Deep North - Stories from Iceland
Fiction
Iceland Review publishes translations of short stories by Icelandic authors.
Features
Deep dives into current events, contemporary issues, and the lesser-seen sides of Icelandic society.
Interview
Interviews with artists, scholars, politicians or other notable figures in Iceland.
Photography
View Iceland through the lens of some of the country's most accomplished photographers.
Looking Back
Looking back in Iceland's history, at the curious incidents, colourful characters, and heroic deeds that shaped the nation.
Issues
Cream of the Crop
Row after row of steep but flat-topped mountains, interspersed with deep fjords. There’s barely enough land in between to make up a coastline, let alone farmland. But on the green patches between the cliffs and the waves, there are still
Material World
When Canadian media theorist and philosopher Marshall McLuhan wrote that “the medium is the message,” he did not mean that
Pagan Poetry
Ásatrú Society, how may I help you?” This was neither the voice of a gruff metalhead nor the voice of
Mad World
“Exceptionally rudimentary software” On Friday, November 11, I attended an appointment with a psychologist in Reykjavík. For weeks leading up
Staying Power
Elsa Pálsdóttir was doing what she loved most: Deadlifting. As she rested between sets, she chit-chatted with a man of
Disaster on Dark Seas
U-300 On the morning of November 20, 1944, a single U-boat cruised silently at periscope depth beneath the rough waves
Getting the Word Out
The Icelandic Literature Centre awards grants to some 80-100 translations from Icelandic to other languages each year. The number of applications
Wielding Narrative
History is a fairly new academic subject in Iceland, having first entered into university curriculums in the 1970s. The discipline is a form of intellectual time travel that puts historians in charge of bringing information from past to present – a task made immediately more complicated by the distortion of context. Put simply: history is […]
The Dwarf with the Ear
People who travel through space often have poor digestion because their internal clock gets thrown off mid-air. Time travellers such as myself on the other hand, get a ringing in their ears, sometimes long before we even set off. The ringing is constant, a sign of our continual desire to exit the moment. You can […]
A Splash of Happiness
Long before I got pregnant, I heard about parents in Iceland taking their newborns swimming from a colleague of mine who joined baby swimming classes with her infant. She shared her experiences online, and in one of her videos, her four-month- old son stood unaided in the hands of his swim teacher. I was intrigued; […]
Building Blocks
“Our city belongs to all of us. It’s so much more than a collection of buildings.” To architect Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir, a city is an organic entity, a collaboration between the architects who design its buildings and the inhabitants who populate them and traverse the streets between them. Jórunn is one of Iceland’s most respected architects […]
A Difficult Read
Every New Year’s Eve for a decade, Þóra Hjörleifsdóttir made the resolution to write a book. It took a while, but in 2019, Magma was published – a harrowing story about how a young woman loses herself within the confines of an emotionally abusive relationship affected by the pornification of society. It was published in […]
Doctor’s Orders
Over the past 18 months, Þórólfur Guðnason has gone from quasi-anonymous medicine man to bona fide historical figure. Along with Director of Health Alma Möller and Director of Civil Protection and Emergency Management Víðir Reynisson, Þórólfur forms the so-called “troika” – the face of the government’s response to COVID-19. He’s Iceland’s Anthony Fauci: the imperturbable voice of reason and restraint. It’s a complicated role predicated mainly on credibility, demanding a certain immaculateness when it comes to personal precautionary measures.
State Of The Artist
THE PLUMBER For many years, the minimalist composer Philip Glass worked as a plumber. He did this not only before he started composing but also alongside his music work. Once, while installing a dishwasher in a SoHo loft, he glanced
In Due Force
Autumn’s gauze curtain On Sunday, October 3, Hlöðver Hlöðversson stared into a camera in Northeast Iceland. He wore a cream-coloured cap, a grey jacket, and a stern expression. Behind him, there was mist and marshland – only that marshland would not have been an accurate description of the landscape a few days previous. “Is this […]
Facing North
The Arctic Circle Assembly took place in Harpa last October. Dignitaries from all over the world attended the event, filling up the conference centre with important-looking people in suits, younger people in tighter-fitting suits handing them papers, and slightly-more-dishevelled people with backpacks poring over figures and data with a look of concern.
The doyen at the helm of this event, which even now, when a global pandemic is raging, brings more than 1,500 in-person participants from over 50 countries to Reykjavík, is Iceland’s former president for over two decades, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. The Assembly was cancelled in 2020, but this year, Ólafur Ragnar sent out invites for a party.
Cricket Conquest
It’s a grey spring day in Southwest Iceland. In the town of Hafnarfjörður, in Víðistaðatún park, few people are out and about except for the occasional dog owner taking their pet for a stroll. One pauses under the angled façade of Víðistaðakirkja churchto cast an inquisitive glance at a group gathered on the field. Then a […]
Closer to the Stars
The Savage Mountain When John Snorri Sigurjónsson was 14 years old, he flipped open a magazine and fell in love with a mountain. “From that point onward,” he would later remark, “there was only one mountain in my eyes.” He may have been referring to an article from 1987, which ran under the heading “Suicide […]
I Only Think About You In Long Sentences
You dumped me during a recession. You’d just lost your job at the ad agency. You said you needed to make a radical change in your life, you’d run aground, were stranded, it was over, and yet, you said, you wanted to part on good terms and before I could think whether I wanted to […]
