Milli mála - 2020, Blaðsíða 209
Milli mála 12/2020 209
ANGELA RAWLINGS, LARA W. HOFFMANN, RANDI W. STEBBINS
10.33112/millimala.12.7
Portela for their inaugural performance Opening Ceremony. Their sec-
ond adaption focused solely on Marcinek’s in-progress manuscript,
premiering Polishing Iceland at independent theatre Tjarnarbíó for 150
guests in 2020.
Media response to Marcinek’s work has been abundant, frequently
foregrounding her identity as a foreign-origin author in keeping with
her autofiction subject matter. RÚV journalist Jórunn Sigurðardóttir
offered a succinct biography of Marcinek in an article on Icelandic
literature and translation (Sigurðardóttir, 2018); the article empha-
sized Marcinek’s heritage in the context of Soviet-era Poland. The
Reykjavík Grapevine titled their 2020 interview with Marcinek and
Jónsdóttir “The Reykjavík Ensemble Brings The Polish Experience
To The Stage”.57 Jakob S. Jónsson’s review of Polishing Iceland in Kjar-
ninn further emphasized that stage adaption of Marcinek’s work indi-
cates “a world that all immigrants… are familiar with and, fortu-
nately, more and more Icelanders are also beginning to recognize”.58
He went on to write that Marcinek’s co-founded theatre company
Reykjavík Ensemble “is tangible evidence that Iceland is moving
closer to becoming a part of the universe and to Iceland being part of
the world’s humanity.”
Children’s author and short-story writer Helen Cova is originally
from Venezuela. She published her first children’s book in 2019 with
the Icelandic publisher Bjartsýn. While the partnership with Bjartsýn
enabled distribution for the book, Cova was responsible for providing
the full cost of printing – rendering the publishing process closer to
self-publishing than acquisition by an independent publishing house.
Under the auspices of Bjartsýn, Cova printed her children’s book as
three hardbound editions in three languages: Snúlla finnst gott að vera
einn (Icelandic), Snulli likes being alone (English), and A Snúlli Le Gusta
estar solo (Spanish). The book was co-illustrated with 9-year-old Ice-
landic boy Davíð Stefánsson. By offering her book in three languages,
57 Beckett, Rex, “Polishing Iceland: The Reykjavík Ensemble Brings The Polish Experience To The
Stage”, The Reykjavík Grapevine, 2020, https://grapevine.is/icelandic-culture/2020/03/09/polis-
hing-iceland-the-reykjavik-ensemble-brings-the-polish-experience-to-the-stage [accessed 28
April, 2020].
58 Jónsson, Jakob S., “Kvenleg reynsla, ósvikin kómík. Leiklistargagnrýnandi Kjarnans fjallar um
sýningu Reykjavik Ensemble, Polishing Iceland”, Kjarninn, 2020, https://kjarninn.is/folk/2020-
03-20-kvenleg-reynsla-osvikin-komik [accessed 30 April, 2020].