Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer, born in Reykjavik on the 14th of July 1973. Andri has written novels, poetry, plays, short stories, essays and CD’s. He is the codirector of the documentary film Dreamland. His work has been published or performed in more than 20 countries. His novel, LoveStar was chosen “Novel of the year” by Icelandic booksellers 2002, it received the DV Literary Award and a nomination to the Icelandic Literary Prize. His children’s book, The Story of the Blue Planet, was the first children’s book to receive the Icelandic Literary Prize and has been published or performed in 22 countries. The Story of the Blue Planet received the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award 2000 and the West Nordic Children’s Book Prize 2002. The play from the story was performed on the main stage of LKTYP in Toronto in 2005. Andri has collaborated with various artists, mostly with a band called múm. Andri was vice-president of The Icelandic Writers Union, is a board member of The Culture House in Reykjavík and has been active in the fight against the destruction of the Icelandic Highlands. His book – Dreamland – a Self Help Manual for a Frightened Nation takes on these issues. Dreamland has been published in English, Danish, German and Japanese and has become a feature length documentary film. He can be contacted here: andrimagnason@gmail.com. Andri Magnason is the winner of the Kairos Award of 2010 – granted by the Alfred Toepfer institute in Hamburg.

Andri comes from a family of doctors and nurses. His father is a doctor, his mother is a nurse, his sister is a brain surgeon, his brother is a student but his wife is a nurse. Andri is married to a nurse but her sister is a doctor, his mother-in-law is a nurse and her sister too. His great grandfather was a doctor in the West Fjords of Iceland. His grandfather, Björn Thorbjarnarson is married to a nurse from Toronto, he was chief surgeon at the New York Hospital and a professor at Cornell University. Björn wrote the bestseller: Surgery of the Bilinary Tract, 1975. Andri lives in Reykjavík, he has four children.