Reykjavík Grapevine - des. 2021, Blaðsíða 26

Icelanders are famous for their
writings, for their old Edda poems
and tales of our Viking history.
This small island even has a liter-
ary Nobel Prize winner to boast
of. Our rich history of literature
is long and complicated, but Ice-
land today is changing in many
ways. One of the most interest-
ing changes when it comes to this
cold island in the north is that im-
migration has never been higher.
Around 55,000 immigrants live in
Iceland, a nation of 370,000, but
literature remains shielded from
changing with the times by one of
the toughest languages out there.
It’s safe to say that the language
barrier makes it difficult for im-
migrants to be a part in the liter-
ary side of the culture.
The Brave Poets
But there will always be brave
poets, and a collection of first-
generation immigrant writers in
Iceland have composed a remark-
ably diverse and well-written book
that breaks the toughest cultural
wall there is in Iceland: the old
tradition of poetry that Icelanders
have dominated for centuries.
The mind behind the book
“Pólífónía af erlendum uppruna”
(Polyphonia of foreign origin),
published by Una publishing
house, is Russian born poet Na-
tasha Stolyrova. Fittingly enough,
she speaks Icelandic when inter-
viewed, and says that it was the
work of a Danish poet that encour-
aged her to break the wall.
“I was inspired by Yahya Has-
san’s poetry,” says Natasha. The
Danish/Palestinian poet became
a literature star overnight around
a decade ago when he published
his first book, simply named after
his own name. The poetry of Has-
san is incredibly powerful. Sadly
he died last year, still only a young
man.
No frustration
“I realised that the voices of im-
migrants were not heard in Ice-
landic literature. This is in some
ways understandable,” she adds,
since it’s in relatively recent years
that immigration to Iceland has
increased. But the second genera-
tion is knocking on the door of
Icelandic society, and immigrants
are taking more space than ever
in Icelandic arts. One writer in the
book also wrote and performed
in the incredibly enjoyable play,
Polishing Iceland, which was
performed in one of Iceland’s big-
gest theatres a few years ago. An-
other writer, Juan Camilo Roman
Estrada, played a role in the hit
movie, “Woman At War” (Kona fer
í strí!), which received the Nordic
Council Prize in 2018.
“This book is not fueled by
frustration or anything like that,”
Natasha explains, “it just feels like
it’s time.”
And she is absolutely cor-
rect. The immigrant generation
is emerging with a fresh under-
standing of Iceland, both when it
comes to the Icelandic nation, as
well as the contradistinctive na-
tional soul of Icelanders, which
still relies heavily on the heritage
of the romantic poets from the
18th century, when more or less all
Icelandic tradition was invented.
What is the North?
Natasha met with the writers in
Gröndalshús in Reykjavík, a fit-
ting place for literature, as the
famous writer Benedikt Gröndal
used to live there at the end of the
18th century.
She wrote down questions and
placed them into a hat, which the
writers pulled out and used as
prompts for discussion and, ulti-
mately, their writing.
“These questions were about
our experience in Iceland, what
we miss in our homelands, how
we experience the Icelandic lan-
guage, the society and its preju-
dices,” Natasha says. The result is
that the reader can now find these
experiences, interpreted through
poetic form, in the book. But it
doesn’t focus on the negative el-
ements of being an immigrant
such as the frustration of learning
Icelandic. One of the most power-
ful poems in the book is called My
North, written by the Colombian
born Juan Camilo Roman Estrada.
It’s eye-opening for Icelanders to
read such a poem, and he hits hard
in the beginning, reminding one
that in the north, we worry about
the weather, not war. Perhaps, the
idea of north doesn't really belong
to the north alone after all.
Odd experience for
Icelanders
The book itself is aimed at Ice-
landic markets, Natasha says, al-
though the poems are also trans-
lated to English. One poet, Elías
Knörr, offers a unique experience
for Icelandic readers. At first, he
seems to be writing in Icelandic,
but the reader, if Icelandic, quickly
finds that he cannot understand
a word –"yet, the words truly feel
like Icelandic. It can be frustrat-
ing reading these poems but the
reader quickly realises that they
themselves have been put into the
shoes of a person learning the Ice-
landic language, not understand-
ing much, if anything. A truly as-
tonishing experience that works
perfectly for Icelandic readers.
Big step for new poets
Overall, the book presents a di-
verse choir or immigrant voices
and perhaps reminds us that there
are no fundamental differences
between them and any other po-
ets, although they have a fresher
way of approaching many themes.
Although they think and write
about the language, they are still
writing about universal feelings
of love, regret, sense of loss and
violence.
“I believe that this is a big step
for immigrants when it comes to
Icelandic literature,” says Nata-
sha, and explains that she at first
wanted the book only to be in Ice-
landic, but that her ideas changed
through the process. She has also
seen a lot of interest within the
Icelandic cultural scene to draw
these voices out.
“Tímarit Máls og Menningar
[(Iceland’ biggest and most influ-
ential literary magazine) wanted
to republish these poets, so there
is clearly an interest in these voic-
es,” says Natasha. And she just
might be right.
Pólífónía book is available on
shop.grapevine.is
26The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12— 2021

SÆTA SVÍNI! / Hafnarstræti 1-3 / Tel. 555 2900 / saetasvinid.is
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ICELANDIC GASTROPUB
Books
Immi!rant Poets
Rethinkin! The North
A new generation of poets publish a poet book
Words: Valur Grettisson Photo: Patrik Ontkovic & Art Bicnick
Natasha Stolyrova