ENGLISH

Welcome to the website of the Icelandic section of IBBY ("The International Board of Books for Young People"). Although our nation is small - a little over 300,000 people - we have a very active IBBY section. The image above show some of our publications and snapshots taken at some of our various events.

The board, plus the editorial committee, meets at least once a month in the Writer's Association of Iceland's headquarters, kindly provided by the association.

In addition to participation in international IBBY activities (world congress, the H.C. Andersen Award, IBBY Honour List, etc.), we also have an association with the other Nordic countries, including a yearly meeting - rotating around the Nordic countries - and the publication of Nordisk blad (Nordic Journal).

Here are some examples of our domestic activities - but these are only a few of them:

• Sögusteinninn, an honour prize to an active Icelandic writer, who has made an important contribution to Icelandic children's literature.
• Vorvindar (Spring Winds), three recognitions awarded each year for a contribution to children's culture in Iceland, a newcomer to children's literature, and/or a great contribution to children's literature
• The publication of Börn og menning (Children and Culture) - the only journal specifically on children's literature in Iceland. It is published twice a year, and distributed by the members of our board.
• The publication of a collection of short stories. Three of these have been published so far, two of which center on Nordic mythology (see the lilac and light green covers above).
• Special publications. We have put our heads together every year to publish something to ignite children's interest in books. These include:
  • Calendar for 2005 - with illustrations from Icelandic children's books.
  • Calendar for 2008 - with illlustrations from Sigrún Eldjárn's books (she was the Sögusteinninn prizewinner in 2007). She is in the photo in the bottom right)
  • A poster with Kristín Steinsdóttir's books she was the Sögusteinninn prizewinner in 2008). See photo on far left.

To contact us, here is our postal address:

IBBY á Íslandi
P.O. Box 4103
IS-124 Reykjavík
ICELAND

You can also write an e-mail to, or call by telephone, the President of IBBY Iceland, Gudlaug Richter

E-mail address: gudlaugri (at) simnet.is

Telephone: +354 552 1521
Mobile: + 354 861 8101

The other members of our board are:

Idunn Steinsdóttir, children's books author, idunn (at) islandia.is

Sólveig Ebba Ólafsdóttir, teacher, solebb (at) internet.is

Thorbjörg Karlsdóttir, thorbjorg.karlsdottir (at) reykjavik.is

Anna Heida Pálsdóttir, PhD in children's literature, anna (at) ritlist.is

Editorial Committee:

Thórdís Gísladóttir, librarian, bornogmenning (at) hotmail.com

Arndis Thórarinsdottir, MA in scriptwriting, arndis.thorarinsdottir (at) gmail.com

Brynja Baldursdóttir, teacher, brynjab (at) fg.is