Articles by: Jón Trausti Sigurðarson
Jón grew up in every other small town in Iceland, moved pianos in Michigan for a living in the late 90s and founded this publication in the early noughties. Has since acquired a few degrees, lived abroad, been a stay-at-home-parent, worked as lawyer and run numerous ultras.
Word Of The Issue: Mikligarður
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time For a thousand years Icelandic has had its own…
Publisher’s Note: The Top 10 Cutest Waterfalls In Iceland
Media research in the past decade has established that feedback online, first from clicks, then from social media interaction, has…
Last Words: Our Favourite Icelandic Easter Egg Proverbs
by Jón Trausti Sigurðarson and Jóhannes Bjarkason
“Enginn verður óbarinn biskup” We’re pretty sure this one is exclusive to Iceland, and may have something to do with our inclination of killing foreign bishops when…
Word Of The Issue: A Fish With A Reversed Fin Bombs Iran
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time Some international political commentators have voiced the opinion that…
The Demise Of Icelandic Media
The Reykjavík Grapevine was in the local news in late February due to our layoffs. This is a devastating and…
Davíð Oddsson, Former Prime Minister Of Iceland, Dies At 78
Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland, Mayor of Reykjavík, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, and Editor-in-Chief of…
Helvítis Fokking Fokk! Dear Reader, The Reykjavík Grapevine Needs Your Help!
The Reykjavík Grapevine is broke. We need money. Yesterday we had to inform our staff journalists, Iryna, Ish (pictured holding…
Word Of The Issue: Flying Ice
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time It is the height of the Icelandic winter, which…
Now And Then: Hotelification In Reverse
Buildings can become hotels; hotels can become something else At first light, guests of Hótel Hekla were rudely awakened by…
Publisher’s Note: Bravely Stating The Obvious
In 1939, reviewing a book by Bertrand Russell, George Orwell wrote, “We have now sunk to a depth at which…
Word Of The Issue: A Sip Of Elephant, A Puff Of Camel
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time Elephant is a brand of strong Danish beer, named…
Publisher’s Note: Living In The Ruins Of A Civilisation
In Bede’s 8th-century history of England, he describes how the Saxons live in Roman ruins, which they don’t have the…
Iceland, We Have A Lifestyle Problem: The Bad News Keeps Coming
by Bart Cameron and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson
Despite large amounts of clear-eyed data, no systemic solutions In December 2025, we published a news piece with the headline…
Now & Then: The Land’s (New) Hospital
From neoclassical architecture to classical Icelandic problems The older picture is of the oldest building of Landspítalinn, The National University…
Word Of The Issue: Big-Fire-Christmas
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time For this issue, because it is the season of…
Publisher’s Note: We’re Looking For A Whale
In the past weeks, the discussion about the state of media in Iceland has flared up again following an announcement…
Publisher’s Note: Feudal Capitalism
Following a Supreme Court judgement last month, the Icelandic banks changed their mortgage offerings. Result: Normal people can not take…
Word Of The Issue: Tone-Play-Travel-Song
Iceland Airwaves is just behind us, so you either caught a weekend of great music or you missed out (in…
Now And Then: Reclaiming A Music Venue
A building that has been a school, a ballroom, a store and a live venue This house, standing by Austurvöllur,…
Now & Then: The Women’s Strike 50 Years Ago Has Changed Iceland
An initiative that had a meaningful impact On October 24, 1975, 50 years ago this month, 90 percent of all…
Accusations Of Foul Play As Airline Goes Bust: Up To 20,000 Travellers Left Stranded
At around 10:00 on the morning of Monday, September 29, PLAY, the low-fare airline that had operated out of Iceland…
Word Of The Issue: Stranded Idiot
The Grapevine’s guide to sounding Icelandic, one word at a time On the last Monday of September, many a traveller…
Publisher’s Note: Thralldom 2.0
In the past decade 45,000 people have moved to Iceland for work. A side effect of a tourism boom. We…
The Layoffs In Fish Processing
Are the government’s fishing fees killing an industry? The last parliament session in Iceland saw the longest-standing filibuster in that…
Now & Then: Carriages, Taxis, Busses And Burgers
Hlemmur’s trip from the periphery to the centre Until last year, Hlemmur Square, where Laugavegur meets Rauðarárstígur, served as the…