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Get Your Read On: Out Of The Blue & The Flatey Enigma
There’s probably at least one sunny day left in this grey Icelandic summer. Here are a few ideas for things you could read while lolling around in the park. Helen Mitsios ed. – Out of the Blue: New Short Fiction from Iceland…
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Running Around In A Brand New Diaper: Steinar Bragi’s Ice Lands
Last year, Steinar Bragi’s fifth novel found its way into the English-speaking world under the title ‘The Ice Lands’. It’s an eerie read that plays around with tropes of the horror genre, although the threats that the characters face are more internal…
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Get Your Read On: The Ambassador & The Good Lover
Summer is here. Don’t eat lunch at your desk, go and sit in the park with one of these fine English-translated works of Icelandic literature. Bragi Ólafsson – The Ambassador Being a writer in a country that prides itself on having an…
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Get Your Read On: Zombie Iceland & Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller
Remember: nobody on their deathbed ever said: “I wish I’d spent more time online.” Guðberger Bergsson – Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller Originally published in 1966, Tómas Jónsson: Bestseller is often seen as having ushered in a new era in Icelandic literature and is…
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Against Perfection: Poet Fríða Ísberg Raises Her Hand
Fríða Ísberg has just received the much-coveted Grassroots Grant from Icelandic Literature Center, an award intended to support new authors in publishing their first book. She also writes for the Times Literary Supplement and works as an editor for local publisher Partus…
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Get Your Read On: The Ice Lands and Njáls Saga
‘If you go home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t fuck ’em!’ said John Waters, famously. And this, if nothing else, should propel you to the bookstore quickly forthwith. Steinar Bragi – The Ice Lands In ‘The Ice Lands’, Steinar…
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Get Your Read On: Land of Love and Ruins & The Stones Speak
Iceland is a famously literary nation, with the capital of Reykjavík being a UNESCO-certified City of Literature. There are a lot of titles on the market, but relatively few make it into English translation. For curious outlanders, here are a few that…
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RVK In NYC: Icelandic Literature In The US
This month, a new collection of Icelandic short fiction entitled ‘Out of the Blue’ was published by the University of Minnesota Press. The collection gathers together short stories in translation by twenty modern Icelandic authors, with a foreword by Sjón. An event…
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Uncharted Waters: Emil Hjörvar Boldly Goes Where No One Has Gone Before
Emil Hjörvar Petersen published the first book in his Saga of Survivors trilogy in 2010. The trilogy is a sci-fi/fantasy epic that follows the exploits of the old Viking gods that survived Ragnarok, the Asgardian apocalypse. It basically made Emil a one-man…
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Get Your Read On: Jar City & Dreamland
If you want the joy of reading a piece of Icelandic literature without the hassle of learning Icelandic, here are two English-translated books that are a great place to start. Arnaldur Indriðason – Jar City Published in the year 2000, ‘Jar City’…
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The Book Burner: Dagur Hjartarson On The Risky Business Of Publishing
Dagur Hjartarson has just been shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature for his novel ‘The Last Confession of Love’. He is also, along with award-winning poet and graphic designer Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson, one of the founders of Tunglið (“The Moon,”…
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Two Books: The Pets & The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning
Here are two more English-translated Icelandic books that you can pick up while you’re in Reykjavík. Or buy on Amazon when you get home. If Amazon has them. Which they might not. Maybe best to buy them in Iceland after all, eh?…
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Get Your Read On: The Swan & Children In The Reindeer Woods
The latest in our series of English-translated Icelandic books, old and new, looks at ‘The Swan’ and ‘Children in Reindeer Woods’. Guðbergur Bergsson – The Swan In his 1991 classic ‘The Swan’, Guðbergur Bergsson immerses himself in the perspective of a child—a…
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Get Your Read On: The Greenhouse and On The Cold Coasts
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir – The Greenhouse Escaping the trauma of his mother’s recent and violent passing, Lobbi leaves Iceland for an idyllic life tending to the famous garden of a monastery in an undisclosed location, taking with him three offcuts of his…
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Jón Kalman Stefánsson Nominated for Booker Prize
Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s 10th novel, ‘Fish Have No Feet’, has just been nominated for the Man Booker International Prize. For the author, returning to a book can be a strange experience. “I almost never think about books I’ve already written,” he says.…
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Get Your Read On: The Indian & Angels of the Universe
Each issue, we take a look at two Icelandic titles old and new, available in English translation at most Reykjavík bookstores. If you’d like more ideas, or to read more on Icelandic literature, head over to gpv.is/lit for in-depth author interviews, guides,…
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Get Your Read On: Wayward Heroes & The Creator
If you want the joy of reading a piece of Icelandic literature without the hassle of learning Icelandic, then these two novels, now translated into English, are a great place to start. Halldór Laxness – Wayward Heroes When ‘Wayward Heroes’ (‘Gerpla’, in…
