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íslenska

Jónína Leósdóttir

Bio

Jónína Leósdóttir was born in Reykjavík on May 16, 1955. She grew up in the west part of town, where she attended elementary and secondary school. After graduating from M.R. high school in 1974, Jónína studied linguistics and art history at Essex University for one year. She graduated with a B.A. degree in English and literature from the University of Iceland in 1984 and has also taken playwriting courses at the University’s Continuing Education.

Jónína worked as a journalist and editor for years. She was a journalist at the weekly paper Helgarpósturinn from 1985 – 1988, the editor of weekly Pressan from 1988 – 1990 and a member of the editorial at Nýtt Líf magazine from 1990 – 2005. Since then she has been a full time writer. Earlier jobs include work in the travel business, both in England and at home in Iceland, for Icelandair and different travel agencies. Jónína worked for the parliament party Bandalag jafnaðarmanna from 1984 – 1985 and was a vice-member of the Icelandic parliament Althingi for the same party from 1983 – 1987. Since 2006, Jónína has been a full-time writer.

Jónína’s first original work on print is the biography of Pastor Sigurður H. Guðjónsson, Guð almáttugur hjálpi þér (May the Good Lord Help You), from 1988. Before, she had written plays and translated books by foreign authors. She writes both for adult readers and teenagers and her work includes novels, crime novels among them, short stories, plays, poetry, translations and non-fiction. Among the awards she has received for her work is the poetry award Ljóðstafur Jóns úr Vör, the IBBY Iceland Award for her novels for teenagers and prizes in playwriting competitions.