Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.08.2014, Qupperneq 37

Schola cantorum summer concert series
>ƵŶĐŚƟŵĞĐŽŶĐĞƌƚƐŽŶ
Wednesdays in Hallgrímskirkja
Experience some of Iceland’s
most beloved choral music with Schola
cantorum on our latest album Foldarskart.
Wednesday August 6th at 12 pm
Wednesday August 13th at 12 pm
Wednesday August 20th at 12 pm
Wednesday August 27th at 12 pm
Schola cantorum chamber choir of Hallgrimskirkja presents an excellent
ŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƚLJƚŽĞdžƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞƚŚĞŐƌĞĂƚĂĐŽƵƐƟĐƐŽĨ,ĂůůŐƌŝŵƐŬŝƌŬũĂ͘
The repertoire consists of Icelandic contemporary music
for a capella choir as well as Icelandic folk songs.
CONCERT CALENDAR:
Admission: 2.000 ISK - Tickets by the entrance
I\ZPZ
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Three-day pass: ISK 2,200
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37The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11 — 2014 LITERATURE
transpose.”
Although Geral-
dine has no short-
age of incisive, quot-
able and writerly
advice, the session
takes on the tone of
a casual chat with
a much more suc-
cessful, but no less
encouraging buddy.
Sniffing suspiciously
at work that carries
what she calls “the
whiff of the MFA,”
she privileges exten-
sive travelling and
life experience over
formal university
writing programmes,
telling everyone to
just “buy yourself a
backpack, and fill
it with books. Live
someplace where
you can think in your
own language, but
have to buy your
groceries in some-
one else’s.”
She’s funny and no-nonsense, able
to make declarations like “I no more
believe in writer’s block than I believe
in hairdresser’s block” while also rath-
er generously admitting to how ardu-
ous the labour of writing can be for
anyone, herself included. “We love two
words where one will do,” she sighs,
everyone in the room ‘in it together,’
as it were. “We”: the Pulitzer-winning
author and, if only for an hour or so,
her peers.
One perfect sentence
Each workshop, it’s clear from the
coffee-time chit-chat burbling in the
hallways, has its own unique character
owing, of course, to the various back-
grounds and styles of the workshop
leaders themselves. Iain Reid, a self-
described “non-dramatic memoirist,”
starts his ‘Writing Your Life’ session
with a reading from one of his own
works in order to then break down the
actual process of (and his own set of
rules for) writing from personal ex-
perience. James Scudamore, recently
longlisted for the Man Booker Prize,
cheerfully admits that he puts his
workshoppers “through their paces,”
filling his ‘Nostalgia’ class with writing
and peer-editing exercises from start
to finish.
Sara Wheeler,
rocking back and
forth on her heels,
a barely contained
cyclone of energy,
jam-packs her ‘Find-
ing the Story’ ses-
sion with descrip-
tions of the eight
classic models for
travel narratives,
an extensive book
list, readings of ex-
emplary opening
paragraphs, her own
fabulous travel an-
ecdotes and more
good, solid advice—
“it’s your book and
your voice: be sub-
jective” or “it has to
be about something
that can be written
down in one per-
fect sentence”—all
of which her room of
attendees hasten to
scribble down as fast
as she can share it.
There’s a palpable enthusiasm
that buzzes over each day’s lunches,
between sessions, and on busses
back and forth from special events—
the reading at the home of Iceland’s
Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness, for
instance, or the reception at the Presi-
dential residence during which partic-
ipants are personally greeted by Presi-
dent Ólafur Ragnar and then invited to
poke about the place at their leisure.
Attendees share their “Why Ice-
land?” stories, swap business cards
(and, in one case, mix tapes), com-
miserate over past rejections and
generally talk shop. It’s enlivening and
makes the idea of writing seem fun
again—less like the romantic, quasi-
tragic burden that many writers are
conditioned to think they must endure
and bear in solitude.
Which is, ideally, how it should be.
As Iain Reid remarks at the end of a
class, “there’s no reason to become a
writer if you don’t love it.”
Writers
Retreat
The second annual Iceland Writ-
ers Retreat will take place from
April 8–12, 2015 and will feature
workshops lead by acclaimed in-
ternational authors such as Adam
Gopnik, Taiye Selasi, and Sjón,
among others. Registration opened
on July 28, 2014, and space is limit-
ed, so attendees, both local and in-
ternational, are encouraged to sign
up early. For more info, check out
www.icelandwritersretreat.com.
“Very nearly half of
the following partici-
pants begin their own
narrations with the
quiet mantra: ‘I won’t
apologise!”