Andreas William Heinesen (15 January 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a poet, writer, composer and painter from the Faroe Islands.

Heinesen was captivated by the mysterious part of life, calling himself religious in the broadest sense of the word.

His next book The Black Cauldron (1949) deals with the aftermath of decadent living combined with religious hysteria.

In The Lost Musicians (1950) Heinesen leaves the social realism of his earlier works behind, instead giving himself over to straightforward storytelling.

He received The Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1965 for his novel Det gode håb (The Good Hope), published in 1964.

When there were rumours that William Heinesen was about to receive the Nobel Prize for literature in 1981, he wrote to the Swedish Academy and renounced his candidacy.

[8] In 1984 he received the Children's Books Prize of Tórshavn City Council (Barnabókaheiðursløn Tórshavnar býráðs)[9] In 1985 he was awarded the Karen Blixen Medal from the Danish Academy.