Halldóra B. Björnsson was born in Hvalfjörður, grew up in a cultivated farming community, and worked for most of her life at the archives of the Icelandic Parliament. She was committed to peace and equal rights for women, and this commitment also permeates her poems, which are a blend of tradition and modernity.
Her debut collection of poems, Ljóð, was published in 1949. Her other works include the poetry collections Jarðljóð, 1968, and Jörð i álögum, 1969. She also published Eitt er pað land, 1955, a poetic novel based on her own childhood memories. She was a prolific translator and rendered the Old English epic poem Beowulf into Icelandic.
