Dark Days And Darker Imaginations: Iceland Noir Brings The Big Screen To A Small Island

In 2012, crime novelists Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar Jónasson, and Quentin Bates teamed up to create the event that would become Iceland Noir in 2013. Initially organised as a day-long festival promoting crime fiction, the festival has expanded since then, both in length and in genre. In addition to local authors, previous years have included a mix of big best-sellers like Dan Brown and prestigious award-winners like Bernardine Evaristo. Described as a “literary festival celebrating darkness,” the 2025 iteration was held November 12-15, a four-day festival packed with panels, readings, and — of course — a party.

Into the dark

This year, Iceland Noir took over Fríkirkjan as its home base for the afternoon and evening events with readings and social events at usually exclusive spaces like Kjarval and Tölt. The early panels took place at Iðnó, where they took “noir” to the next level by blacking out the windows against the already-dark mornings. Even the 9am panels on publishing industry topics attracted modest audiences of dedicated writers, but the evening events pulled in full-on crowds.

The lines outside Fríkirkjan buzzed with excited chatter as they stretched all the way up to Laufásvegur in anticipation of the two events featuring this year’s guest of honour, George R. R. Martin. The author of the series of A Song of Ice and Fire and the producer of its HBO adaptation, Game of Thrones, George is a natural-born storyteller, wandering between anecdotes and tangents like an endearing grandfather figure. His first event focused on his experience as a screenwriter and producer, both before and after Game of Thrones. At his second event, he was left to ramble to his heart’s content on his many fonts of inspiration, especially the Hundred Years’ War.

Crime time

Whether it’s causation or just coincidence that the Western countries with the lowest crime rates are the best known for their twisted creative minds, crime narratives from the Nordic countries have kidnapped the world’s attention in recent years and generated a lot of interest in the festival. Infiltrating both page and screen, the sensation has become known as “Nordic Noir:” less of a subgenre and more of a style, the media phenomenon is known for its sparse language, bleak settings, and (thankfully fictional) acts of startling violence.
“George [R.R. Martin] is a natural-born storyteller, wandering between anecdotes and tangents like an endearing grandfather figure.”

Although Norwegian author Jo Nesbø and the Swedish Stieg Larsson may be the biggest names in the game, Nordic Noir is one arena in which Iceland is able to hold its own against its Scandinavian neighbours. Yrsa and Ragnar are not only the masterminds behind Iceland’s most heinous imaginary crimes and the festival that celebrates them but also possibly Iceland’s most successful literary export. Along with the works of Arnaldur Indriðason, international sales of Icelandic crime fiction titles far outpace those of Iceland’s beloved sagas and Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness.

Although crime and mystery still centre heavily in the festival, including a panel with real-life paramedics on whether or not writers are “getting it right” on their crime scenes, it’s not all crime all the time. This year’s lineup included writers of fantasy, horror, romance, young adult, children’s books, and the former First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon even spoke about her recent memoir. It also featured a special focus on film and television with several screenwriters, directors, and actors in the mix.

From the bookshelf to the big screen

A common theme throughout the festival was adaptation, with many panels involving various participants in the process of going from page to screen. This included writers such as Irvine Welsh, whose debut novel Trainspotting was famously adapted to film and as well as a panel with Ragnar Jónasson on the adaptation of his novel The Darkness with its star Lena Olin and its director Lasse Hallström, known for directing credits ranging from ABBA’s music videos to The Cider House Rules and Chocolat. Richard Armitage, best known for his acting roles in The Hobbit and several Netflix adaptations of Harlan Coben’s crime novels, also spoke about publishing his own crime novel The Cut, which is currently being adapted.

Another big draw was Hwang Dong-Hyuk, the creator of Netflix’s unexpected smash-hit Squid Game. In a festival dominated by creatives from Europe and the US, Hwang Dong-Hyuk brought a refreshing perspective to the mix. Primarily a director of feature films, he explained how he dug up a 10-year-old film script he wrote when he was young and, most importantly, too broke to do anything but read manga about survival and gambling. He pitched this to Netflix, expanded it into a series, and stumbled into international fame with Squid Game.

The director of one of the most-watched series in the history of television even admitted that Breaking Bad is the only series he’s ever seen in its entirety, including Game of Thrones, because he’s just “too lazy.” Hwang Dong-Hyuk might have agreed with the Hollywood producer who convinced George R. R. Martin to write for television by telling him that it was “easier” than writing books. Here, George turned to the audience with a conspiratorial wink to add, “And it was.”