Ármann Jakobsson (born 18 July 1970) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic author and scholar.

Biography

Ármann was born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland. His father was a banker and his mother a psychologist. His sister is

Katrín Jakobsdóttir Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007. A graduate of the Univers ...

, prime minister of Iceland. Ármann holds a PhD from the University of Iceland, graduating in 2003. Ármann became a lecturer in Early Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland in 2008. He was a senior lecturer from 2008–2011, and then a full professor from 2011. From 2022, he is the president of the

Icelandic Literary Society The Icelandic Literary Society (Hið Íslenzka Bókmenntafélag), founded in 1816, is a society dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language, literature and learning. The society was founded in 1816, when the Icelandic independence m ...

and chairman of the Icelandic language commission since 2020. His first novel was published in 2008, and since then he has published eleven works of fiction. He has been nominated twice for the Icelandic literature prize, and was on the IBBY honour list of 2016. Many of his novels engage with medieval and folkloric themes. His first novel was a historical novel taking place in 1908, during the heated debate about Icelandic independence. As a medievalist scholar, Ármann has published extensively on Old Norse literature, focusing on medieval attitudes towards kingship as an institution, childhood and old age, masculinities, paranormal figures and concepts and most recently on disability in the Middle Ages. As a teenager, Ármann competed alongside his twin brother,

Sverrir Jakobsson Sverre, Sverrir or Sverri is a Nordic name from the Old Norse ''Sverrir'', meaning "wild, swinging, spinning". It is a common name in Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands; it is less common in Denmark and Sweden. It can also be a surname. Sverre m ...

, in the quiz show

Gettu betur ''Gettu betur'' () is an Icelandic team quiz show, broadcast on public television channel RÚV. Each team consists of three students from one of Iceland's high schools or colleges. Two teams play against each other in each episode. Two preliminar ...

, winning the competition in 1990. In 2020, he read the most famous of the sagas, ''Njáls saga'', on Icelandic radio. From 2020, he is the editor of the scholarly journal Andvari.

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''Vonarstræti'' (''Hope Street''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2008). * ''Fréttir frá mínu landi: Óspakmæli og örsögur'' (''News from My Country: Microprose and unaphorisms''). (Reykjavík: Nýhil, 2008). * ''Glæsir'' (''Bull''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2011). * ''Síðasti galdrameistarinn'' (''The Last Witch''). Children's book. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2014). * ''Brotamynd'' (''Fractals''). Novel. (Reykjavík: JPV útgáfa, 2017). * ''Útlagamorðin'' (''Outsiders''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2018). * ''Urðarköttur'' (''Werecat''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2019). * ''Bölvun múmíunnar, 2 bindi'' (''The Curse of Horemheb, I–II''). Young adult novel in two parts. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2019–2020). * ''Tíbrá'' (''Mirage''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2020). * ''Goðsögur'' (''Legends''). Short stories. (Akureyri: Pastel, 2020; transl. in 2022). * ''Skollaleikur'' (''Blind Man's Buff''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2021). * ''Álfheimar 1: Bróðirinn'' (''Fairyland 1: The Abduction''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2021). * ''Reimleikar'' (''Apparitions''). Crime novel. (Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2022). * ''Álfheimar 2: Risinn'' (''Fairyland 2: Giant''). Fantasy novel. (Reykjavík: Angústúra, 2022).

Non-fiction (selection)

* ''Í leit að konungi: Konungsmynd íslenskra konungasagna'' (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 1997). * ''Staður í nýjum heimi: Konungasagan Morkinskinna'' (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2002). * ''Tolkien og Hringurinn'' (Reykjavík: Forlagið, 2003). * ''Illa fenginn mjöður: Lesið í miðaldatexta'' (Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun: Háskólaútgáfan, 2009 nd edition, 2015. * ''Morkinskinna I-II'', Íslenzk fornrit 23-24 (ed. with Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson) (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2011). * ''Nine Saga Studies: The Critical Interpretation of the Icelandic Sagas'' (Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press, 2013). * ''A Sense of Belonging: Morkinskinna and Icelandic Identity c. 1220'', transl. by Fredrik J. Heinemann (Odense: University press of Southern Denmark, 2014). * ''Íslendingaþættir: Saga hugmyndar'' (Reykjavík: Bókmennta- og listfræðastofnun Háskóla Íslands: Háskólaútgáfan, 2014). * ''The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas'' (ed. with Sverrir Jakobsson) (New York: Routledge, 2017 nd paperback edition 2019. * ''The Troll Inside You: Paranormal Activity in the Medieval North'' (punctum books, 2017). * ''Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150-1400'' (ed. with Miriam Mayburd) (Boston/Berlin: de Gruyter), 2020. * ''Íslenskar bókmenntir: Saga og samhengi,'' 2 volumes (ed.) (Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 2021).

References

External links