Margret Helgadottir Explained

Margrét Helgadóttir
Birth Name:Ingibjörg Margrét Helgadóttir
Birth Place:Yirgalem, Ethiopia
Birth Date:1971 11, mf=yes
Nationality:Norwegian
Occupation:Short-story writer, author, editor, anthologist
Education:Cand.polit.
Genre:Science fiction
Speculative fiction
Horror fiction

Margret Helgadottir is Norwegian-Icelandic, a four times British Fantasy Award-nominated author and anthology editor, and winner of the Starburst's Brave New Words Award.

Biography

Helgadóttir was born in Ethiopia to Norwegian and Icelandic parents.[1] She has written about her background as Missionary kid and crosscultural child, and how it has influenced her writing, and said: “... the scars and blessings it has given me to be a child who moved lots between cultures whilst trying to develop my own identity. ... Many of my characters struggle with grief and a feeling of being lost, like in The Stars Seem So Far Away.”[2]

She holds a Cand.polit. degree in Pedagogy from the University of Oslo. She has worked as teacher, and in several Norwegian ministries and directorates in Oslo, and in the Nordic Council of Ministers in Copenhagen, Denmark.[3]

Helgadóttir is a charter member of the African Speculative Fiction Society.[4]

She lives in Oslo, and has lived in Ethiopia, Senegal, Denmark and Norway.[5]

Work

Helgadóttir started writing fiction in English (her native language is Norwegian) in 2012, when she was one of the winners[6] of a writing competition held by UK-based Fox Spirit Books. Her stories have since then appeared in several anthologies and magazines, such as Luna Station Quarterly, Gone Lawn Journal, The Girl at the End of the World, and Sunspot Jungle - The Ever Expanding Universe of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her prose is called lyrical and haunting.[7] [8]

Helgadóttir's debut book, The Stars Seem So Far Away, from 2015, was nominated for British Fantasy Awards in 2016,[9] and is an apocalyptic road tale set in a far-future Arctic world, told through linked tales of five survivors.[10] The book can be seen as a hybrid of a novel and a collection. Mark Bould wrote: "This is why slightly unusual the structure works so well. The characters – and the novel – move from profound disconnection to reconnection."[11] Interzone (magazine) said: "Whether these are stories, chapters, fragments or something else, this book is still stunningly original”, and: “imagine J.G. Ballard rewrote The Odyssey”,[12] while E.P. Beaumont wrote: “The stripped-down language and huge landscapes link this short novel to the world of epic poetry and saga."[13]

Helgadóttir is also an anthology editor, her work including the seven volumes in the anthology series The Fox Spirit Books of Monsters, where she invited authors and artists to write stories based on their own folklore and culture.[14] The idea of the series is to feature creatures and monsters from around the world that have not received much spotlight in the western culture.[15] The Future Fire says: "... this series is a needed intervention into Anglo-American-centric monster stories",[16] while Bookshy writes: “The thing is growing up in Nigeria, European and American monsters never really terrified me because they were far away. ... So African Monsters terrified me in a way that a horror story hasn't in a long while because I could really relate to the monsters”.[17]

The series contain stories by authors such as Cory Doctorow, Darcie Little Badger, Liliana Colanzi, Lewis Shiner, Nnedi Okorafor, Tade Thompson, Ken Liu, Xia Jia, Aliette de Bodard, Usman T. Malik, Tina Makereti, and Maria Galina. Three of the volumes have been nominated for British Fantasy Awards, [18] [19] [20] and Helgadóttir was awarded Starburst (magazine)'s inaugural Brave New Words Award for her editor work on Pacific Monsters.[21] The award is made to an “individual who produces break-out literature that is New and Bold.”[22]

Selected works

Short stories:

Books:

Non fiction:

Anthologies edited

  1. European Monsters (co-edited with Jo Thomas) (2014)
  2. African Monsters (co-edited with Jo Thomas) (2015) [32] [33]
  3. Asian Monsters (2016) [34]
  4. Pacific Monsters (2017)
  5. American Monsters Part 1 (2018) [35]
  6. American Monsters Part 2 (2019)
  7. Eurasian Monsters (2020)

