Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.08.2010, Page 14

Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca
14 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1 August 2010
WWW.ICELANDAIR.CA
Now available on the Icelandair website:
book from 10 additional cities throughout Canada,
making your flight home that much easier.
Seasonal service from Toronto and Halifax now ongoing.
+ For further information, please visit
www.icelandair.ca or call (877) I-FLY-ICE.
CLOSER TO HOME
WWW.ICELANDAIR.CA
Now available on the Icelandair website:
book from 10 additional cities throughout Canada,
making your flight home that much easier.
Seasonal service from Toronto and Halifax now ongoing.
+ For further information, please visit
www.icelandair.ca or call (877) I-FLY-ICE.
CLOSER TO HO E You probably know her as the author of Settlement Poems 1 and 2 or Wake-
Pic Poems, those early books of
poems that spoke to the heart of
the Icelandic diaspora, that place
in our hearts of loss: of kinsmen,
land, culture, and history.
Born in Reykjavík in 1948,
moved to Oregon in 1964 with
her family, she learned early
what it meant to be an exile. Im-
migration leaves a sense of not
belonging. The country aban-
doned. The country received.
Neither one home. The immi-
grant is always trapped between
past and present, always leaving
somewhere, either the home-
land after a vacation or leav-
ing the new country to visit the
homeland. Even if the person
decides to return permanently
to the home country, there is
always the knowledge that one
is different, that memories are
different, that a way of seeing
is different. The new self never
quite fits into the newer role.
Brought up speaking Ice-
landic but learning three other
languages before she learned
English, she is remarkable as
a writer for her command of
English with all its nuances, its
connotations, its cultural refer-
ences. Yet, she remains very
much Icelandic.
Her poetry was joined with
fiction in 1982 when The Axe’s
Edge was published. She fol-
lowed it up with the much ac-
claimed The Prowler which
was then followed by six more
prose works.
She has authored, edited
and co-authored books, trans-
lated, had her work translated,
written creative non-fiction, ar-
ticles and essays.
Now, she has reinvented
herself as an artist. In a way,
it is not surprising because her
mother, Tove Christensen Bod-
varsson, was an artist.
Many writers are also visual
artists. Their creativity reaches
out beyond words for form
and colour. In Gunnars’ work
the form is impressionistic,
abstract, suggestive, teasing,
asking the viewer to read into
the paintings something of him-
self and his experiences and ex-
pectations.
Her work has been shown
in galleries on the Sunshine
Coast, BC, most recently at La-
Cabana Gallery in Sechelt, and
is in various private collections
in Canada, the United States,
and Europe.
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STERLING
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The reinventing of
Kristjana Gunnars
Requiem
VISIT
www.mts.net/~d.benson
Winnipeg McNally Robinson, Grant Park Selkirk Blaine’s Records, Tapes & Books
Hecla General Store, Lighthouse Inn, Solmundson Gesta Hus riverton The Other Place
gimli Tergesen’s elSeWHere Email: aplacecalledhecla@mts.net
The story of Ben and Laura continues in the
time of the controversial land expropriations for
the development of the new park in this sequel
When home Can’t Be heCla
a PlaCe Called heCla
traces the lives of a compelling couple
set against a changing society and the
worst polio epidemic the world has
ever known
Watch for the third book to complete the trilogy later this year!
A Place Called Hecla & When Home Can’t Be Hecla
Gimli
Selkirk
Mission stateMent
Make our home your home...
Where care and service prevail.
Betel Home Foundation
g i m l i 96-1st Avenue • 204-642-5556 S e l k i r k 212 MAnchester Avenue • 204-482-4651
Betel Home Foundation will continue to be a leader and innovator
in providing the highest quality of life for each individual in our
care. Betel Home Foundation is an integral part of the community
recognizing our Icelandic roots and respecting others cultures.
Tax receipts available for donations of either money or stock.