I & I - 2011, Blaðsíða 6

6 I&I
The slogan for Iceland’s honorary participation at the Frank-
furt Book Fair is Sagenhaftes Island / Fabulous Iceland,
cleverly combining the extraordinary literary tradition of
this small, isolated island nation, reaching all the way back to
its first settlement a thousand years ago, and its spectacular
beauty. Nature is indeed prominently featured in the promo-
tional material, with giant books creatively incorporated in the
landscape.
“We wanted to make ourselves stand out. We do realize that
juxtaposing nature and literature can be a cliché,” says Halldór
Gudmundsson, director of the immense project. “Nonethe-
less, it is something that is unique to Iceland. We are the Euro-
pean country with the largest uninhabited area, located on the
boundaries of civilization. Therefore, we are in touch with nature
but at the same time have a great literary tradition. Through the
centuries, living under bleak conditions in isolation and poverty,
writing and storytelling was what kept Icelanders going. Then,
in the 20th century, as the nation began defining itself for better
or for worse, it realized this unique position. In the wake of our
recent economic crisis, it is priceless for us to be able to proudly
manifest that which we are actually good at. We believe that this
will not only have a positive effect on authors and readers, but
on the nation’s self-identity.”
A Letter From iceLAnd
A new and exciting chapter in the nation’s thousand-year-old
literary history has begun, as Iceland is honorary guest at the 2011
Frankfurt Book Fair, the most important one of its kind in the world.
The 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair received almost 300,000 guests. A total
of 7,314 exhibitors participated, out of which 3,315 were German and
the rest from 111 countries all around the world. There were 75 national
exhibitions held in relation to the Book Fair. The venue is approximately
172,000 square meters in size.
In every village, every town around Iceland, you have
a swimming pool. In the capital area alone, you
have close to twenty warm Olympic size pools
to enjoy. The top six pools in Iceland are;
 The new pool in HoFsós, North West Iceland.
 LAugArdALsLAug in Laugardalur, Reykjavík, the biggest of them all.
 AkureyrArLAug in Akureyri, North Iceland.
 seLárLAug in Vopnafjördur, East Iceland. With the best view.
 tHjórsárdALsLAug, middle of nowhere, South Iceland.
 krossAnesLAug in Strandir, North West Iceland,
a great pool touching the Arctic Ocean.