Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.02.2019, Síða 10

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10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • February 1 2019
Svava Jónsdóttir is a
multitalented author
and journalist whose
most recent book, Portraits
of a Nation (profiled on the
centre pages of this issue of
Lögberg-Heimskringla), brings
together the portraits of 101
representative Icelanders in
honour of the centennial of
Iceland’s sovereignty as a
nation.
Svava has worked as a
journalist for the past 25 years,
written four books, including
Portraits of a Nation, and
translated another. She holds
a bachelor of arts degree
in Spanish and literature, a
diploma in journalism, her
teaching certification, and
a diploma in international
relations. Beyond her interest
in literature, she studied music
for about a decade and she likes
to travel.
She has written for several
publications over the years
including Icelandic Times,
where her topics have been
as varied as the country itself,
and Stundin, where her profiles
of individuals are especially
compelling, most notably a
2016 profile of Iceland’s First
Lady, Eliza Reid.
Lögberg-Heimskringla posed
nine questions to Svava in order
to better understand both her as
a person and her remarkable
book.
Lögberg-Heimskringla:
How did you first come up with
the idea for your book?
Svava Jónsdóttir: One
evening in the autumn of 2017,
I was watching the news where
they were talking about a
competition – people could send
in ideas regarding the centenary
of Icelandic independence and
sovereignty in 2018 and in a
few seconds I just saw before
me a book where there would
be photos of Icelanders born in
1918-2018 – one for each year.
By the way, I didn’t participate
in the competition but the book
was published in October 2018.
L-H: How did you go about
identifying the individuals you
profiled in the book?
Svava: I wanted part of
them to be people that are
well known. One of them for
example is our former president,
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
(1943), another is our Prime
Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir
(1976), then there are other
politicians, people in the
business sector, athletes, artists
... Among the participants is the
former chief medical officer
of Iceland (1928), the opera
singer Kristján Jóhannsson
(1948), the composer and the
high chieftain of the Icelandic
Ástatrú Association Hilmar
Örn Hilmarsson (1958),
the owner and designer at
Hendrikka Waage, Hendrikka
Waage (1966), the handball
player Ólafur Stefánsson
(1973), the football player and
coach Hermann Hreiðarsson
(1974), the opera singer
Dísella Lárusdóttir (1977),
the musician Greta Salóme
Stefánsdóttir (1986), the actress
Hera Hilmarsdóttir (1988), and
Miss Iceland 2017, Ólafía Ósk
Finnsdóttir (1997).
L-H: Was it more
challenging to identify
individuals to represent the
early years?
Svava: No, it was not. I
contacted nursing homes and
the staff there contacted people
living there and most of them
were interested in participating.
I want to add that three of the
group of the oldest participants
passed away before the book
was published. All of them
were very nice and it’s an
honour having them in the book
as representatives of the years
they were born.
L-H: How did you identify
the youngest individuals
profiled – that is, those younger
than school age?
Svava: Most of the
youngest participants are my
relatives or children of few
of my friends. Regarding the
youngest participant, born in
2018, I contacted the maternity
ward at the the National
University Hospital of Iceland
and the staff there asked one
of the mothers who had just
delivered a beautiful baby boy
if he could be the representative
of 2018 and she said yes. I want
to add that the individuals on
the book cover are the little
boy – then about five months
old – and the oldest one, born
in 1918, wearing traditional
Icelandic costumes.
L-H: When people became
aware of your project, did you
find individuals angling to be
included?
Svava: Nobody actually
asked to participate but almost
everyone I asked wanted to
participate, which I’m very
happy about as it is a great
honour having all of them in
the book.
L-H: Do you work primarily
for Nordic Style Magazine?
What other publications have
you (or do you) work for as a
journalist?
Svava: I’ve worked as a
journalist for the past 25 years
and I have written four books
– the first one is about healers
in Iceland (Help from beyond:
stories of six healers), the
second one is about bullying
in Iceland (The silent war:
bullying in Iceland) and the
third one is the biography of
an Icelandic captain (Captain
Oskarsson: stories of the
captain). I’ve also translated
a book by Carina Axelsson
(Model Under Cover: A Crime
of Fashion) that was published
in Iceland last spring. I’ve
been working as a freelance
journalist for the past few years
– Nordic Style Magazine is
one of a few magazines I write
for – as I’ve been studying
for an MPA (Master of Public
Administration) as well as
a Master in International
Relations. I’ve completed
all of the courses and when I
have time I work on the first
master’s thesis, which is the
one in international relations;
I’m writing about business
opportunities in the Arctic. I also
want to add that I learned a lot
about bullying while working
on my book about bullying in
Iceland and, since 2016, I’ve
been helping the American
nonprofit organization Unify
Against Bullying (http://
unifyagainstbullying.org) in
reaching out to people all
over the world during it’s
Unify-selfie challenge. It’s an
organization I just love and I
would like everyone to know
about it. Then I’m a member of
the board of the United Nations
Association of Iceland.
L-H: Did you receive
sponsorship from any
organizations or institutions?
Or was the book exclusively
an initiative of you and your
publisher?
Svava: The book is my
idea/initiative and as soon as
I got the idea I contacted my
publisher who also published
the book by Carina Axelsson.
L-H: Can you tell me a
bit about the photographer
you worked with – Friðþjófur
Helgason?
Svava: Friðþjófur Helgason
is super nice and I would
say one of the best and most
experienced photographers in
Iceland.
L-H: What does the
achievement of Icelandic
sovereignty mean to you
personally?
Svava: I’m proud to be
Icelandic, like I hope every
Icelander is, and I love my
country whether it’s during
bright summer months when
the golden plover sings
its most beautiful song or
during wintertime when you
can watch the dance of the
Northern Lights. We are a small
nation and what is so special in
Iceland is that every Icelander
counts. When some disaster
happens, we are like one big
family who grieve and want to
help each other.
Icelandic sovereignty is
important for me as without
doubt all Icelanders. Being a
sovereign state is like being
a farmer on his own land
where he can decide what to
do and when to do it without
somebody superior telling him
when to work on the field or
fetch the cows. Of course, the
farmer sometimes has to have
in mind what is best for the
whole – and now I mean the
international community and
international relations – and
when that happens, of course,
it’s better that the farmer is an
independent man who has a
say in the bigger picture. And,
of course, the Icelandic horse
and the Icelandic dog are his
companions.
I want to mention again the
idea regarding the family as
some of the people in the book
talked about how we are like a
big family and I would love if
people in other countries – big
countries – could get to know
how a small nation feels about
its country and each other. The
book is sold in a bookstore in
Berlin and I would love it if a
foreign publisher would publish
the book – a book where there
are photos of the people of a
nation over a whole century,
one for each year.
“EVERY ICELANDER COUNTS”
An interview with Svava Jónsdóttir, author of Portraits of a Nation
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