Reykjavík Grapevine - apr 2022, Qupperneq 27

27The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04— 2022

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27The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04— 2022
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bic assumptions. But she was
an immigrant, she worked at a
restaurant, and sometimes people
didn’t want her to serve them,
not because she was Polish, but
because she couldn’t speak Icelan-
dic.
“It was very empowering to
write this experience out in the
book,” she says. Asked if all of
these conversations she describes,
for example with Icelandic bigots,
were truthful as well, she answers
yes. These conversations were as
accurate as her memory allowed
them to be.
Ewa says that the focus was also
to be truthful as well as reflect the
poetic reality of her life.
Finding her place
Ewa is as far from the stereo-
type that many Icelanders have
in mind when they describe the
lonely working Polish man. She
finally found her voice through an
incredibly productive, and I might
add, important cultural space in
Iceland, where writers, poets and
novelists meet and hone their
skills as writers.
This assembly is called Ós Pressan,
and they have been impressively
active in producing poetry—
and now a novel—from writers
that are not native speakers in
Iceland. One of the books that is
a very good showcase for these
writers is 'Pólífónía Af Erlendum
Uppruna', an excellent assembly
of poetry edited by the poet Nata-
sha Stolyarova, (although the
book is not connected to Ós Pres-
san directly). To top everything,
Sjón—one of Iceland’s greatest
poets, and an established inter-
national writer—has been helping
the group out.
Delicate style
But before we go into that, I ask
Ewa about the style of the book.
Although it’s very focused on the
story of this young Polish immi-
grant, it’s pretty unorthodox when
it comes to its structure. Some
pages are poems, with often bril-
liant takes on the language—Polish
as well as Icelandic—but we leave
that for readers to enjoy. In other
moments the book reads like short
stories, although the threads are
carefully woven throughout every-
thing. It’s an impressive style, and
a very delicate one.
“Yes this book would not be clas-
sified as a novel, but poems and
short stories,” Ewa explains. She
says she feels more comfortable in
that writing style, instead of sitting
down and writing a big novel.
“I have a background in poetry
and I tried writing a novel, even a
short story, but Angela Rawlings
helped me a lot in finding the
style. She was there from the first
to the last sentence,” Ewa says. If
you are a devoted reader of The
Reyjavík Grapevine, you might
have seen Rawlings’ name in the
paper, since she was writing for
us before COVID-19 hit. She has
also written and published experi-
mental poetry; one more incred-
ibly impressive talent among the
skilled writers at Ós Pressan.
No conflict, just a new
dimension
When asked if Ewa has a conflict
with the Icelandic language, and
perhaps experiences it as a serious
cultural hindrance, She answers:
“We are not fighting the language,
rather creating new pockets. It
took me time to figure out why the
language is so precious to Iceland-
ers, and I didn’t really know much
about the Icelandic culture. But I
grew to love it.”
She says that it’s pretty obvi-
ous that if everyone would pick
up English, instead of protecting
the language, the Icelandic culture
would disintegrate.
“There is strength in this
puritanism when it comes to the
Icelandic language,” Ewa adds.
That said, the life of a Polish
writer —who has found comfort in
writing in English—is not an easy
life.
“It is challenging,” Ewa says.
But thankfully, Icelanders have
spotted her brilliance, and she is
now on the Icelandic artist stipend
and working on her next book,
whatever it will be. Ewa says that
just getting published by Forlagi!
[the biggest publisher in Iceland]
was a victory in itself.
“Just knocking on the door of
Forlagi! and getting a "yes" from
them was incredible,” says Ewa.
Her book 'Ísland Pólera!' will
hopefully be published in English
at the beginning of the summer.
Keep in mind that, if you’re learn-
ing Icelandic, this book might
well be highly approachable for
you. It's certainly quite brilliant.
For Icelanders this, of course, is
a must-read and gives a unique
viewpoint when it comes to Icelan-
dic literature.
Ewa reads from her work