Ævar Þór Benediktsson (1984) is an actor and author, best-known for his Þín eigin (Your own) – series, where it’s up to the reader to decide what way the story goes, and his books about Ævar the Scientist’s childhood escapades. He has worked in television and radio, mostly as Ævar the Scientist, and has received four Edda awards (awarded annually by the Icelandic Film and TV Academy). Ævar has also received the Children’s Book Award and the Icelandic Booksellers’ Award for his books. In 2017, Ævar was chosen as one of the Aarhus39, a selection of the best 39 children’s and YA writers from all over Europe aged 39 or younger.
Ævar has been running four seasons of his Ævar the Scientist´s reading promotion campaign, with which all together around 230.000 books have been read. In 2017, Ævar received a special recognition from the Association on bilingualism in Iceland for his efforts to promote reading and language. Later that year, Ævar was given the title Outstanding Young Icelander by JCI Iceland for his achievements in education. In 2018, he received more recognition for his accomplishments on promoting reading and children’s culture, including the IBBY Vorvindar award.
Ævar is one of the speakers at the conference on 12 October.