Svava Jakobsdóttir

Svava Jakobsdóttir (born 4 October 1930 in Neskaupstaður; † 21 February 2004) was an Icelandic writer and politician.

Life

Svavas parents were the Lutheran theologian Hans Jakob Jonsson and his wife Þóra Einarsdóttir. The writer Jökull Jakobsson and the meteorologist Edward Jakobsson Þór were her brothers. Part of her childhood was spent in Saskatchewan, where her father from 1935 to 1940 worked as a priest.

Svava studied from 1949 to 1952 English and American Literature at Smith College in Northampton (Massachusetts ) and then to 1953 Nordic Literature at Somerville College, Oxford. She worked as a journalist and teacher, and from 1955 to 1960 in the Icelandic Embassy in Stockholm. From 1965 to 1966 she studied another year Swedish literature at the University of Uppsala. Her first book, the short story collection Tolf Konur, appeared in 1965.

From 1971 to 1979 Svava was a member of the Althing for the People's Alliance.

Work

Svava wrote two novels and short stories in addition to some dramas. It applies one of the most important writers of Iceland and a pioneer among the Icelandic playwrights. Her first drama, he Hvad í blýhólknum? 1970 dealt the first Icelandic play mainly with the situation of women.

1990 Svavas novel Gunnlaðar saga was nominated for the Literature Prize of the Nordic Council.

Her work is also seen as a major influence for Gerður Kristný.

Works

Short story collections

• Tolf Konur (1965 )
• Veizla undir grjótvegg (1967 )
• Sögur (1979)
• Gefið hvort öðru (1982 )
• Endurkoma (1986)
• Smásögur (1987)
• Undir eldfjalli (1989 )
• Sögur hana öllum (2001)

Novels

• Leigjandin (1969)
• Gunnlaðar saga (1987 )

Dramas

• He Hvad í blýhólknum? (1970)
• Friðsæl veröld (1974)
• Æskuvinir (1976)
• Í contact við tímann (1980 )
• Lokaæfing (1983)