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íslenska

Sjón

Bio

Sjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson) was born in Reykjavik on the 27th of August, 1962. He started his writing career early, publishing his first book of poetry, Sýnir (Visions), in 1978. Sjón was a founding member of the surrealist group, Medúsa, and soon became significant in Reykjavik´s cultural landscape.

Sjón has published many poetry collections, a number of novels, plays for theatre, librettos and material for children. In addition to his writing career, he has participated in art exhibitions and musical events of all kinds. He has collaborated with many other artists as well, most notably Björk, with whom he has composed music, conceived music videos, and written texts for songs, including those for the movie Dancer in the Dark (2000), directed by Lars Von Trier. Sjón was an original founder of the Children´s Art Workshop at the Gerðuberg Cultural Centre and has worked elsewhere with children in creative writing. He also helped establish the publishing house Smekkleysa (Bad Taste).

Sjón’s work, both his poetry and novels, has been translated to numerous languages. He received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for his novella Skugga-Baldur (The Blue Fox) in 2005 and has also received a number of awards for his work in Iceland. In 2021 Sjón received the French L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettre. Lamb, co-written by Sjón and director Valdimar Jóhannsson, recieved the Nordic Council Film Prize in 2022 and in 2023 Sjón was awarded The Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize. The award is awarded to someone in the Nordic countries who have made significant efforts in one of the Academy's areas of activity or interest.