Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.09.2018, Blaðsíða 3

VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LH-INC.CA
Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. september 2018 • 3
Ragnar Jónasson, the
latest Icelandic crime
novelist to capture
international attention, will
appear at McNally Robinson
Booksellers in Winnipeg on
Saturday, September 29, at
7:00 p.m. He will appear
in conversation with Terry
MacLeod and then be available
to sign copies of the Ari Thor
thriller Blackout and his
new standalone thriller The
Darkness, which are published
by St. Martin’s Press.
Ragnar Jónasson is the
award-winning author of the
international bestselling Dark
Iceland series and the Hidden
Iceland series. He has sold over
500,000 books worldwide. His
books have been among of the
best-selling crime novels in
France since 2016. Ragnar was
the winner of the Mörda Dead
Good Reader Award 2016 for
Nightblind. On its publication
in the United Kingdom, The
Darkness was selected as the
Sunday Times Crime Novel of
the Month and Snowblind was
selected by The Independent
as one of the best crime novels
of 2015. His books have also
won praise from publications
such as The New York Times
and The Washington Post.
Ragnar is the co-founder of
the Reykjavík international
crime writing festival Iceland
Noir. Beginning when he was
17, Ragnar has translated 14
Agatha Christie novels into
Icelandic. He has appeared on
festival panels worldwide, and
lives in Reykjavik.
The Darkness is Ragnar’s
latest work. When the body
of a young Russian woman
washes up on an Icelandic
shore, the death is declared
a suicide after a cursory
investigation and the case
is quietly closed. Over a
year later, detective inspector
Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the
Reykjavík Police is forced
into early retirement at 64. She
dreads the loneliness, and the
memories of her dark past that
threaten to come back to haunt
her. But before she leaves she
is given two weeks to solve a
single cold case of her choice.
She knows which one: the
Russian woman whose hope
for asylum ended on the dark,
cold shore of an unfamiliar
country. Soon Hulda discovers
that another young woman
vanished at the same time,
and that no one is telling her
the whole story. Even her
colleagues in the police seem
determined to put the brakes on
her investigation. Meanwhile
the clock is ticking.
“The Darkness is a true
masterpiece of a crime novel,”
says Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,
“introducing an original
protagonist, a plot full of twists
and turns and an ending that
leaves you gasping for air.”
Blackout is the third
volume in the Dark Iceland
series. The story is set on the
shores of a tranquil fjord in
Northern Iceland, where a man
is brutally beaten to death on
a bright summer’s night. As
the 24-hour light of the arctic
summer is transformed into
darkness by an ash cloud from
a recent volcanic eruption,
a young reporter leaves
Reykajvík to investigate on
her own, unaware that an
innocent person’s life hangs in
the balance. Ari Thor Arason
and his colleagues on the tiny
police force in Siglufjörður
struggle with an increasingly
perplexing case, while their
own serious personal problems
push them to the limit. What
secrets does the dead man
harbour, and what is the young
reporter hiding? As silent,
unspoken horrors from the
past threaten them all, and the
darkness deepens, it's a race
against time to find the killer
before someone else dies.
Host Terry MacLeod is an
independent, Emmy-nominated
journalist, Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee Medal recipient, and
former CBC radio and television
host, presenter, and producer.
The evening is co-presented by
the Icelandic Canadian Frón,
Lögberg-Heimskringla, and the
Consulate General of Iceland
in Winnipeg.
Birthday Party & Annual General Meeting
TO BE HELD AT:
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA OFFICE
835 MARION STREET,
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
Call in by teleconference: 1.866.365.4409 | passcode 2845686
RSVP LH@LH-INC.CA | 204.284.5686
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, INC.
Please familiarize yourself with the L-H By Laws:
http://www.lh-inc.ca/what-is-loegberg-heimskringla/by-laws
All subscribers are members of the L-H and eligible to
vote on all matters, including election of Board Members
BIRTHDAY PARTY 6 PM A.G.M. 7:30 – 9:00 PM
COFFEE & BIRTHDAY CAKE
EVERYONE WELCOME
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – On September 10, Iceland
attended its first session of the United Nations Human Rights
Council since being elected to the council this summer. The
session began with an opening statement from the newly
appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle
Bachelet, where she gave a broad overview of the state of human
rights in the world.
Iceland’s representatives responded to High Commissioner
Bachelet’s statement with a speech during following day’s
session. Iceland took the opportunity to recall that in his address
to the council in February, Guðlaugur Þór Þórdarson, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, shared his concerns that
countries such as the Philippines, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and
Egypt are members on the council and yet their human rights
records have been far from exemplary.
“We could add others, mentioned by the High Commissioner
yesterday, but the question is how we can, together with these
countries, truly deliver on the commitment that members elected
to the council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion
and protection of human rights.
“Multilateral institutions such as the Human Rights Council
will continue to face criticism, and the call for reform will become
ever louder if we cannot deliver on this commitment. Member
states, not least those elected to this council, must implement the
human rights commitments they have made and we must hold
each other accountable when need be,” said Ambassador Harald
Aspelund, permanent representative of Iceland in Geneva.
Iceland takes seat at UN Human Rights Council
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iceland’s delegation at the UN Human Rights Council
Crime novelist Ragnar Jónasson appearing in Winnipeg