Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir was born on August 27, 1973, in Akranes, Iceland. She completed a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Iceland in 1997 and a diploma in Applied Media Studies in 1998. For many years, she worked as a journalist at the newspaper Morgunblaðið.

Sigurbjörg’s first book, the poetry collection Blálogaland (Land of Blue Flames), was published in 1999. Since then, she has written numerous poetry collections, plays and works of prose.

She is the author of two novels: Sólar saga (The Story of Sol, 2002) and Stekk (Jump, 2012). The former received the Tómas Guðmundsson Literary Prize upon publication.

Sigurbjörg has received additional recognition for her work. Her poetry collection Hnattflug (Circumnavigation) was chosen as Poetry Book of the Year by bookstore staff in 2000. The poetic cycle Blysfarir (Torch Processions) won the Icelandic Women‘s Literary Prize in 2008 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. It was later translated into German and Swedish. Her poetry collection Brúður (Brides) was nominated for the DV Cultural Award in 2010 and Flaumgosar (Flowmotion), on Iceland‘s twist from rurality to modernity, was shortlisted for the May Star Poetry Award in 2025.

Sigurbjörg’s poems have been translated into several languages in connection with literary festivals and anthologies abroad. She has collaborated with Polish photographers, Danish visual artists and Icelandic composers, plus the all-female Metropoetica-group. In 2021 she received the Italian poetry award Premio Ciampi.