Iceland described as a fantastic cycling destination might sound like an oxymoron but artist and author Ómar Smári Kristinsson is set to prove the skeptics wrong with his series of books on biking in Iceland. Ómar, or Smári as he’s known, discovered the joys of cycling two years ago and now promotes the activity as […]
“Bernard Scudder was a poet and the most gifted translator of Icelandic literature into English,” starts Joe Allard in his introduction to Icelandic Poetry (c.870-2007) in translations of Bernard Scudder selected, edited and introduced by Joe Allard & Sigrún Á. Eiríksdóttir. And there is nothing more to say. I was so lucky to work with […]
What does the future behold? Who hasn’t wondered what the world will look like, ten, 100, 1,000 years from now. Will there be flying cars? Will there be a human colony on Mars? Will aliens have taken over our planet? Will Earth even exist? In LoveStar—originally published in Iceland in 2002 but released on the English-language […]
Review by Laura Nicholson.As a self-proclaimed addict looking for his “next hit” of Iceland, Edward Hancox writes a relatable and amusing debut called Iceland, Defrosted that will have you packing your bags and getting on the next airplane to Keflavík. Hancox is obsessed with all things Icelandic and was first drawn to the chilly North Atlantic island […]
Review by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir. The nightmarish thriller I Remember You (originally published as Ég man þig in 2010) by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is in fact two stories that both take place in the dead of winter in the remote West Fjords and become intertwined. Young couple Katrín and Garðar take their recently-widowed friend Líf to the abandoned village Hesteyri […]
Medicinal Plants of Iceland: Collection, Preparation and Uses by Arnbjörg Linda Jóhannsdóttir was published through Mál og menning in English translation by Keneva Kunz earlier this year. The book, first published in Icelandic 20 years ago as Íslenskar lækningajurtir, and republished in 2011, is a guide to the healing properties of native plants and herbs in Iceland. […]
Icelandic author Árni Þórarinsson’s crime series featuring Einar the journalist—the first of which appeared in 1998—has enjoyed considerable success in Iceland and abroad, mostly in Germany and France. The fourth book in the series, Season of the Witch (2005), is my favorite out of the three that I’ve read and the only one available in English, published […]
Vilborg Davíðsdóttir is one of my absolute favorite Icelandic authors. She writes historical novels, which I love, and so vividly that I instantly travel away from the present and into the past, in this case, to the cold coasts of Iceland in the early 15th century. On the Cold Coasts (original title: Galdur, or “Sorcery”, 2000)—in the […]
Into the North – Live well, eat well – the Icelandic way by couple Inga Elsa Bergþórsdóttir and Gísli Egill Hrafnsson is a beautifully illustrated cookbook depicting the culinary traditions of Iceland through the centuries. Inga Elsa, an art director, and Gísli Egill, a food photographer, take the reader on a personal journey through the changing […]
Iceland – Colours + Patterns by Jón Ásgeir Hreinsson is an interesting little book which looks just like a sample booklet you might get for free at a hardware store to help you decide what color of paint to buy for your apartment. And it is a sample of colors that can be used for such […]
