Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl was born in Reykjavík on July 1st 1978. He finished his secondary education in Ísafjörður in the Westfjords in Iceland in 1999 and later studied German in Berlin in 2003. As well as being a writer, Eiríkur has done a number of jobs through the years, taught at grade school, done painting jobs at a ship yard, been a night guard at a hotel, worked at homes for handicapped people, been a caregiver at old people's homes, a cleaner at a cruise ship and a chef at a day care center, to name some. He is one of the founders of Nyhil, a publishing house focusing on writings by young people which also organized various cultural events.

Eiríkur Örn has organized a number of festivals and poetry programs for Nyhil, such as Nyhil Poetry Nights in Berlin in the winter of 2002 - 2003, The Nyhil Poetry Party around Iceland in the summer of 2003, The Mugihil Westfjord Tour with the musician Mugison (Örn Elías Guðmundsson) as well as numerous Nyhil nights in Reykjavik, Berlin and in Ísafjörður. He was the director of The Nyhil International Poetry Festival held in Reykjavik in August 2005 and the same festival in November 2006. A large group of Icelandic and foreign poets took part in these festivals. Eiríkur was also director of Traktor in Ísafjörður, a sub-company of Bjartur Publishing House, which should focus on fresh and provocative literature by Icelandic and foreign authors.

Eiríkur Örn's first published book is the poetry book Heilagt stríð - runnið undan rifjum drykkjumanna (A Wholy War – Initiated by Drinkers) which he published himself in 50 copies in 2001. A year erlier he had published three short stories, each in a booklet. Since then, Eiríkur has sent forward more books of poetry, in Icelandic and English, as well as novels. His poetry has also appeared in collections and magazines in Iceland and abroad. Furthermore, Eiríkur Örn is a translator, both of fiction and non fiction, and has written articles about literature and social issues for newspapers, magazines and radio. Eiríkur was awarded the Icelandic Translator’s Prize in 2008 for his translation of Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn. His literature reviews have appeared in Morgunblaðið newspaper, the poetry website ljod.is, the magazine Mannlíf and the Ísafjörður based paper Bæjarins besta, among other places, and he has also done interviews for the last two mentioned. 

Eiríkur's first novel was published in 2004, titled Hugsjónadruslan (The Ideal Slut). More have followed since then. Eiríkur was awarded the Icelandic Literature Prize for his 2012 novel Illska (Evil), which was also nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize.

Author photo: Aino Huovio.