Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.10.2018, Side 1

LÖGBERG
HEIMSKRINGLA
The Icelandic Community Newspaper • 15 October 2018 • Number 20 / Númer 20 • 15. október 2018
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40012014 ISSN: 0047-4967
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evening of lights
in Honour of
Past Presidents, Directors, Editors, & Volunteers
of Lögberg-Heimskringla, Inc.
Friday, November 9, 2018
Cocktails: 6:00 p.m. (cash bar)
Dinner and Program: 7:00 p.m.
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Grant Stefanson, President/Vice President
Julianna Bjornson, President/Vice President
Bill Perlmutter, Treasurer
Elva Jonasson, Secretary
Brian Tomasson, Director
Dr. Allan Johnson, Director
Dr. Lyle Hillman, Director
Dr. Ron Goodman, Director
Ernest Stefanson, Director
Margaret Kernested, Director
Skuli Sigfusson, Director
Vi Hilton Bjarnason, Director
Evelyn Thorvaldson, Director – In Memory
Garry Oddleifson, Director – In Memory
J. S. Laxdal, Director – In Memory
The Honourable Kris Stefanson, Director – In Memory
Walter Sopher, Director – In Memory
Bill Valgardson, Editor
Caelum Vatsndal, Editor
David Fuller, Editor
Gunnor Isfeld, Editor
Steinthor Gudbjartson, Editor
Joan Eyolfson Cadham, Editor – In Memory
Lillian Vilborg MacPherson, Editor – In Memory
Ragnar Bergman, Director – In Memory
Arni Thorsteinson, Senior Subscription Sponsor
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Entertainment & Dancing
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Entertainment by Icelandic DJ Kent Gudmundson
To an avid reader there is nothing as
exciting as finding a new author.
Winnipeg readers were introduced
to Ragnar Jónasson on Saturday,
September 29th, at McNally Robinson
Booksellers in Winnipeg.
A week after his appearances in
Winnipeg and Gimli, Ragnar’s books
claimed three of the five Winnipeg
bestseller spots for paperback fiction.
Snowblind and Blackout claimed the
first and second spots, while Nightblind
occupied the fourth spot.
In his introductory remarks that
evening, Consul General Þórdur Bjarni
Guðjónsson reminded those gathered that
the first Icelandic crime novel was actually
written by Jóhann Magnús Bjarnasson,
who had come to Canada in 1875.
Ragnar was not yet a teenager when he
began reading Agatha Christie novels. At
seventeen he began translating the first of
fourteen of Christie’s novels into Icelandic. In her autobiography,
Christie wrote that she regretted having made her character,
Hercule Poirot, a retired police officer when she created him.
Ragnar took note of this and his first detective, Ari Thor, is a young
man at the beginning of his career in the police force.
We have a writers competition in Iceland to thank for Ragnar’s
emergence as a crime writer. As Ragnar himself describes it, the
competition was to find an Icelandic Dan Brown. In the end, the
competition did not declare a winner but the publisher did offer
to publish Ragnar’s first novel, Fölsk nóta, whose main character
is Ari Thor, a theology student searching for his missing father.
This novel has not yet been translated into English. Ragnar then
proposed to his publisher that Ari Thor give up theology and
become a police officer learning the ropes in Siglufjörður. This
was the beginning of the Dark Iceland series. We will soon be
treated to his new series, Hidden Icela d, which features Hulda
Hermannsdottir, who is an about-to-be-retired detective in
Reykjavík. The first novel in this series is Darkness, which is now
available in bookstores.
Throughout the evening’s conversation with Terry McLeod,
who confessed that his two favourite things were Iceland and
crime novels, we learned how closely Ragnar is tied to the town
of Siglurfjörður in the north of Iceland. The community has a
population 1,200 and was home to his grandparents. Ragnar likes
setting his novels in the smaller communities because he believes
that fewer suspects makes the novel more interesting.
A number of his ancestors left Siglufjörður to come to Canada
and, in fact, Ragnar feels it is just random luck that he wasn’t born
in Canada. He fully suspects he is related to people in Manitoba
and beyond.
Prior to his evening at McNally Robinson, Ragnar had an
afternoon book signing in Gimli at Tergesen’s, where he was
pleasantly surprised to be greeted in perfect Icelandic. A crowd of
enthusiastic fans thronged the aisles of the store’s substantial book
department to listen to a short reading and then meet the author.
Along with Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar co-founded the Iceland
Noir Festival in 2013. That year’s featured writer was Ann Cleaves,
who writes the Shetland series. The festival has grown with each
passing year and it is supported by Iceland’s First Lady, Eliza Reid,
and Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who did her
master’s thesis on the work of crime writer Arnaldur Indriðason. In
2020, the festival’s featured writer will be Ian Rankin, with whom
Ragnar plays soccer for the Scottish crime writers’ team.
Ragnar continues to work as a finance lawyer in Reykjavík,
where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He believes in
keeping his writing life separate from his legal world. In his novels,
he has only included two characters who are lawyers.
The event at McNally Robinson was sponsored by the
Icelandic Canadian Frón, Lögberg-Heimskringla, and the
Consulate General of Iceland.
Lorna Tergesen with Ragnar Jónasson. Richard Rosin with
Ragnar and his daughter, Kira, at McNally Robinson.
PHOTO: ALICYN GOODMAN
Ragnar Jónasson tops local bestseller list
Alicyn Goodman
Winnipeg, MB
PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
INSIDE
A memorable journey / page 7
Afi hits the road
PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
A great figure in Icelandic
literature / pages 10 - 12
Snorri Sturluson
PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
The evolution of family names
among immigrants / page 14
Icelandic
surnames
PHOTO: PIXABAY
FALL CULTURAL ISSUE