Bio

Larissa Kyzer is a writer and Icelandic to English literary translator. Her translation of Kristín Eiríksdóttir’s A Fist or a Heart was awarded the American Scandinavian Foundation’s 2019 translation prize. The same year, she was one of Princeton’s Translators in Residence. She’s translated dozens of contemporary Icelandic authors, including Fríða Ísberg (The Mark), Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir (The Fires), and Steinunn G. Helgadóttir (Strongest Woman in the World; forthcoming). Kyzer has received grant funding and support from the European Union Prize for Literature, the Fulbright Commission, the Icelandic Ministry of Education and Culture, the Icelandic Literature Center, and Finland’s Kone Foundation. She is on the board of the American Literary Translators Association, a member of the Translators Organizing Committee, and runs the virtual Women+ in Translation reading series Jill!

Project Description

To support the translation of the novel The Chill of the April Sun by Elísabet Jökulsdóttir from Icelandic. The Chill of the April Sun is a work of autobiographical fiction based heavily on author Jökulsdóttir's real-life experiences from April 1978 to September 1979. During this 17-month period, 20-year-old Védís (a stand-in for the author) loses her estranged father, suffers a nervous breakdown, falls into a passionate but toxic relationship with a young man who dallies with substance abuse, forms her own dependency on alcohol and drugs, develops bipolar disorder, and works at the very mental health facility where she herself will be institutionalized in a matter of months. An outspoken environmental activist, former presidential candidate, and feminist icon, Jökulsdóttir (b. 1958) has published more than 30 works across genres, including fiction, children's literature, poetry, and theater.