The Beautiful Flying Whale and the Tale of the Little Galaxy

by Ólafur Gunnarsson

The Beautiful Flying Whale and the Tale of the Little Galaxy recounts adventures of the beautiful flying whale. The story tells of the flying whale that flies up every evening from his home in Whale Fjord, to see how the children are getting along. He visits Steinn and his sister Rosa when they cannot get to sleep one evening, and tells them the story of how people came to have hair on their heads.
This delightful tale is ideal for children aged 3 to 7.

31 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Ólafur Gunnarsson was born in Reykjavík on July 18, 1948. He completed a commercial diploma from The Commercial College of Iceland in 1968. Ólafur worked for the merchant Ásbjörn Ólafsson hf. from 1965-1971 and was a driver with the Reykjavík medical emergency services from 1972-1978. Ólafur has worked as a writer since 1974.

Poetry by Ólafur Gunnarsson had appeared in newspapers and magazines before his first novel, Milljón-prósent menn (Million-Percent Men), was published in 1978. He has published novels, short stories and children's books as well as a travel story about his road trip with author (and co-author of the book) Einar Kárason in the U.S.A. in 2006. His novel, Tröllakirkja (Troll's Cathedral, 1996) was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Award in 1992 and the English translation was furthermore nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literature Award in 1997. An adaptation for the stage premiered at The National Theatre in 1996 and the film right has been sold. He received the Icelandic Literature Prize for his novel, Öxin og jörðin, in 2004.

Some of Ólafur's work has been translated into other languages, the children's book Fallegi flughvalurinn (The Beautiful Flying Whale, 1999) has been published in Britain, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and The Faroe Islands, and was nominated to the Nordic Children's Literature Award in 1990. Some of his novels for adults have been translated to English, German and French. Ólafur has in addition to this, translated novels and plays into Icelandic.