completed a Ph.D in the History of Ideas at Oxford University in 2001, after which she was a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Iceland. Since 2007 she has worked free-lance as a writer and editor. Her books have been nominated for The Icelandic Literary Prize, Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize, The Hagþenkir Non-fiction Prize and The DV Culture Prize. Her book Uncertain Seas was chosen the best biography in 2013 by booksellers in Iceland. Palsdottir’s novel, Embroidery, is the Icelandic winner of the European Union Prize for Literature 2021.

“An author with a clear artistic vision and a strong command of form and style.”

JURY REPORT, EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2021

(ON EMBROIDERY)

“Palsdottir possesses terrific sensitivity both as a stylist and in how she processes her material …”
KILJAN, NATIONAL TV (ON UNCERTAIN SEAS)

“She has, as a writer, a unique ability to demonstrate how the threads of social structure and history (both public and personal) are interwoven.”
RUV, NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (ON UNCERTAIN SEAS)