Hallgrímur Helgason
Hallgrímur Helgason (born February 18, 1959 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic painter, novelist, translator, and columnist.
Biography
Hallgrímur studied at the Art Academy of Iceland, and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
He has worked independently as an artist and writer since 1982, and has held over twenty solo exhibitions in Iceland, Boston, Paris and Malmö. His work has also been displayed in over 30 group exhibitions in various countries.
His first novel Hella came out in 1990. His best-known works are 101 Reykjavík, which was made into a popular film of the same name, Höfundur Íslands (The Author of Iceland), which won the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2001, and The Hitman's Guide to House Cleaning. Hallgrímur was also nominated for the Icelandic Prize in 2005 for his novel Rokland. He has also been nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize for both 101 Reykjavík and Rokland. Hallgrímur's novel from 2008, 10 ráð til að hætta að drepa fólk og byrja að vaska upp, was first written in English as The Hitman's Guide to House Cleaning. It was published by Amazon Crossing in January 2012. Only days after publication it reached the top spot on the Amazon Kindle bestsellers list for Thrillers. Helgason's latest novel, "The Woman at 1000°", was published first in Germany in September 2011, by Tropen Verlag, and in Iceland the month after. It was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize and the rights has been sold to 12 countries.
