Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (born 17 December 1963) is an Icelandic author.
Also recorded as Jon Kalman Stefansson
Jón Kalman Stefánsson

Hreinn Gudlaugsson · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Jón Kalman Stefánsson
- Born
- 17 December 1963
- Birthplace
- Reykjavík, Iceland
- Occupation
- author
- Nationality
- Iceland
- Education
- University of Iceland
- Honours
- Per Olov Enquist Prize
- Languages
- Icelandic
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (born 17 December 1963) is an Icelandic author.
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Note VALÉORINE
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (born 1963 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic writer and poet. Jón Kalman Stefánsson was educated at University of Iceland.
The recorded working language is Icelandic. Awards and honours include Jean Monnet Prize and Per Olov Enquist Prize.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 02 October 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
gnd · 124913024 · wikidata · Q1364924 · wikipedia · Jón Kalman Stefánsson
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jón Kalman Stefánsson • Born — 17 December 1963 • Birthplace — Reykjavík, Iceland • Occupation — author • Illustration — Jón Kalman Stefánsson in Aarhus Denmark, November 2015. • Illustration — Aarhus Denmark, November 2022. Jón Kalman Stefánsson (born 17 December 1963) is an Icelandic author.
Biography
Biography
Jón Kalman was born in Reykjavík. He grew up there and in Keflavík. From 1975 to 1982, he lived in western Iceland, where he worked different jobs after finishing high school. From 1986 to 1991, he studied literature at the University of Iceland, but did not pass an important exam. During this time, Stefánsson taught courses at high schools and wrote articles for the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið. Between 1992 and 1995, he lived off various jobs in Copenhagen, Denmark. Afterwards he returned to Iceland and worked as a librarian for the Municipal Library in Mosfellsbær. Since then, he has been living as an independent author in Iceland. In 2017 his novel Fish Have No Feet was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize. He has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize four times.
Novels
Novels
• Skurðir í rigningu (1996, "Ditches in rain") • Sumarið bakvið Brekkuna (1997, "The Summer Behind the Hill") • Birtan á fjöllunum (1999, "The Light on the Mountains") • Ýmislegt um risafurur og tímann (2001, "A Few Things about Giant Pines and Time") • Snarkið í stjörnunum (2003, "Sparkle in the stars") • Sumarljós og svo kemur nóttin (2005) / Summer Light and Then Comes the Night (HarperVia, 2020, translator Philip Roughton) • Himnaríki og helvíti (2007) / Heaven and Hell (MacLehose Press, 2010, translator Philip Roughton) • Harmur englanna (2009) / The Sorrow of Angels (MacLehose Press, 2013, translator Philip Roughton) • Hjarta mannsins (2011) / The Heart of Man (MacLehose Press, 2015, translator Philip Roughton) • Fiskarnir hafa enga fætur (2013) / Fish Have No Feet (MacLehose Press, 2016, translator Philip Roughton) • Eitthvað á stærð við alheiminn: ættarsaga (2015) / About the Size of the Universe (MacLehose Press, 2019, translator Philip Roughton) • Saga Ástu: Hvert fer maður ef það er engin leið út úr heiminum? (2017, "Asta's story: Where do you go if there is no way out of the world?") • Fjarvera þin er myrkur (Bjartur, Reykjavík, 2020) / Your Absence is Darkness (MacLehose Press, 2024, translator Philip Roughton) • Guli kafbáturinn ("The Yellow Submarine", Forlagið, Reykjavík, 2022) • Himintungl yfir heimsins ystu brún ("Planets above the World's Edge", Benedikt, Reykjavík, 2024)
Poetry
Poetry
• Með byssuleyfi á eilífðina ("With a gun license for eternity", 1988) • Úr þotuhreyflum guða ("From the jet engines of the gods", 1989) • Hún spurði hvað ég tæki með mér á eyðieyju ("She asked what I would take with me to a desert island", 1993) • Þyngsta frumefnið ("The Heaviest Element", 2025)

Signature de Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Jon Kalmann Stefansson · travail personnel
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1963
Jón Kalman Stefánsson born at Reykjavík.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1364924: Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Jón Kalman Stefánsson”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 124913024, Jón Kalman Stefánsson.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Literature
Literature
Literature
Your Absence Is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson (review), World Literature Today, 2024.
Stefánsson, Jón Kalman, Kindlers Literatur Lexikon (KLL), 2023
Stefánsson, Jón Kalman: Westfjorde-Trilogie, Kindlers Literatur Lexikon (KLL), 2023
Stefánsson, Jón, Oxford Art Online, 2003
Dans Mon sous-marin jaune de Jón Kalman Stefánsson, La Nouvelle Revue française, 2024
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 124913024, Jón Kalman Stefánsson.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1364924: Jón Kalman StefánssonWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the heading Jon Kalman Stefansson. His recorded language was Icelandic. He married Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir. Fish Have No Feet. Naming and authority record. Those registers additionally record the forms Stefánsson, Jón Kalman, Kalman, Jón, Jón Kalman and Kalman Stefánsson, Jón.
Identity and origins
Heaven and Hell
The Sorrow of Angels
The Heart of Man
Summer Light and Then Comes the Night
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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