The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1982, Qupperneq 28

26
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER, 1982
National School of Telegraphy (Lofts-
keytaskolinn). This was followed by ex-
tensive travel abroad where he either visit-
ed or studied in Denmark, Germany,
France, and Great Britain. Upon his return
to Iceland in 1953 he was commissioned as
Secretary to the Icelandic Parliament (Al-
pingid) and news reporter for the National
Radio Station assigned to cover the Alping.
This position he held until 1963 when he
became Archivist for the city of Reykjavik,
a position that he held until deciding to
become a free-lance writer in 1973.
As was mentioned above, Johannes Helgi
speaks with authority in describing life and
events in small boats on the open sea, for
he has had several years of experience on
fishing vessels of every size and descrip-
tion. In a like manner he speaks with
authority when describing life and customs
in the fishing villages and even the attitudes
of the Icelandic people, for during the war
years he worked as a common laborer for
the British and American troops, including
a stint as chauffeur for American officers.
Briefly, he has seen life from a number of
points of view.
Johannes Helgi had already written and
published several short stories and had
even collected them and had given them
out as books long before he made the de-
cision to become a free-lance writer in
1973. Several of these stories received not
only national acclaim, but also were trans-
lated into several languages and received
high praise from international reviewers.
One of the earliest of these books was Allra
vedra von (Any kind of weather), a col-
lection of short stories, published by Set-
berg in 1957, for which he won a grant
from the Icelandic Government. He has,
indeed, won several prizes and grants since
then. Moreover, several of his short stories
have received such favorable endorsements
that they have been included in collections
of international short stories. For example,
one was selected to appear in 54 Meilleurs
Contes du Monde: Les laureats du concurs
international 1954-55; another in World
Prize Short Stories; and still another in
Short Stories of Today by twelve modem
Icelandic authors. This by no means ex-
hausts the list: he has also written plays for
Icelandic National Radio as well as an
almost endless succession of articles for
newspapers and magazines. Some of these
he has assembled and published in book
form, such as Gjafir eru ydur gefnar (Gifts
you are offered), Almennabokfelagid, 1976.
In addition to expressing his opinion on
world affairs, internal Icelandic politics,
economic problems, and social life in Ice-
land, Johannes Helgi has long been a loud
voice crying in the wilderness, pointing out
to the Icelanders that if they want great
literary art, they must be willing to pay for
it. He is uncompromising in his opposition
to the 23.5 per cent sales tax that is im-
posed by the Icelandic Government on
books written by Icelandic authors. He
contends that such a tax stifles literary
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Greeting*
from
01 Jfrienti
L.