Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.12.2002, Blaðsíða 1

Bill Valgardson gets a warm embrace
in Ottawa
page 5
Week at a glance
John Einarson laments turning fifty
page4
Friday, 13 December 2002 • Number 43 / Númer 43 • Föstudagur, 13 Desember 2002
Lögberg
Lögberg stofnað 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla stofnað 9. september 1886
Sameinuð 20. ágúst 1959
Heimskringla
THE ICELANDIC WEEKLY
www.logberg.com
PAP Registration no. 08000
Agreement no. 1402161
116th year/116. Árgangur
ISSN 0047-4967
Kevin Kerr Receives Governor General's Award
For his first ever published
play, Kevin Kerr of
Vancouver has been awarded
the Governor General's
Literary Award for Drama.
Kevin described his play Unity
1918: "It takes place in Unity,
SK after the first world war.
The backdrop is the outbreak
of the Spanish flu epidemic.
The protagonist is an Icelandic
woman, an outsider in the com-
munity, who inherits her
uncle's undertaking business,
and ends up being at the centre
of all the devastation in the
town."
Kevin said being nominat-
ed for and receiving the award
was "Quite a shock,
Overwhelming, and Really
wonderful too." Although
Unity 1918 is his first pub-
lished play, Kevin "has been
writing for six years in the
Vancouver scene. I work with
a collective, the Electric
Company Theatre, and we have
created five full-length plays as
an ensemble. This is my first
solo full length work."
When called about his
award, Kevin was told, "You
will be feted," and said that he
was. He and his partner Marita
Dachsel went to Toronto in mid
November for the reception at
the National Club, and next day
the Press Conference at the
CBC Building. He said, "The
best part was meeting all the
other authors - a wonderful
group of people." And he
noted that of the seven English
language winners, five were
from the prairies or British
Columbia.
He described the ceremony
at Rideau Hall as "all pomp and
circumstance with a regal qual-
ity to it." The next day the
authors were presented at the
House of Commons, and then
that night they did a reading at
the National Library. Kevin
said, "It was really wonderful
to hear all the other authors
read. That's what it's all
about."
Kevin Kerr grew up in
Kamloops, and his professional
career has been spent mostly
with the Electric Company
Theatre in Vancouver, where
he co-directs. He also free
lances as a theatre artist.
Kevin is the son of George
and Carol (Markusson) Kerr of
Kamloops, BC. His
maternal grandpar-
ents were Hjörtur
Hart and Violet
(West) Markusson of
Foam Lake, SK, and
his great grandpar-
ents were Þorsteinn
Markússon and Rósa
Jónsdóttir from
Eyhildarholt in
Skagafjörður, who
emigrated in 1899
and homesteaded
near Foam Lake,
SK.
Kevin and
Marita took their
first trip to Iceland
Photo courtesy of Governor General's Literary
Award website
last summer. He described it as
"One of the most amazing
experiences of my life." He
connected with completely
long lost relatives, did the cir-
cle tour, and stayed with a
woman in Akureyri whose con-
nection to the family is in itself
a very interesting story. They
learned of her from an
Icelandic student who was
studying in Kamloops. When
he went home he located the
person in a picture that Kevin's
mother had.
Please see Kevin on page 10
Vikings Arrive in St. Paul
John Askelson
St. Paul, MN
The first \yestward expansion
from Europe into and
across the North Atlantic is doc-
umented by the Smithsonian
exhibition: Vikings: The North
Atlantic Saga. Compiled in
cooperation with the Nordic
Council of Ministers with arti-
facts on loan from museums
throughout Europe and North
America, the exhibition pre-
miered April 2000 in
Washington, D.C. Having
toured several sites in the U.S.
and Canada, it recently opened
at the Science Museum of
Minnesota in St. Paul on
November 23 and runs through
May 18,2003.
The arrival in St. Paul has
generated much interest
throughout Minnesota, which
was populated in a later west-
ward expansion by immigrant
communities from each of the
Nordic states and is home to
several organizations, business-
es and native Viking lore, such
as the Nátional Football
League's Minnesota Vikings,
which display this heritage. The
Minnesota stop is the last of the
tour; and closing out by engag-
ing the Midwest audience was
especially important to the
Smithsonian organizers whose
mission is to dispel myths and
educate on the nature of Norse
society and the history of the
first European expansion to this
continent.
Arriving from Iceland to
open the exhibit President Óla-
fur Ragnar Grímsson played a
special role as interpreter of the
exhibit's message. Speaking at
the opening Ólafur remarked on
the exhibit's depiction of
Norsemen "who came and set-
tled on this continent and
brought with them the ideas of
democracy, the experience of
the democratic society that had
been created in Iceland. But
also brought with them
Christianity. These two pillars
of Western civilization —
democracy and Christianity —
that is a very important part of
American histöry and this exhi-
Photo by John Askelson
The Science Museum in St. Paul MN hosts Vikings: The
North Atlantic Saga
bition brings that out in a fasci-
nating way."
Icelandic manuscripts,
whose inclusion in the exhibi-
tion was made possible by an
act of the Icelandic Parliament,
are among the artifacts relating
this history. Ólafur comments,
Please see Vikings on page 10
Creating Community • Sköpum Samfélag