| Jónína Leósdóttir | |
| Birth Date: | 16 May 1954 |
| Birth Place: | Iceland |
| Occupation: | Novelist playwright Journalist |
| Spouse: | Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir |
Jónína Leósdóttir (born 16 May 1954) is an Icelandic novelist, playwright, former journalist and Spouse of the Prime Minister of Iceland from 2009 until 2013.
She is the author of a dozen plays, eleven novels, two biographies and a collection of articles she originally wrote for a women's magazine. Her books have been translated into several languages.[1]
She is married to the former Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who was the first openly lesbian head of government in modern history.[2] [3] They were one of the first same-sex couples in Iceland to get married (in 2010, shortly after the law took effect, and while Jóhanna was in office);[4] and until 2015, Jónína was the only modern person to have been the same-sex spouse of a sitting head of government (Belgium's Elio Di Rupo has never been married, while Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel was unable to legally marry until 1 January 2015).[5] The pair met in 1983.[6]
She wrote her first book, Sundur og saman (Back and Forth) in 1993. The book was about a child whose parents divorced.[6] She has now written a book about her relationship with the former prime minister.[7]
She has a BA in English and Literature from the University of Iceland, and has worked at the University of Essex.[8]