About

Name: Katrin Ottarsdóttir
Born: 1957, Tórshavn
Selected work: 7 søgur
Awards and nominations: 
Tórshavn City Council Faroese Literature Prize (2013)

Katrin Ottarsdóttir

Film director Katrin Ottarsdóttir’s debut poetry collection Eru koparrør í himmiríki (2012) was a groundbreaking event in Faroese poetry – and Faroese literature as a whole – and the book was awarded Tórshavn City Council Faroese Literature Prize in 2013. In her poems, Ottarsdóttir pries back the screen of privacy to reveal the dark and dysfunctional private life of a home where a mentally unstable, drug abusing mother terrorizes her weak husband and neglects her daughter. It is probably the first publication in the Faroe Islands of such a blunt, strong and and yet sensitive portrayal of a childhood in a dysfunctional family. 

In 2015 Ottarsdóttir released her second poetry collection Messa fyri einum filmi, and in 2016 a collection of short stories Aftanáðrenn with 13 somewhat surreal short stories about vulnerable characters struggling with inner demons and obsessions which often have fatal consequenses for their relationship with family, lovers and other people. The stories are psychologically intense often with an unexpected twist at the end.

7 søgur by Katrin Ottarsdóttir is a short story collection that de - picts life at the intersection between reality and imagination. The stories portray the shift between the real world and another realm. They reveal a refined kind of devilry, uncovered by acci - dent. The themes are rare and intriguing. All the characters find themselves in situations they long to escape from: people who feel trapped in relationships, women chasing beauty through cosmetic procedures, a zest for life that refuses to die alongside an aging body, jealousy, and the chilling revenge of a woman scorned.

Works

2024, 7 søgur, short stories, Sprotin
2023, Summarið varar ikki alt árið longur, fiction novel, ASFALT
2020, Gentan í verðini, fiction novel, Sprotin
2017, 43 bagatellir, short stories, Forlaget Torgard
2016, Aftanáðrenn, short stories, Sprotin
2015, Messa fyri einum filmi, poetry, MS
2012, Eru koparrør í himmiríki, poetry, MS

Translations

2024, Sommeren varer ikke hele året længere, fiction novel, Jensen & Dalgaard
2021, Pigen i verden, fiction novel, Lindhardt & Ringhof
2020, 43 smámunir, Dimma
2019, Are there copperpipes in heaven?, Operating System Glossarium
2018, 43 bagateller, Forlaget Torgard
2017, I afrika er der mange søde børn, Forlaget Torgard
2016, Findes der kobberrør i himlen?, Forlaget Torgard