Vilborg Davíðsdóttir (born 3 September 1965, Þingeyri) is an Icelandic writer and journalist. She lives in Reykjavík.
Education Vilborg has a diploma in journalism, and a BA in English and Ethnology. She wrote her MA thesis in Ethnology about oral tradition and storytelling.
Career Much of Vilborg's fiction focuses on medieval European history, often with a focus on women and on Iceland and the surrounding area.
Her novels The Well of Fates (1993) and The Witches' Judgement (1994) concern a slave in the Viking era and are influenced by the Icelandic sagas. Her 1997 novel Eldfórnin follows a 14th-century nun.
Her 2005 novel Hrafninn explores contact between Norse Vikings and Inuit.
She has written a historical fiction trilogy about Auður Djúpúðga (Aud the Deep-Minded), one of Iceland's most famous female settlers. In 2019, Vilborg led a tour of Tiree in the Hebrides, retracing the path of the protagonist.
Vilborg's book Ástin, drekinn og dauðinn (On Love, Dragons and Dying) (2015), was a more personal story, following her husband's journey with terminal brain cancer, and her first year as a widow, during which both her mother-in-law and her father died as well.
Some of her books have been translated and published in The United States, Egypt, Germany and Faroe Islands.
Works Land næturinnar (2023) Undir Yggdrasil (2020) Blóðug jörð (2017) Ástin, drekinn og dauðinn (2015) Vígroði (2012) Published in English as Crimson Sky Auður (2009) Published in English as Audur Hrafninn (2005) Published in English as The Raven Felustaðurinn (2002) Korku saga - Við Urðarbrunn og Nornadómur (2001) Galdur (2000) Published in English as On the Cold Coasts (2012) Eldfórnin (1997) Published in English as The Sacrifice Nornadómur (1994) Published in English as The Witches' Judgement Við Urðarbrunn (1993) Published in English as The Well of Fates
Awards and honours
Icelandic IBBY The Reykjavik Educational Council Prize
References
External links Vilborg's website
Podcast interview by composer Linda Buckley and producer Helen Shaw