Thordis Elva

Thordis Elva was voted Woman of the Year 2015 in her native Iceland due to her tireless campaigning for gender equality. As an award-winning writer, journalist and public speaker, she has utilised many different platforms for her activism, including plays, films and books. She believes in ending the silence that still shrouds sexual violence, of which she is a survivor, and sees dialogue as a means of healing. She has long researched the effect of forgiveness in human relationships, an interest which took her across the globe and into the depths of her own heart, resulting in the upcoming book South of Forgiveness (2017). Thordis Elva's passion for equality extends to the internet, and she has toured extensively giving lectures about online violence and digital human rights to audiences such as the United Nations and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Digital rights, sexual and reproductive rights, feminism, writing and wine-drinking. I also believe with a passion that everytime you manage to find humor in a difficult situation, you win.

That dialogue can be a means of healing. That healing means giving up the hope of a better past. That forgiveness doesn't mean laying your blessings on the hurtful act, but on the contrary - that you acknowledge the hurt that was done to you, and that you're ready to let go of it.

Predicting the winner of the Eurovision song contest. I also make mean soups.