Tómas Guðmundsson Literary Awards 2026
Ragnheiður Harpa Leifsdóttir receives the 2026 Tómas Guðmundsson Literary Awards for her poetry collection manuscript Deig, which will be published on the day the award is presented.
Mayor Hildur Björnsdóttir presented the award during a formal ceremony at Höfði today.
Reykjavík City has presented the Tómas Guðmundsson Literary Awards since 1994 in memory of the poet Tómas Guðmundsson. Since 2004, the award has been given for an unpublished poetry collection manuscript. The award aims to support Icelandic poetry and encourage innovation in literature. The prize is ISK 1 million, and Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature administers the award. A total of 78 manuscripts were submitted to this year's competition.
A versatile author and performing artist
Ragnheiður Harpa Leifsdóttir is an author and performing artist whose work spans diverse artistic and literary fields. Her first poetry collection, Sítrónur og náttmyrkur, was published in 2019, followed by Urðarflétta in 2022. She has also written for theater and radio and contributed to a variety of performing arts projects.
Ragnheiður Harpa is one of six poets in the writing collective Svikaskáld, whose publications include the poetry collections Ég er ekki að rétta upp hönd, Ég er fagnaðarsöngur and Nú sker ég netin mín. The collective's novel, Olía, was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Awards in 2021. She also authored the children's book Eyja og sólarsteinninn.
In the poetry collection Deig, Ragnheiður Harpa explores the raw material of human existence, daily life and the moments of magic hidden in the everyday. Past and future meet in poetic imagery as memories spill from drawers, the future appears in a silver photograph, and refuge is sought both inside the home and beyond its walls.
Deig is Ragnheiður Harpa's third poetry collection under her own name and will be published Wednesday, Oct. 28, the same day the award is presented. Mál og menning (Forlagið) is the publisher.
Selection committee's official statement:
The selection committee's official statement reads in part:
“The poems in Deig are beautiful, profound and succinct texts that, on the surface, explore everyday family life while also pointing to a broader, shared human reality where death, dreams and mystery hold sway. Family ties are the thread running through the work, particularly motherhood, for which the dough in the book's title serves as a metaphor. Deig invites readers on a journey that is both poetic and sensory, where blood oranges, garlic and coriander become ingredients in a flavorful, multicourse feast of life.”
The selection committee for the 2026 Tómas Guðmundsson Literary Awards included Þorvaldur S. Helgason, chair, Friðgeir Einarsson and Gyða Sigfinnsdóttir.
Congratulations, Ragnheiður Harpa.
