Arndís Þórarinsdóttir (Arndis Thorarinsdottir) is an Icelandic writer and translator.
Arndís has published seven books for children; three of them, the novel Játningar mjólkurfernuskálds (Confessions of a Milk Carton Poet, 2011), and the chapter books Nærbuxnaverksmiðjan (The Underwear Factory, 2018) and its sequel, Nærbuxnanjósnararnir (The Underwear Spies, 2019), are published by Forlagið publishing house. The remaining four are published by The Icelandic Directorate of Education, Menntamálastofnun. Those are: Chapter books Lyginni líkast (Coming True), Gleraugun hans Góa (Gói’s Glasses) and Galdraskólinn (A School of Magic) in 2013, 2015 and 2019, and the nonfiction book Sitthvað á sveimi (Something is Out There) in 2014.
Her first volume of poetry, Innræti (Imprint) was published by Forlagið in 2020.
Játningar mjólkurfernuskálds was nominated for the 2013 Nordic Children’s Book Prize and Nærbuxnanjósnararnir was nominated for the 2019 Icelandic Literary Prize.
Arndís has also translated the first eight books of Rosie Banks’ Secret Kingdom series into Icelandic. Previously she translated JRR Tolkien’s Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics for Dr. Ármann Jakobsson’s edition of the text.
She has published short stories and articles in various Icelandic magazines.
Arndís lives in Reykjavík with her husband and two children. She has a Wikipedia entry despite her glaring lack of notability – and some additional information might be gleaned from her publisher’s foreign rights office (look for the children’s book catalogue). You are also welcome to contact her directly by email, her address is arndis@arnd.is.
Arndís has an undergraduate degree in comparative literature from the University of Iceland and postgraduate degrees in Creative Writing, from the University of Iceland, and Writing for Performance, from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
