Kristmannsson, Gauti

Gauti Kristmannsson, born 1960, studied English Literature at the University of Iceland, Scottish Literature at the University of Edinburgh and completed his doctorate at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germersheim.
He is a professor of translation studies at the University of Iceland and an active literary translator, among others of Thomas Mann, Der Zauberberg.

Aðalsteinsdóttir, Silja

Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir, born in 1943, is a writer and translator. She has also worked as a teacher, critic, editor and journalist.
She received the Icelandic Literature Prize for her biography of the poet Guðmundur Böðvarsson, Skáldið sem sólin kyssti (The Poet Kissed by the Sun, 1994), and the Icelandic Translation Prize for the novel Wuthering Heights (2006) by Emily Brontë. She was also nominated for that award for her translation of the short story collection Dear Life by Nobel Laureate Alice Munro (2014).

Harðarson, Hrafn Andrés

Born in 1948 in Kopavogur, Iceland, Hrafn Andrés Harðarson has been working as library assistant and after studies in London as librarian at the City Library of Reykjavik since 1968. In 1976 he moved to Kopavogur as City Librarian. He worked as lecturer in Library Science at the University of Iceland from 1973 until 1987. He organised poetry readings and has published four books of poetry for the Writers' Group of Kopavogur.

Hrafn Andrés Harðarson has translated poems (from the English, Danish and Swedish languages) mainly of Latvian poets. 

Thorsteinsson, Steingrímur

Steingrímur Thorsteinsson (1831–1913) was an Icelandic poet and writer. He translated many works of literature into Icelandic, including Arabian Nights and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

Pálsson, Hjörtur

Hjörtur Pálsson was born in 1941 in northern Iceland and lives in Kópavogur in the Reykjavík area. Educated in Icelandic language, literature and history as well as theology, he belonged to the staff of the Icelandic State Radio, mainly as newsman and programme director for twenty years. For a short while he taught at the university of Århus and was director of the Nordic House in the Faroe Isles.

He is the author of five books of poetry, the first of which was published in 1972, and one book on history. He has translated many books of various kinds, among them novels and prose works by Karen Blixen, Per Olov Enquist, Martin A. Hansen, Jaan Kross, Leena Lander, Doris Lessing, Isaac Bashevis Singer and August Strindberg and three books of poetry by Rolf Jacobsen, Jaan Kaplinski and Henrik Nordbrandt.

A few of Hjörtur Pálsson´s poems have appeared in anthologies and periodicals in English, Finnish and Norwegian. He has won acknowledgement and been awarded different prizes for his poetry and translations, among them two of the major poetry prizes awarded in Iceland, the Jón úr Vör and Guðmundur Böðvarsson prizes.

Sturluson, Snorri

Snorri Sturluson was born in 1179, son of Sturla Thordarson, a minor, ruthless, yet sly chieftain in West Iceland. Sturla managed to raise his stand and power and connect with the mightiest clan of the times, the people of Oddi, by having his son Snorri fostered in Oddi by the leader of the family, Jon Loftsson. Oddi was a main center of learning in Iceland, and thus Snorri received good education. He married a very wealthy women and gradualy acquired great wealth and political power, living in Reykholt from c. 1206 until his death. He became involved in the fierce power struggles of the 13th century, which often can be called civil war, and this period has taken its name from Snorri's clan, the Age of Sturlungs, as his brothers and nephews were also deeply involved. He had very complicated relations with the Norwegian kings. The Sturlungs were also very much involved in the secular history writing, and Snorri is generally regarded as the author of the Prose Edda, containing the Old Norse mythology, The Saga of Egill Skallagrímsson which belongs to the genre of Family Sagas, and Heimskringla, which is a compilation of sagas of Norwegian kings. It must, however, be kept in mind that the modern concept of authorship didn't exist in the Middle Ages and Snorri's role in the the compilation of these works is not completely clear.

Snorri was slain by his enemies September 23, 1241.