Iceland review - 2017, Síða 21

The Iceland Writers Retreat, brainchild of Eliza Reid and Erica Jacobs Green, has
grown from 50 to 150 participants in four years, bringing together fledgling writers
and established authors, who draw inspiration from the country and its culture.
Like all good ideas, it started over
a glass of wine,” says Iceland
Writers Retreat’s co-founder
Eliza Reid, a former colleague at Iceland
Review and current first lady of Iceland.
We meet one week before the fourth
annual event kicks off. Eliza—who was
born in Canada—explains that she and
Erica Jacobs Green—who hails from the
US and is the current vice president and
editorial director of children’s books at
National Geographic—were having wine
together one autumn evening in 2012,
discussing a writers’ retreat Erica had
recently attended, when the idea of the
Iceland Writers Retreat was born. Eliza
reflects on the conversation they had
that fateful night. “Erica said: ‘Why is
there nothing like that in Iceland?—they
love writers!’ I replied: ‘That’s true. Let’s
do that!’”
DOUBLE GESTATION
The two friends started planning the
debut event right away, searching for
sponsors. Reykjavík UNESCO City of
Literature was among the first to sign
up. “At the first meeting, I had just
found out that I was pregnant with my
fourth child,” reveals Eliza. She and Erica
went ahead with their plans, scheduling
the first Iceland Writers Retreat for
April 2014. Eliza’s daughter was born in
August 2013. “When she slept, I worked;
when she was awake, I did everything
else that needed to be done. I brought
her along to meetings. I even scheduled
meetings at her awake time.”
The first retreat proved a success, with
eight authors leading workshops for the
52 participants. Taking place April 5-9,
2017, the event has grown significantly
in four years. “This year we have 12
faculty members, or featured authors,
leading workshops, from seven countries
and a total of 150 people from 20 coun-
tries.” This year, Giller Prize winner Esi
Edugyan was among the featured authors
and in 2014, Pulitzer Prize winner
Geraldine Brooks was a member of the
faculty. Award-winning Icelandic authors
have also led workshops at the retreat,
including Sjón and Gerður Kristný. Each
workshop is two hours long with a maxi-
mum of 15 participants, and each student
can attend a total of five workshops. In
between, there are guided excursions
highlighting Icelandic literary heritage,
and the retreat also hosts Q&A sessions,
receptions, readings and a pub night.
For the first time this year, the public
was invited to participate in an off-venue
workshop on screenwriting, which was
quick to fill up.
DREAM OF WRITING
German engineer and writing novice
Daniel Lobron registered for the Iceland
Writers Retreat for the first time this
year. “I’d never been to Iceland before
but wanted to, and this seemed like a
good way to combine my interests,” he
tells me at a reception at the Whales
of Iceland museum two days into the
retreat. “Today, I attended a workshop
with Nadifa Mohamed where we listened
to music and were then supposed to write
based on our inspirations.”
Canadian author Claudia Casper—
whose 2016 novel The Mercy Journals
won the Philip K. Dick Award in April—
came to lead workshops this year after
having attended the first Iceland Writers
Retreat as a participant in 2014. “It was
an adventure. My friend Anne Giardini,
who has Icelandic roots, had heard about
it and wanted to go. It was a spontaneous
decision.” Claudia notes that, as estab-
lished authors, they weren’t planning
on necessarily learning so much, but it
was a luxury to listen to other writers
talk about their process and the retreat
was a great introduction to the country.
“When you visit as a tourist and don’t
L I T E R AT U R E
ICELAND REVIEW 19