Fræðakaffi | Nítjándu aldar piparmeyjar og ævisaga fröken Thoru Friðriksson

Sigríður Kristín Steingrímsdóttir will give a lecture in connection with her book Spinsters: Miss Thora and the History of Single Women in Iceland.

In times past, it was common for the youngest daughters to remain at home to look after the household and their elderly parents, and even other relatives, or to take in children, while remaining single and childless themselves. This pattern was common here in Iceland and indeed further afield. Thora Friðriksson was one of these women, born in 1866 in Reykjavík, the daughter of a well-known official. She was an elegant and well-bred girl, so why did she not marry? Was it solely because she was tied to the home and was hardly allowed to leave the house?

The book Spinsters explores this and other questions by examining a group of two hundred women, all born in the nineteenth century and all single and childless. Alongside reflections on the lot of single women and their role in women's history, the biography of Miss Thora is traced, based largely on her letters to her older sister who lived in the Westfjords.

Sigríður Kristín Þorgrímsdóttir is a historian and a qualified teacher. She worked as a teacher for many years, but also dabbled in journalism and a little bit of everything. However, she spent most of her career working as a specialist at the Regional Development Institute, right up until she retired at the end of 2024. Alongside her specialist work, she wrote books published by Mál og menning, but she was no novice in the literary field, having authored various publications or parts of publications, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. She now writes full-time alongside being a pensioner.

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Further information:

Sigríður Kristín Þorgrímsdóttir
siggastinath@gmail.com | 

Halldór Óli Gunnarsson
halldor.oli.gunnarsson@reykjavik.is | 411 6241