Iceland review - 2014, Page 48

46 ICELAND REVIEW
the size of Denmark, is thinly populated. When Iceland
declared its Independence, the population was merely
125,967.
Through my journalistic work at daily Morgunblaðið, I
started to acquire foreign contacts—especially with my
colleagues in nearby European countries. Occasionally, I
was asked about specific events, background stories, the
country’s interests and attitude towards various aspects. I
tried to explain things briefly, but basic information was
not always available. For these reasons, I started wonder-
ing if there was a basis for establishing the first organised
information service for Iceland; regular publishing work
with the goal of presenting the main aspects of the
big picture and our social developments to foreigners.
During my speculations, I started to form the idea that
a quality, modern magazine in English could presumably
benefit the country, support the export industries and
old business relations and form new ones. Furthermore,
it could increase foreigners’ interest in visiting Iceland,
which would reinforce the country’s transportation
with the outside world and benefit our tourism. I almost
lost myself in these endless speculations! In the end, the
question became whether I should make the attempt
myself to bring Iceland closer to the world in this man-
ner. Would I be able to do that? I had no money for
business operation but after some further reflections I
finally decided to give it a try. Thus, the idea for Iceland
Review was born, a little over a half a century ago.
The entire process was at a very personal level. The
editorial policy did not get in my way and the list of
desirable topics became very long. But the basic ele-
ment was to ensure a professional and skilful translation
of all texts into English. And the solution was not far
away. I bumped into an acquaintance, Peter Kidson,
who previously worked for the British Diplomatic
Services. He had become quite skilled in the Icelandic
language and was working as a translator. He became
excited about the idea and immediately started helping
me come up with a possible title for the magazine. This
is where it really began.
But it was especially because of financing the proj-
ect, and booking ads, that I started looking around for
assistance. I mentioned this to an old schoolmate and
friend, Heimir Hannesson, who had finished law school
and was working as a banker; asked if he knew someone
who he thought might be interested in getting involved.
To my surprise he called me later and said he was will-
ing to join me in my endeavours. Naturally, I was very
pleased. We agreed on his share in the publication and
were both registered as publishers and editors, but in
reality, I handled nearly all of the editorial work, design
administration and production myself from the begin-
ning.
It was not very difficult to get the new magazine
printed in Reykjavík. But the design was still an unre-
solved issue when we met with the owner of Setberg
printing house. To me, Icelandic magazines seemed old
fashioned in general, near tacky even, in comparison
to foreign magazines in those days. A magazine which
was meant to represent Iceland in the big world had
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