Bio
Margrét Örnólfsdóttir was born in Reykjavík on November 21st 1967. She graduated from Menntaskólinn í Hamrahlíð secondary school in 1988 and in 1994 completed eighth level piano from the Reykjavík Music Academy.
Margrét played keyboards for The Sugar Cubes from 1988 to 1992. From then on she has worked independently as a musician, writing music for films and theatre, and recorded children‘s albums. She has also worked as a translator and a copywrighter, held arts‘ classes for children and adults, as well as managing radio- and television programmes.
Margrét wrote the screenplay, as well as the music, for the film Regína (2001) and has since then worked as a screenwriter. She has written for the programmes Stelpurnar, Svartir englar, Réttur and Pressa, as well as the Áramótaskaup of 2006. She sat on the board of the Icelandic Dramatists‘ Union from 2005 to 2007.
Margrét‘s first children‘s novel, Aþena (ekki höfuðborgin í Grikklandi ;) (Athena (Not the Greek Capital ;) ), was published in 2009. The sequel, Aþena – hvað er málið með Haítí (Athena – What‘s the Deal With Haiti), was published the following year, and Með heiminn í vasanum (The World in Your Pocket) was published in 2012. Margrét has been awarded the Icelandic Women‘s Literature Award and the Icelandic IBBY Award for her books, and in 2012 she received the Icelandic Children‘s Literature Award for Með heiminn í vasanum.
Margrét is married with five children. She lives in Kópavogur.
Publisher: Bjartur.
Awards
2012 – The Reykjavík Scholastic Children’s Literature Award: Með heiminn í vasanum (With the Whole World in Your Hands)
2012 – Fjöruverðlaunin (Women’s literary prize): Með heiminn í vasanum
2011 - IBBY Iceland’s Children’s Literature Prize: For her overall contribution to children’s culture, especially her two books about Aþena from 2009 and 2010.
2010 – Fjöruverðlaunin (Women’s literary prize): Aþena (ekki höfuðborgin í Grikklandi) (Athens (Not the Capital of Greece))
Nominations
2011 – The West-Nordic Children’s Book Prize: Með heiminn í vasanum
Aþena – að eilífu, kúmen! (Athena – Forever and ever, Cumin!)
Read moreMeð heiminn í vasanum (With the Whole World in Your Hand)
Read moreAþena: Hvað er málið með Haítí? (Athens: What´s the Deal With Haiti?)
Read moreAthens (Not the Capital of Greece ;)
Read moreRéttur (The Court)
Read moreSvartir englar (Black Angels)
Read moreGaldrabókin
Read moreRegína (Regina)
Read more