Awards

Shortlists (finalist):

Awards:

Stories in anthologies Helgadóttir has edited have also been shortlisted to several awards, including the Caine Prize for African Writing (2017: Chikodili Emelumadu for “Bush Baby” in African Monsters),[39] [40] Aurealis Award (2017: Michael Grey for "Grind" in Pacific Monsters),[41] Australian Shadows Award (2017: Rue Karney for "The Hand Walker" in Pacific Monsters),[42] and Sir Julius Vogel Awards (2018: AJ Fitwater for "From the Womb of the Land, Our Bones Entwined" in Pacific Monsters).[43]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Margret Helgadottir Rosarium Publishing. rosariumpublishing.com. 2020-10-24.
  2. Web site: Wise. A.C.. An interview with Margret Helgadottir. 28 April 2015. 2020-10-24. 2021-07-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20210719173501/http://www.acwise.net/?p=1832. dead.
  3. Web site: Partnerforum 09.10.2020: Departementenes styring av underliggende etater. Om foredragsholderne (in Norwegian) Partnerforum, University of Oslo. www.uio.no/om/samarbeid/samfunn-og-naringsliv/partnerforum. 2020-10-31.
  4. Web site: Overview of the Charter Members (15.8.2016) African Speculative Fiction Society. www.africansfs.com. 2020-10-24.
  5. Web site: Margret Helgadottir Internet Speculative Fiction Database. www.isfdb.org. 2020-10-24.
  6. Web site: Pirates Arrr! Announcement of the winners. International Talk Like a Pirate Day flash fiction contest (27.09.2012) Fox Spirit Books. www.foxspirit.co.uk. 2020-10-24.
  7. Web site: Coe. Kate. The Stars Seem So Far Away. 11 May 2016. 2020-10-24. 2021-05-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20210508014403/https://writingandcoe.co.uk/review-the-stars-seem-so-far-away/. dead.
  8. Web site: Review: The Black Room Manuscripts: Volume Four (2018). DLS Reviews. www.dlsreviews.com. 2020-11-15.
  9. Web site: 2016 British Fantasy Awards Winners (25.09.2016) Locus Magazine. locusmag.com. 2020-10-30.
  10. Web site: James. Thea. Somewhere in the Stars. 17 April 2015. Kirkus Reviews (The Booksmugglers). www.kirkusreviews.com/. 2020-10-24.
  11. Web site: Bould. Mark. Margrét Helgadóttir's The Stars Seem So Far Away (2015). 18 September 2016. 2020-11-15.
  12. Melville, Barbara, "The Stars Seem So Far Away", in Interzone, issue 263, page 79, (Witcham, United Kingdom, 2016)
  13. Web site: Beaumont. E.P.. Love in the Time of Starships: A Matter of Scale, or Intimate Epics (Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Margrét Helgadóttir). 24 March 2015. 2020-10-24.
  14. Web site: Rafael. Rivqa. Interview with Margrét Helgadóttir. 15 January 2017. The Future Fire. 2020-10-24.
  15. Web site: Shaikh. Farhana. Asian Monsters special feature: On editing (interview with Margret Helgadottir). 20 December 2016. The Asian Writer. theasianwriter.co.uk. 2020-10-24.
  16. Web site: Coker. Cate. Margrét Helgadóttir (ed.), Pacific Monsters. Fox Spirit Books, 2017.. 3 January 2018. The Future Fire). futurefire.net. 2020-12-06.
  17. Web site: Five reasons why I loved 'African Monsters'. 15 March 2016. bookshy. www.bookshybooks.com. 2020-10-30.
  18. Web site: British Fantasy Awards 2016: the nominees (7.6.2016) The British Fantasy Society. www.britishfantasysociety.org. 2020-10-24. 2020-11-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20201123065449/https://www.britishfantasysociety.org/news/british-fantasy-awards-2016-the-nominees/. dead.
  19. Web site: British Fantasy Awards 2017 – Shortlists (14.7.2017) The British Fantasy Society. www.britishfantasysociety.org. 2020-10-24. 2020-11-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20201110220249/https://www.britishfantasysociety.org/awards/british-fantasy-awards-2017-shortlists/. dead.
