Background
Born in Reykjavík, Eiríkur Örn grew up in Ísafjörður.
Born in Reykjavík, Eiríkur Örn grew up in Ísafjörður.
Foreign a long time most noted as an experimental poet, he has recently also come to prominence as one of Iceland"s foremost prose writers. By Eiríkur"s account he committed to a career as a writer around 2000, though he has necessarily often found an income through a wide range of other jobs, experiencing some periods of considerable hardship. He lived in Berlin from around 2002-2004, and over the next ten years in various northern European countries, most prominently in Helsinki (c 2006-2009) and Oulu (c 2009-2011).
He was a prominent contributor to The Reykjavík Grapevine in 2009-2011.
, a collection of poems translated into German by Jón Bjarni Atlason and Alexander Sitzmann.
In 2008, Eiríkur Örn received the Icelandic Translators Award for his translation of Jonathan Lethem"s tourettic novel, Motherless Brooklyn. His poetry-animation Höpöhöpö Böks received an Honorable Mention in 2010 at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival Berlin. Eiríkur Örn won the 2012 Icelandic Literary Prize in the category of fiction and poetry and the 2012 Book Merchants" Prize for his novel Illska (lit Evil).
