Sjón | |
|---|---|
 Sjón in 2014 | |
| Born | Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (1962-08-27)27 August 1962 (age 62) Reykjavík,Iceland |
| Occupation | Poet Novelist Lyricist |
| Nationality | Icelandic |
| Genre | Fiction Surrealism |
| Notable works | The Blue Fox (2003) From the Mouth of the Whale (2008) I've Seen It All (2000) |
Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (born 27 August 1962), known asSjón (/ʃoʊn/SHOHN;[1]Icelandic:[sjouːn]; meaning "sight" and being an abbreviation of his first name), is an Icelandic poet, novelist, lyricist, and screenwriter. Sjón frequently collaborates with the singerBjörk and has performed withThe Sugarcubes asJohnny Triumph. His works have been translated into 30 languages.[2]
Born inReykjavík,Iceland, Sjón grew up in the city'sBreiðholt district, where he lived with his mother.[3] He began his writing career early and published his first book of poetry,Sýnir (Visions), in 1978 at 16.
In his youth, Sjón read and was influenced byThe Hardy Boys,Nancy Drew,Enid Blyton, andHenri Vernes.[4] Later, he describedDavid Bowie as being "like a tutor to me" because he would explore all the bands, authors, and artists that Bowie mentioned in interviews.[4] He spent his teenage years following the cultural scenes inNew York andLondon, and he took special interest in the emergence ofpunk subculture.[4] "When you’re on an island up in the North Atlantic," he said, "the need to know what is going on in the cultural centers is very strong, and you do everything you can to feel part of it all."[4]
He was one of the founding members of the neo-surrealist group Medúsa and became significant in Reykjavik's cultural scene.[5]
Active on the Icelandic music scene since the early 1980s, Sjón has collaborated with many of the best-known artists of the era and was featured as guest vocalist on a rareSugarcubes 12" single "Luftgitar" in 1987 using the name Johnny Triumph; this was accompanied by a music video of Sjón playingair guitar withBjörk andEinar Örn Benediktsson. Sjón would occasionally reprise this role for the final encore of The Sugarcubes concerts, including the band's one-off 2006 reunion show in Reykjavík.
Sjón has described rowdy and exuberant events from his youthful era, including a night spent walking around Reykjavik entirely on the roofs of parked cars that ended with him lying face down in a police car reciting from memoryAndré Breton'sSurrealist Manifesto of 1924.[3]
Sjón and Björk first met when they were teenagers, and together they formed a two-person band called Rocka Rocka Drum.[3] Later, when Björk began her solo career in the 1990s, Sjón wrote lyrics for her.[3] The pair teamed up to write the song"I've Seen it All" for the filmDancer in the Dark in 2000, and as a result, Sjón and Björk shared nominations for "Best Original Song" at both the 2001Golden Globes and the 2001Academy Awards.[3] Two years later, Sjón was featured in the documentaryInside Björk. In 2004, Björk performed"Oceania" – a song that the two had written together – at the2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony inAthens, Greece.[6]
In 2007, he contributed the original story and wrote the screenplay for the animated filmAnna and the Moods. He also joined the cast, voicing the character Dr. Artmann.[7]
Sjón co-wrote the featureLamb together withValdimar Jóhannsson. Lamb premiered in 2021 and was selected as Iceland's contribution to the2022 Academy Awards. Lamb also received a lot of international recognition through festivals around the world. It has been nominated for or received prizes at theCannes Film Festival,Gothenburg Film Festival,Sitges Film Festival,Palm Springs International Film Festival, and Athens International Film Festival, as well as from theEdda Awards and theAustin Film Critics Association Awards.[citation needed]
From August to December 2021, Sjón was writer-in-residence at the Literaturhaus Zurich and the PWG Foundation inZurich.[8]
Sjón co-wrote the 2022 filmThe Northman, a historical epic and revenge thriller based on the legend of the Viking princeAmleth, with directorRobert Eggers. Björk appears in the film in a supporting role as aseeress.[citation needed]
His writing is characterized by surrealist elements, like unexpected transformations, strange events, and a blurring of boundaries between humans and other animals.[3] His work has received critical acclaim and been praised by other novelists such asHari Kunzru,David Mitchell, andA.S. Byatt, who said that his writing "changes the whole map of literature inside [her] head."[3] Sjón has discussed how, to some extent, his writing is influenced by the nature of Iceland itself as a remote, cold, volcanic island that experiences frequent tectonic activity.[4] "We’re absolutely at the mercy of these magnificent things, the land with its volcanoes and earthquakes, and the sea, which surrounds us and can be either a friend or a monster that devours us," he has commented about his relationship to the land. "As a writer, I love metamorphosis. I think it’s one of the great tools of literature."[4]
Sjón has lived and worked inLondon, but he currently resides in central Reykjavík with his wife, Ásgerdur.[3] He has two adult children.[3] He does most of his writing in an old fisherman's cottage in Reykjavik.[9] Hanging on the wall inside are the rib and shoulder blade of a large whale that once beached and died a short walk away from the cottage. "If you're here," Sjón says of his writing cottage, "then you're in the belly of the whale."[3]
When Sjón was a teenager, he learned that his grandfather had lived inGermany duringWorld War II and worked as aNazi spy.[3] After returning to Iceland on aU-boat in 1944, his grandfather was arrested, convicted of treason, and imprisoned for a year. That family history has influenced Sjón's writing, including his 2019 novelRed Milk that explores theneo-Nazi radicalization of an Icelandic youth.[10]
He has been outspoken against the cooptation of traditionalNordic culture and literature by right-wing and nationalist political actors.[3][4] Pushing back against Icelandic critics ofmulticulturalism, Sjón has said that "like everywhere, the hilarious is that the conservative people trying to keep everyone out haven't the first clue what Icelandic culture is made of. Because they’ve never read a book or embraced Icelandic art, and they don’t realize that Icelandic culture is really a hybrid. It has always been."[4] As small immigrant communities have grown in Iceland, he has been an advocate for redefining Icelandic literature to include works written on the island in other languages likePolish,Spanish, andEnglish.[4]
Sjón was nominated for anAcademy Award and aGolden Globe for the song "I've Seen It All" from the filmDancer in the Dark.[12]
In 2016, Sjón became the third writer chosen to contribute to theFuture Library project.[13]
