Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir

Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir was born in Reykjavík in 1976 and completed her studies in philosophy there in 2007.

Active as a writer since 1998, although her first book, »Sóley sólufegri« (roughly »Buttercup outshining the sun«), was published in a limited run of just ten copies, her collection of short stories »Á meðan hann horfir á þig ertu María mey« (tr. While he looks at you, you are the Virgin Mary) released in the same year attracted considerably greater attention from both readers and critics. In 1999, Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir followed up with the novel »Ljúlí ljúlí«, which tells the story of a 20-year-old woman named Saga who lives together with her father and, for lengthy stretches, with his four friends, on Karlagata. Literally translated, Karlagata means »street of men«, and represents a world of and for men which is thrown into disarray when Saga begins an affair with one of her father’s friends. In 2000 the author published her third novel, »Fyrirlestur um hamingjuna« (tr. A lecture on happiness), which garnered her a nomination for the Icelandic Literature Prize. In addition to three further novels, Mínervudóttir has since written pieces for newspapers and collections, a volume of poetry in collaboration with fellow Icelandic writer Hrafn Jökulsson as well as philosophical short stories for children which are also used in schools as instructional materials. Her international breakthrough came in 2008 with her novel »Skaparinn« (Engl. »The Creator«, 2012). In the book, Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir tells the story of a man who resorts to the art of creating lifelike sex dolls until the visit of a woman who takes one of the dolls, thereby setting in motion a chain of unforeseeable events. The author reflects the loneliness of the one character in the other and »presents it all in a sort of fluctuating narrative in which she alternates between inner and external views of the protagonists« (»SF Magazin«). As »Die Zeit« noted, Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir aims »for the heart of a present in which endless freedom leaves people rootless because they are so afraid of commitment«. Her novel »Allt með kossi vekur« (2011; tr. Everything with a Kiss Awakens) is set at the time of a volcanic eruption in Iceland that also impacts the life of the artist Elísabet. She claims that as a young girl, a kiss of enlightenment made her an artist, until thirteen years later her adoptive son David reveals the truth behind her stories.

Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir received the Icelandic Literature Prize and other honours for the book. She lives in Reykjavík.

Á meðan hann horfir á þig ertu María mey

Bjartur Reykjavík, 1998

Ljúlí ljúlí

Bjartur Reykjavík, 1999

Fyrirlestur um hamingjuna

Bjartur Reykjavík, 2000

Der Schöpfer

Btb München, 2011

[Ü: Tina Flecken]

Alles beginnt mit einem Kuss

Btb München, 2014

[Ü: Anika Wolff]

http://minervudottir.com