Sigurlín Bjarney Gísladóttir

Sigurlín Bjarney Gísladóttir was born in Hafnarfjörður in 1975 and grew up in Sandgerði. Bjarney has worked as a guide, a proofreader and a teacher, among other things. She holds a masters degree in creative writing and Icelandic literature from The University of Iceland.

Bjarney‘s first book, a collection of prose poetry titled Fjallvegir í Reykjavík (Mountain Trails of Reykjavík), was published in 2007. The short story collection Svuntustrengur (Apron String) was published in 2009 and in 2013 the book of poetry Bjarg (Cliff). The year 2015 saw the publication of two new books: the novella Jarðvist (Earthly Existence) and Ég erfði dimman skóg (I Inherited a Dark Wood), a book of poetry Bjarney wrote in collaboration with six other female writers. Tungusól og nokkrir dagar í maí (Tongue of Sun and A Few Days in May) followed in 2016 and in 2019 her fifth book of poetry Undrarýmið (Space of Wonder) as well as the short story collection Stínusögur.

Bjarney has published stories and poems in various magazines and written columns for the radio. The radio series Fjöllin hafa vakað (The Mountains Are Awake), about the history of the idea of mountains and volcanos, was broadcast on Channel 1 over Easter 2020.

In recent years Bjarney has been a teacher of Icelandic at the secondary-school level and a part-time teacher at The University of Iceland.