One hundred and fifty years have passed since the birth of Jón Sveinsson, aka Nonni, a beloved Icelandic children’s author. To celebrate the occasion an exhibition about his life opens in the National and University Library of Iceland today.
The exhibition will move to Germany later this year. Nonni’s books were originally published in Germany but have since been translated into more than 30 languages.
Nonni wrote about his own childhood featuring himself and his brother Manni. A German TV series based on his book Nonni and Manni was released in 1988, starring Icelandic tenor Gardar Thor Cortes.
Nonni was born near Akureyri in 1857 but moved to France in 1870 where he converted to Catholicism. His childhood home in Akureyri is now a museum.
