Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.04.2019, Blaðsíða 31

Iceland has long had a love affair with the
literary arts. The tradition is born from
the warrior poet Vikings, who settled on
the island and used its wild landscapes
as the setting for countless stories and
sagas.
Today, it is said that approximately
one in three Icelanders will publish a
book in their lifetime, and indeed the
country has produced a wide variety of
incredibly talented writers. The Reykja-
vík International Literary Festival seeks
to highlight the amazing work these
scribes, as well as provide a platform for
them to further advertise their works.
The biennial festival has been going
for over thirty years now and offers a
wide range of events in English, with no
admission fee. Get to know some of the
Icelandic writers who will be taking part
this year.
Steinunn Sigurðardóttir
Steinunn Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic
novelist and poet whose writing career
began in 1980. Her novel, “Hjartastaður”
(Heart Place), won the Icelandic prize for
literature in 1995. She has even had one of
her books, “Tímaþjófurinn” (The Thief of
Time), turned into a film in France called
Stolen Life.
Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson
Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson is a writer and visual
artist who lends his considerable talents to
a number of projects. He writes poetry, nov-
els, short stories and even plays. His work
has received the Tómas Guðmundsson Lit-
erary Prize and been nominated for both
The Icelandic Literary Prize and The DV-
Culture Prize.
Steinunn G. Helgadóttir
Steinunn Helgadóttir is a writer of poetry
and prose who graduated from the academy
of arts in Gothenburg. Her first collection
of poetry, titled “Kafbátakórinn” (The Sub-
marine Choir) was published in 2011. That
same year, Steinunn received the Jón úr Vör
poetry prize and won the Icelandic Wom-
en’s Literature Prize for her novel “Raddir
úr húsi loftskeytamannsins” (Voices From
the Radio Operator‘s House).
Einar Kárason
Einar Kárason has been a full-time writer
since 1978, when his career began with pub-
lishing poetry in literary magazines. His
first novel, “Þetta eru asnar Guðjón,” was
published in 1981 but he is perhaps best
known for his novel “Þar sem djöflaeyjan
rís” (Devils Island), which was subsequently
made into a film.
Fríða Ísberg
Fríða Ísberg is an extremely popular
Iceland. She is a member of the Icelan-
dic poetry collective Svikaskáld (The
Impostor Poets) and also lends her po-
etic abilities to the art of poetic review.
She is a recipient of the Grassroots Grant
from the Icelandic Literature Center and in
2018 she was nominated for The Icelandic
Women’s Literature Prize.
Hallgrímur Helgason
Hallgrímur Helgason is not only a big name
in Icelandic literature but also an accom-
plished painter, translator, and columnist.
Two of his novels have been turned into
movies and a further four have been adapt-
ed for the stage. His works can be found
in the collections of several art museums
around the world.
Sigríður Hagalín
Both a writer and a reporter for RÚV, her
first book, “Eyland,” came out in 2016. She
explored the idea of family and what it
meant to be an Icelandic person. She is fol-
lowing this up with her newest novel, “The
Holy Word,” in which the brother of a miss-
ing person travels the world to find his sis-
ter and learns strange things about their
family in the process.
Friðgeir Einarsson
Friðgeir Einarsson is a highly passionate
theatre artist who lends his talents to di-
recting, performing and writing. He has
participated in a wide variety of Icelandic
theatre ensembles leading up to 2011 in
which his solo work “Nothing” was a part
of the 2011 sequences festival. This included
the publishing of the book “The Amateur’s
Guide to the Large Signification Collider.”
Eva Kamilla
Eva Kamilla works as a librarian and is a
dedicated writer of romantic stories. She
has been published in the 2017 Ástarsögur
íslenskra kvenna (The Love Stories of Ice-
landic Women) collection. In 2018 she pub-
lished a love story with darkly comedic un-
dertones titled Kópavogskrónika which is
set in Kópavogur.
Dóri DNA
Dóri DNA (or Halldór Laxness Halldórsson)
is an actor and author. He began his career
as a rapper but has sadly since stopped. He
wrote and performed in the play “Þetta er
grín án djóks” and then shortly after released
his first poetry collection titled ‘Hugmyn-
dir: Andvirði hundrað milljónir’. He was
nominated for the DV Cultural Prize in 2016.
Þóra Hjörleifsdóttir
Þóra Hjörleifsdóttir is a highly talented and
highly educated writer. Her first novel Kvi-
ku was released in February 2019 however
prior to this she had also participated in the
writing and publishing of the books ‘Ég er
ekki að rétta upp hönd’ in 2017 and”‘Ég er
fagnaðarsöngur” in 2018.
Jónas Reynir
Jónas Reynir studied a masters degree in
creative writing at the University of Iceland.
He is well known for writing the novels
“Millilending” (Through Flight), “Krossfis-
kar” (Starfish), as well as the award, win-
ning play “Við deyjum á Mars” (We Die On
Mars). He has even published a book of po-
etry and received the Tómas Guðmundsson
Poetry Prize in 2017.
Icelandic
Writers Of
The Literary
Festival
Meet some of the Icelandic authors involved in this year's festival
Words: Sam Daniels Pictures: Various