Halldór Laxness

Writer, Noble Laureate in Literature (1955)

Halldór Laxness was an Icelandic novelist, poet and playwright who was awarded the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in Reykjavík in 1902, and spent most of his life travelling and living in most of the places he wrote about in his novels. He wrote sixteen independent novels, four collections of short stories, several plays and poetry. His style of writing varied from realism, satire and fantasy, sometimes combining all these styles together in one novel. He had a profound influence on the literature of Iceland, which is demonstrated through the large body of work he produced, especially during the mid-twentieth century. His works are often full of dark humor and stark irony and had a very socially conscious nature to them. His most well-known works include Salka Valka (1934), Independent People (1934-35), and World Light (1930). Halldór Laxness was a life-long advocate for social justice, freedom and human dignity. He championed such causes through his writings, and his works have been studied in universities and literary circles around the world. He often wrote with a philosophical bent and often looked to the past to make sense of the present. He passed away in 1998, eight years after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is remembered as a giant of Icelandic literature, a writer ahead of his time, and a man who used his words to better the world around him. Halldór Laxness is revered across the world for his influential body of work, his dignified attitude and for his passion for justice and equality.