Minister of Education Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir formally opens the eighth annual Reykjavík International Literature Festival at a special ceremony held at the Nordic House Sunday.
The festival is the largest held so far and will last until September 15.
During the opening ceremony Icelandic author Thor Vilhjálmsson and South African Nobel Literature Prize winner John Maxwell Coetzee will give speeches and baritone Bergthór Pálsson and pianist Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir will perform.
Twenty-one foreign and ten Icelandic authors will participate in the festival, along with publishers and translators from different countries.
Apart from Coetzee, the most notable participant is Hirsi Ali, famous for criticizing the situation of women in Islamic countries. Ali was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Visiting authors will be interviewed in the Nordic House between 12 noon and 1 pm and 2 pm and 3 pm throughout the festival week and all participating authors will read passages from their books at Idnó in downtown Reykjavík after 8 pm.
Lectures on literature will be held in the facilities of the University of Iceland.
The festival is open for everyone and admission is free.
Click here to read the program.
