Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 22

20 ICELAND REVIEW
THe
Winner
Writer Andri Snær Magnason (b. 1973) received the 2013
icelandic literary Award for his latest book, Tímakistan
(The Casket of Time) in the children’s/young adult category,
and his third icelandic literary Award. He had previously
won for the non-fictional book Draumalandið (Dreamland)
in 2006, and Sagan af bláa hnettinum (The Story of the Blue
Planet) for fiction in 1999. He is the only writer to have
won the icelandic literary Award in all three categories.
i was wondering, sitting down with Andri Snær at his
cozy reykjavík home: this is his first book in eleven years,
how come? Writer’s block? “no, this book was supposed
to come out in 2004 but it took me another nine years to
finish. i have been busy, doing three plays, and been an
almost full-time nature activist, making films and docu-
mentaries as well as the aforementioned Dreamland. The
best thing about my new novel is that i could return to
fantasy land, away from the hyper-realism i have been
immersed in over the last years. i believe that fairy tales
tell us a little bit about who we are. Fairy tales have
archetypes and ideas that mirror the reality we are living
in. The fairy tale brings us further from reality into the
unknown. And it will be interesting to see it on stage; the
reykjavík city Theater has bought the theatrical rights.
That will be another fairy tale.”
Tell me more about your new book. “The book is about
how to fix the world, featuring a greedy king, princesses,
and of course Sigrún and her family who have a black box
to crawl into to wait for better times, when bad times are
coming. And one day, in bad times, the box opens, and
WoRDS AnD PHoTo By PÁll StEfÁnSSon
Sigrún is confronted with an abandoned city in ruins, where
almost everyone is stuck in black boxes waiting for things to
improve. There she meets an old lady, in a house full of lost
children, and she tells her a strange story about this magical
casket, transparent like glass, but made of silk, with such a
dense weave that even time cannot penetrate the walls. one
day, a young boy opens the casket and the princess lying there
discovers that 20 years have passed, the king has gone mad,
and the kingdom is crumbling. There is a connection of some
sort between the old woman’s princess story and Sigrún’s
world; she and her friends must find the link.”
What’s next? “in 1956 my grandparents went to vatnajökull
glacier to film with a professional camera. i have that footage
and now i am working on a project—a film about the future.
When they went there, almost 60 years ago, the glacier was
supposed to be there forever; unchangeable. now we can see,
in the same places they visited, that it is not so. The glacier is
getting smaller, retreating at alarming speed. All caused by us,
the humans. it will hopefully be a film or a book, where the
focus is on glaciers, a book in which we all can see and feel
these rapid changes. protecting nature—saving the planet—is
a gigantic matter, which matters to us all. Dreamland was dif-
ferent, a bizarre journey through present day iceland, fun but
activist, taking the pulse of today. Where the glacier project
takes us, we will see.”
Being an icelandic writer, does that matter, reaching out
to the big world out there? “i don’t think so, but it is scary
how the english language market is closed to outsiders. Five
percent, or even less, of books published in that huge and
Andri Snær Magnason scores a hat-trick.