Birna Bjarnadóttir holds a PhD in Icelandic literature from the University of Iceland and wrote her doctoral dissertation on aesthetics in the work of Guðbergur Bergsson (1932 ̶ 2023). As an undergraduate, she studied European literature, history of ideas and literary theory at the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Iceland, completed MA in Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland, and during her doctoral studies, she attended classes in modern literature and philosophy and conducted research at the University of Warwick. A former Associate Professor and Chair of Icelandic at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg (2003–2015), Birna is a published author on both sides of the Atlantic, (monographs, fiction, translations, book chapters, and essays), and has edited numerous books, including an international collection of essays on the work of Guðbergur Bergsson, bilingual publications of Icelandic and Icelandic-Canadian literature, and the forthcoming (in 2024) Icelandic translation of Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain by Gauti Kristmannsson. Birna led the Expedition to the Magic Mountain Project (2013–2020) in collaboration with artists and scholars of literature, and, with Ingi Björn Guðnason, The Creative Power of the Westfjords Project (2017–2023) in collaboration with writers and scholars of literature. She also leads the cultural and publishing society Hin kindin. She is a board member of the University of Iceland’s Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding, (UNESCO Cat. 2 Centre), a member of the editorial committee of the University of Iceland’s Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages, and a board member of the Vigdís International Prize. For more information: https://vigdiscentre.hi.is/is/node/10 https://vigdiscentre.hi.is/is/node/12 https://english.hi.is/news/anne_carson_is_the_2023_vigdis_prize_laureate http://www.gamla.nylo.is/en/events/expedition-to-the-magic-mountain/ https://www.uw.is/conferences/the_creative_power_of_the_westfjords_2018/ https://www.hi.is/vidburdir/menning_vid_ysta_haf_lesid_i_skopunarkraft_vestfjarda_og_stranda www.hinkindin.is