Þórdís Gísladóttir, writer and translator, was born on 14 July 1965 and grew up in Hafnarfjörður. She finished her Bachelor’s degree in Icelandic at the University of Iceland, did a Master’s in Literature and graduated as Ph.Lic in Scandinavian Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden, writing her final thesis about bilingualism. Apart from writing, Þórdís has worked as a literary critic, she has taught and held lectures both in Iceland and abroad, she has  written articles for Icelandic and foreign newspapers and magazines, made radio shows and coverages at RÚV, worked as webmaster at the Nordic Council of Ministers and edited the children’s literature journal  Börn og menning.
Þórdís writes both for children and adults.
She has written the books about Randalín and Mundi and published books for adolescents together with Hildur Knútsdóttir about the incredibly funny 14-year old Doddi. She has also composed study material and translated several books and plays, most of them from Swedish to Icelandic. Þórdís’ first book of poetry, Leyndarmál annarra (“Secrets of Others”), was awarded the Tómas Guðmundsson Literature Award in 2010. Þórdís was awarded with Fjöruverðlaunin, the Women’s Literary Prize, and she was nominated three times for the Icelandic Literary Prize. For her translation of Allt er ást (“All is love”) by Kristian Lundberg, she was nominated for the Icelandic Translator’s Prize, and the poetry book Óvissustig (“Levels of Uncertainty”) was nominated for the May Star, a poetry award given by The Icelandic Writers’ Union and The National and University Library of Iceland.