Heiða Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Heiða.

Heiða Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir (born 26 April 1978) is an Icelandic sheep farmer and former model who serves as a deputy member of the Althing.

Career

From her late teens until she was 23, Heiða worked as a fashion model, including in New York City; she returned to take over her parents' sheep farm, Ljótarstaðir on the River Tungufljót [is], after her father could no longer manage it. He has since died; she lives there with her mother and also runs occasional walking tours of the farm, which covers 6,464 hectares (15,970 acres) and has about 500 sheep.^[1][2][3][4] As of 2014^[update] she was possibly the only Icelandic woman shearing sheep;^[5] in February 2017 she was the only female contestant in the machine shearing division at the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in New Zealand.^[1][4][6]

She has also worked in construction and as a local police officer,^[7] and is on the board of the nearby Vatnajökull National Park.^[3] In 2017 she modelled again, for a new Icelandic brand.^[8]

Heiða became involved in environmental politics fighting plans to construct a hydro-electric plant which would involve damming the river and flooding much of her farm.^[1][2][4][9] She was elected as an alternate member of the Althing in the 2017 elections, representing the South constituency for the Left-Green Movement,^[7][10] and made her maiden speech on 18 September 2018.^[11]

Biography

In 2016 she was the subject of novelist and poet Steinunn Sigurðardóttir's first non-fiction book, Heiða – Fjalldalabóndi (Heiða – The Farmer in the Valley, her local nickname).^{[1][6][12][13]}

References

1. Toby Skinner; River Thompson (4 October 2017). "The Icelandic model who shears sheep". BBC Travel.
2. "Reel: The Icelandic model who shears sheep" (video with subtitles, 1 minute 30 seconds). BBC Travel. November 2018.
3. Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir. "Spirited Sheep Farmer". Promote Iceland. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
4. "Farmer, model and politician". Iceland Monitor. 11 February 2017.
5. Kristín Heiða Kristinsdóttir (22 May 2014). "Lagni er það sem skiptir máli í rúningi". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic).
6. Vala Hafstað (10 February 2017). "Icelandic Shearer Attracts Attention". Iceland Review.
7. "Heiða Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir: Frambjóðandi til Alþingis" (in Icelandic). RÚV. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
8. Kristín Heiða Kristinsdóttir (21 April 2017). "Fjalldalabóndi situr fyrir eftir 20 ára hlé". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic).
9. "Óðs manns æði að virkja". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 6 May 2012 [5 May 2012].
10. Björn Jóhann Björnsson; Höskuldur Daði Magnússon (23 October 2017). "Þriðjungur þingheims nýtt fólk". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic).
11. "Heiða Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir tekur sæti á alþingi" (in Icelandic). Left-Green Movement. 18 September 2018.
12. Egill Helgason (24 November 2016). "Fjalldalabóndinn Heiða og barátta hennar" (with video, 9 minutes) (in Icelandic). RÚV.
13. Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (26 November 2016). "Þögnin um Heiðu rofin". Fréttatíminn (in Icelandic). p. 48.

Further reading

• Sólrún Lilja Ragnarsdóttir (7 August 2015). "Fyrirsætan sem gerðist bóndi" [The model who became a farmer]. Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). pp. 20–22.

External links

• Heiða Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir at Alþingi (in Icelandic)