author
Jóhann Sigurjónsson
1880–1919
Best remembered for the powerful play Fjalla-Eyvindur (Eyvind of the Mountains), this Icelandic dramatist and poet helped bring Icelandic stories to audiences far beyond his home country. Writing in both Icelandic and Danish, he built a reputation for intense, lyrical work before his life was cut short at just 39.
1 Audiobook
Modern Icelandic Plays Eyvind of the Hills; The Hraun Farm
by Jóhann Sigurjónsson
About the author
Born on June 19, 1880, at Laxamýri in northern Iceland, Jóhann Sigurjónsson grew up in a rural setting that later shaped much of his imagination and writing. He studied in Reykjavík and later in Copenhagen, where he originally pursued veterinary studies, but literature gradually became his real calling.
He is chiefly known as a playwright and poet, and his breakthrough work was Fjalla-Eyvindur (1911), the drama that made him internationally known. His writing often drew on Icelandic history, legend, and landscape, and he was unusual for writing in both Icelandic and Danish, which helped his work travel widely in Scandinavia and beyond.
Sigurjónsson died in Copenhagen on August 31, 1919. Although his career was brief, he remains one of the most recognized early Icelandic dramatists, remembered especially for the emotional force and theatrical sweep of his plays.