Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2011, Blaðsíða 26

26
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2011
Zombies | Apocalypse!
The Brain Behind Zombie Iceland
Where to buy the book: All major Icelandic bookstores and online in eBook and pa-
perback format on okei.is. They ship internationally!
Author Nanna Árnadóttir interviewed
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Reykjavík Literally
A Guided Walking Tour
Join us for a fun introduction to
Icelandic literature, with a bit of
history mixed in. This 90 min.
walk is at an easy pace and suits
everyone. Starts at Reykjavik City
Library in Tryggvagata 15.
Free of charge.
Reykjavik City Library
www.literature.is
Tel. 411 6100
Every Thursday in July and August at 5 pm.
Pósthússtræti 13
101 Reykjavík
Tel: +354 551 1800
www.gamla.is
Journalist, writer, and survival-
ist Nanna Árnadóttir has just pub-
lished her first book, called ‘Zombie
Iceland.’ As you may have gleaned
from the title, it’s a book about
zombies in Iceland! But not only is
it a wonderfully written fiction to
be enjoyed by zombie enthusiasts,
but it’s also an artfully written guide
to Iceland, making it ideal reading
for the tourist that’s looking for an
alternative to the Lonely Planet.
Just how did Nanna come up with
a zombie apocalypse travel guide to
Iceland? We met up with her after
her book launch/zombie party to
pick her brain…
What inspired you to write a book
about zombies?
As a lifelong zombie fanatic, I’ve spent
many hours mapping out how to survive
a zombie apocalypse. Every respect-
able zombie aficionado has. Inspira-
tion for the book however came about
when I was running down Ægisíða.
I was getting in shape for the zombie
apocalypse—no lie, this was my reason-
ing—and I imagined I was being chased
by zombies in order to cope with my
overwhelming desire to stop moving,
lay down on the pavement and eat
some ice cream. That’s where the first
chapter came from, Barbara running
away from zombies on Ægisíða. I had
intended it as a short story, but then I
just kept going and going.
So you’ve been preparing for a zom-
bie apocalypse?
Well, you know what they say, “Some
people worry, others prepare.” I saw
that on a website that sells underground
bunkers. My dad and I were having a
look but he decided against it. He was
like “If we put a bunker in the backyard
now, everyone will see and come to us
when shit hits the fan. We only have so
many guns and food reserves Nanna,
we have to be practical.” Oh man, I’ve
said too much. He's going to be really
mad at me because now everyone will
know that we have food reserves and
they’ll come to our house if there’s ever
any trouble!
It’s not so unusual for people to
have earthquake preparedness kit,
but a zombie apocalypse kit?
Maybe it’s pushing it to say that it’s a
zombie apocalypse kit. Technically it
could work for an alien invasion or a
world event too. It sounds so nuts when
I say it out loud. Of course I don’t genu-
inely believe a zombie apocalypse is go-
ing to happen but I also don’t think that
I’ll get into an accident when I get into a
car, but I still buckle my seatbelt.
You have wonderful footnotes ex-
plaining Icelandic things. How did
you come up with that idea?
They came about because as I was writ-
ing in English I realised I would have
next to no market in Iceland. So I start-
ed writing it for my friends abroad and
then I realised that they wouldn’t know
what “Ora baunir” were or where to go
to an English AA meeting in Iceland, so
I started adding footnotes and it ended
up being an informative tourist book as
well as a novel and possibly an elabo-
rate self indulgent fantasy.
And then there’s the zombie apoca-
lypse track list featuring Icelandic
musicians. Are they integral to the
plot at each stage?
The idea is that yeah, the music narrates
the novel in its own way. To begin with
it hadn’t occurred to me that the playl-
ist should be exclusively Icelandic mu-
sic. Really it was my friend Matti’s idea.
He said “Hey if this is about educating
people on Iceland why not introduce
them to Icelandic music too and not
just Björk and Sigur Rós but talented,
fairly unknown acts.” And it just clicked.
What a great way to shed light on such
an industrious part of our culture.

Should the reader play them while
reading?
Yes, on pain of death by the undead!
I jest, I jest. That would be great and
in an ideal world, a reader would do
that, especially since we’ve done every-
thing we can to make it easy and free by
cooperating with gogoyoko.com.
There are some wonderful charac-
ters in your book. Are they based
on real people? Did you know a boy
who collected farts in jars?
I have an obsession with jars. I’m play-
ing around with ideas for a new book
and now I’m obsessed with the idea
of a rickety old woman who discon-
nects from society and begins to collect
strands of her hair into jars then creates
this bedtime ritual around smelling the
hair jars. I have a fetish for writing about
people who are strange but not aggres-
sive, like Skúli the Ice Cream guy and
Georg, the fart collector. But to answer
your question, no I don’t know a boy
who collected farts in jars. Although
it seems like something a young boy
would do, don’t you think?
Uhmm …
I digress… the characters. Barbara is
everything I wish I was and try to be.
Brave, tough and calm under pressure
and Lóa is the little voice in my head
that I never show because then I would
be completely ostracised from society
and it’s hard enough for nerds already.
Zombie movies like ‘Dawn of the
Dead,’ which takes place in a shop-
ping mall and serves as a critique
on consumerism, often carry mes-
sages about our society. Given the
Kreppa and all of the anger here,
are you sending any kind of mes-
sage in Zombie Iceland? Are Ice-
landers becoming zombies?
That’s a hard question. If I say yes, Ice-
landers are going to be mad at me for
saying so and I can’t help but think that
in a lot of ways Icelanders have dealt
brilliantly with the aftermath of 2008.
People are growing their own food,
making their own clothes, spending
more time with family and friends. Peo-
ple are still fat, and higher education
and healthcare are still essentially free.
So we’re doing well.
But if I say no, then I’m lying.
It’s hard not to be critical when the
conservative party, which was a large
part of what drove us into this mess to
begin with, are gaining popularity and
power again. Do my countrymen have
the memory of a gold fish? It baffles me.
If there is any kind of message in
my book though it’s in the way that the
zombie outbreak begins. In the book,
Iceland is building yet another, com-
pletely unnecessary and exploitative
power plant, wrecking some beautiful
part of our country when there’s an ex-
plosion at the construction site and the
zombie virus spreads. So in a way I’m
sending a “stop fucking with our na-
ture” message. I’m not even a die-hard
nature nut, I like being inside where I
have easy access to a toilet. But I know
that what we have in Iceland is special
and deserves to be treated with dignity
and sacrificing our countryside to build
plants to produce energy we don’t need
is just plain disrespectful.
In case of a zombie apocalypse, the emer-
gency number in Iceland is 112.
ANNA ANDERSEN
JULIA STAPLES