The Icelandic connection - 01.03.2018, Page 6

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ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 70 #1
Editorial
“Kaera foldin kennd vid snjo”
Symposium of Kainn
by Kristin M. Johannsdottir
When you visit Akureyri in North-
Iceland, you can visit the houses
of children’s book writer Jon Sveinsson
(Nonni) and poets Matthias Jochumson
and Davids Stefansson. However, even
though all of them called Akureyri home
for one time or another, none of them
were actually born and bread fed in town.
Kristjan Niels Julius Jonsson, Kainn, was.
But he does not have a museum dedicated
to him — and until recently — not even
a memorial. Even though his memory
lived a good life in North Dakota, where
a monument does indeed commemorate
his life, his picture had started to fade in
Iceland and his poems were mostly held
dear by grandfathers who sometimes
and sometimes not recited them to their
grandchildren.
Kristinn Mar Torfason, the instigator
of the Kainn-group, was one of the
children who learned to appreciate Kainn
through his grandfather. On a sunny day
in the botanical garden of Akureyri, it
dawned on him that Akureyri had nothing
to remind us of this wonderful poet.
In fact, most people do not even know
that Kainn was from Akureyri. Kristinn
set out to change this. He contacted
head librarian Holmkell Hreinsson and
historian Jon Hjaltason and along with
Professor Kristin M. Johannsdottir who
joined shortly thereafter, the Kainn-group
was formed. These four decided that a
monument would not be enough; they
needed to make more noise, tell people
about Kainn, remind them of him. A
symposium would be in order. A cross-
disciplinary symposium about Kainn, his
life, his time and of course his poetry.
The symposium was held at the
University of Akureyri, August 26, 2017,
in cooperation with the Icelandic National
League of Iceland, The University of
Akureyri and the Akureyri Library, and
funded by the town of Akureyri, Icelandair,
KEA, Kjarnafedi, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and Nordurorka.
The program was both ambitious and
impressive. It started with greetings from
the collaborators; Dr. Sigrun Stefansdottir
addressed the meeting on behalf of the
University of Akureyri, Mayor Eirikur
Bjorn Bjorgvinsson on behalf of the town
of Akureyri, and Hjalmar W. Hannesson
on behalf of the INL of Iceland. After these
official greetings from the collaborators, it
was time for one of the highlights of the