  20. Web site: British Fantasy Awards 2018 (6.7.2018) The British Fantasy Society. www.britishfantasysociety.org. 2020-10-24. 2020-11-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20201109011856/http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/news/british-fantasy-society-british-fantasy-award-2018/. dead.
  21. Web site: Winners Announced for the STARBURST Fantasy Awards (18.3.2018) Starburst Magazine. www.starburstmagazine.com. 2020-10-24.
  22. Web site: Brave New Words Award 2020 Launches (2.3.2020) Starburst Magazine. www.starburstmagazine.com. 2020-10-24.
  23. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. A Lion Roars in Longyearbyen. December 2022. 2024-02-28.
  24. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. Daybreak. Dec 2014. 2020-10-24. 2021-09-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20210923022455/http://lunastationquarterly.com/story/daybreak/. dead.
  25. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. Death Wish. May 2016. 2020-10-24.
  26. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. Monster. February 2013. 2020-10-24.
  27. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. The Lottery Winner. March 2016. 2020-10-24. 2020-10-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20201027101321/http://lunastationquarterly.com/story/the-lottery-winner/. dead.
  28. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. The Rescue. March 2013. 2020-10-24. 2020-11-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20201127233227/http://lunastationquarterly.com/story/the-rescue/. dead.
  29. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. Worker of the Year. July 2014. 2020-10-24.
  30. Web site: The Stars Seem So Far Away by Margrét Helgadóttir. 3 April 2015. Abyss & Apex Magazine. www.abyssapexzine.com. 2020-10-24.
  31. Web site: Helgadóttir. Margrét. Look to Africa!. April 2018. 2020-10-24.
  32. Web site: Doctorow. Cory. Ten of 2016's most notable African science fiction and fantasy stories. 19 December 2016. Boing Boing. boingboing.net. 2020-10-24.
  33. Web site: Nesbitt-Ahmed. Zahrah. Africa writes back: 10 books to look out for. 15 August 2016. The Herald. www.herald.co.zw. 2020-10-24.
  34. Web site: Sharma. Ajapa. Asian Monsters, Edited by Margrét Helgadóttir. 11 April 2017. Mithila Review. mithilareview.com. 2020-10-24.
  35. Web site: Weinstock. Jeffrey. No Monster Story Ever Stays Static: "American Monsters Part I," Edited by Margrét Helgadóttir. 31 August 2019. Los Angeles Review of Books. lareviewofbooks.org. 2020-10-24.
  36. Web site: SFSF Awards 2016 (30.12.2016) Sheffield Fantasy and Science Fiction Social. sfsfsocial.wordpress.com. 2020-10-24.
  37. Web site: SFSF Awards 2017 (30.12.2017) Sheffield Fantasy and Science Fiction Social. sfsfsocial.wordpress.com. 2020-10-24.
  38. Web site: Margrét Helgadóttir fikk ny britisk pris (in Norwegian) (19.03.2018) Sunnmørsposten (NTB). www.smp.no. 2020-10-31.
  39. Web site: 2017 Caine Prize Shortlist Announced (16.5.2017) Caine Prize for African Writing. www.caineprize.com/. 2020-10-24.
  40. Web site: Ryman. Geoff. African SFF 2017. 31 March 2018. Locus Magazine. locusmag.com. 2020-10-30.
  41. Web site: 2017 Aurealis Awards shortlist announcement (15.2.2017) Aurealis Awards. aurealisawards.org. 2020-10-24.
  42. Web site: Australian Shadows Awards 2017 shortlist (9.5.2018) Australian Horror Writers Association. australasianhorror.com. 2020-10-24.
  43. Web site: Final Ballot nominees for 2018 Sir Julius Vogel Awards (17.2.2018) SFFANZ. sffanz.wordpress.com. 2020-10-24.

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