All kinds of fame
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Halldór wrote 51 books during his
lifetime. He also wrote poems,
plays and articles in newspapers.
His work has been translated in
over 40 languages. He is the only
Icelandic person ever to win a
Nobel Prize, which he received in
1955 for literature.
You have probably read one of
Hallór’s poems at some point.
One of his most famous poems is
‘Maístjarnan’; many Icelanders know it
by heart.
Halldór was only 17 years old when his
first novel was published. It was called
Barn
náttúrunnar (A Child of the Nature)
. Other famous
books by Halldór include
Independent People,
Iceland’s Bell, Salka Valka
and
The Atom Station.
Halldór studied at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in
1918. He didn’t last long in school because he had
started writing his first novel and wanted to devote
himself to his writings. Halldór travelled frequently
to both North America and Europe. He stayed
among monks in Luxemburg in between 1922 and
1923 and converted to Catholicism. At this point he
took the middle name Kiljan.
Halldór had four children. He married twice; his
second wife was Auður Sveinsdóttir. They lived
together in their home Gljúfrasteinn with their two
daughters. Today it is a museum where visitors can
see how Halldór lived. Gljúfrasteinn was very fancy
for its time and there is even a swimming pool in the
garden. If you haven’t been there, you should try to
visit someday.
published
: gefið út
devote
: helga sig
monk
: munkur
converted to
:
snerist til
