Bergsveinn Birgisson (Reykjavík, 1971) studied Icelandic and Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland, then at the University of Oslo and finally at the University of Bergen, where she obtained a PhD in Medieval Scandinavian Literature in 2008. She has lived in Norway for several years. She published her first book in 1992, the poetry collection Íslendingurinn, followed by Innrás Liljanna in 1997. In 2003, she published her first novel, Landslag er aldrei asnalegt, then Handbók um hugarfar kúa in 2010. Her epistolary novel Para Helga, originally published in 2010, has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, and was a huge success.