Facts About Iceland

Diddu (Sigrun Hjalmtysdottir)

"Diddú" or Sigrun Hjalmtysdottir is one of the most beloved and famous Icelandic female singers. She sings all kinds of music genres although classical singing is her main occupation now. She started her career however as a singer in a well known Icelandic pop group.

Olafur Johann Olafsson

Olafur Johann Olafsson is a very well known writer and also a renowned businessman. His novels have been translated into several languages. He currently lives in the USA.

All about Olafur Johann from Wikipedia

Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is an Icelandic artist and probably most famous for his "weather project" exhibition at the Tate Modern in London in the year 2003. He lives and works in Berlin.

All about Olafur from Wikipedia

Photo: The Weather Project from Wikipedia commons. GNU Free Documentation Licence.

Erro, the Icelandic Artist

Erró (his real name is Guðmundur Guðmundsson) is considered one of Iceland's greatest artists. He is a postmodern artist and has lived in Paris, Thailand and Formentera most of his life.

Erro - Wikipedia

Halldor Laxness

Halldor Laxness is one of Iceland's most famous novelists and considered the most creative Icelandic writer of the 20th century. Halldór was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.

All about Halldor Laxness from Wikipedia

Vigdis Finnbogadottir

Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the first woman in the world to be elected head of state in a national election. She served as president of Iceland from 1980 - 1996 and Icelanders were and ARE very proud of her!

All about Vigdis from Wikipedia

Teenagers

Teenagers in Iceland are immensely active in their extra curricular activities. They do sports, go to music schools, dancing schools, sing in a choir among other things. Most of them are great young people. There is however always the danger of drugs and drinking which unfortunately some teenagers get involved with.

Are people in Iceland like people elsewhere?

How do people in Iceland live their lives? You will find out!

Characteristics
People in Iceland are forged by the harsh and unpredictable nature of our country. We are hard working, most of us work long hours to make a decent living. To outsiders we may at times seem distant, even cold. But get to know us better and you will see that we are warm, honest, emotional and quite friendly to foreigners.

People in Iceland are highly educated. The school system is very good and there are all kinds of opportunities to study at all levels.

Arnaldur Indridason

Arnaldur is a writer and has pubished a number of thrillers which have become incredibly popular, both in Iceland and abroad. He received the Glass Key Prize, from Skandinaviska Kriminalselskapet (Crime Writers of Scandinavia) two years in a row and was the first author to do so.

His thrillers have been translated into several languages and he is well on his way to become one of our most famous people in Iceland.

Björk

Everyone knows about the singer Bjork and her incredible success all over the world. The story doesn’t finish there because there are more famous Icelanders. But the rest of us are quite likable too and we mostly lead a normal, busy life.