Þórarinn Eldjárn (b.1949) is one of Iceland’s most admired authors and the recipient of many awards. A superb poet, he has tackled almost every genre since his debut in 1974. He has published numerous collections of poetry and children’s verse, short-story collections and novels as well as translating fiction for adults and children from English and the Scandinavian languages. Among them are works by Strindberg, Ibsen, HC Andersen and Göran Tunström; Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as well as Shakespeare’s King Lear, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet for the National Theatre. Þórarinn’s novel Brotahofud (The Blue Tower) was shortlisted for the Aristeion 1998 – the European literature and translation prize, nominated to the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1999 and to the IMPAC Dublin award in 2001. Brotahofud has been published in English, Finnish, French, Danish and German translations. For further information