Ísland pólerað, or Polishing Iceland, a book by Polish author living in Reykjavík Ewa Marcinek, has been published by Forlagið, Iceland’s leading publishing house. Polishing Iceland is a collection of short stories, poems, and anecdotes about immigrant life in Iceland. The book has also been adapted into a theatre play and staged both in Iceland and Poland.
“The inspiration for the book was my personal experience, the anecdotes I’ve heard, and people I met,” explains Ewa. “Ísland pólerað belongs to the creative non-fiction genre. It is an autobiographical story in which I experiment with poetry and change some details. This is my favourite writing style.”
The title of the book comes from a play on words, Polish and to polish, referring to physical work, the most common form of the first employment among immigrants moving to Iceland.
“I didn’t want to write a book about how hard it is to be an immigrant in Iceland, but about how funny, strange and awkward it sometimes is to be human,” shared Ewa Marcinek.
Ewa Marcinek comes from Poland. She studied cultural studies and creative writing in Wrocław, but her writing career took off in 2013 after she moved to Iceland. She works as a manager and writer at the Reykjavík Ensemble theatre company.
The English-language version of the book, with fragments in Polish and Icelandic, will be published this summer by Ós Pressan.
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