been one of the board members of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival since 1985.

Einar Kárason started his writing career by publishing poetry in literary magazines in the years 1978 – 1980, and his first novel, Þetta eru asnar Guðjón, appeared in 1981. Two years later the first book in his trilogy about life in one of the post war "barracks neighbourhoods" of Reykjavík came out, Þar sem djöflaeyjan rís (Where Devil's Isle Rises). The next, Gulleyjan (The Isle of Gold), received the DV newspaper's Literature Award in 1986, and it was also nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize a year later. The last book of the trilogy, Fyrirheitna landið (The Promised Land) was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Award in 1989. The trilogy was adapted for the stage and the play was highly popular when staged by the Reykjavík Drama Company. Einar also wrote a film script based on the books in cooperation with director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson and his movie, Djöflaeyjan (Devil's Island) premiered in 1996. Einar and Friðrik also worked together on the film Skytturnar, which was released in 1987. Einar has published a number of other novels, short story collections and poetry. His first children's book came out in 1993. Books by Einar have been translated to a number of languages.

 

Author photo: Jóhann Páll Valdimarsson.