pointed to the Icelandic sagas to show that during to Reykjavik and witnesses the chaos and cultural Gerður Kristný (1970-) gave readers another dramatic, one of the modernists who changed the Icelandic enchanted Icelandic readers with its narrative artistry, social criticism, and humor. His award-winning novel, goes for Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (1963 –), who is trained Iceland’s early days of independence its men had been inequalities of the city in the wake of the war. By this feminist reckoning with the violent rhetoric of the cultural life in 1960’s, and in his book Fljótt fljótt sagði powerful characterization, and attention to women’s Höfundur Íslands (The Author of Iceland, 2001), is about as an engineer and is particularly adept at building up WINELISHASELECTIONOFFrom valiant heroes and its women beautiful and proud, and time Laxness had completely changed his views on his Icelandic literary heritage in her poetic work Blóðhófnir fuglinn (Quick Quick, Said the Bird, 1968) he reveals rights, as did her books about the female artist Karítas Halldór Laxness. Hallgrímur, like Laxness, has been an suspense in her novels. that the sun had shone continually on this exemplary country’s medieval literature. Iceland’s literary heritage (Bloodhoof, 2010), which was awarded the Icelandic a new and splintered worldview that nevertheless has (2004 and 2007), which also narrate the history of art active voice in the social dialogue in Iceland, utilizing state. Little by little the ties between Iceland and had been used to strengthen national pride during the Literary Prize in 2010. In an intense, powerful narrative its foundation in the old myths, folktales, and ancient in the twentieth century in an intriguing manner. Kristín all means of communication, from books to Facebook. The novels of Jón Kalman Stefánsson (1963 –) look to Denmark loosened; Iceland attained sovereignty in 1918 country’s struggle for independence and thus became poem, Gerður reveals the way in which the myth of saga motifs. Thor’s novels were cosmopolitan, restless, Marja manages to combine a strong focus on plot with Auður Jónsdóttir (1973 –) is also political, radical, and the vanished rural community with both warmth and WORRKSINENGLISHASELECTILSagas to and finally complete independence in 1944. Shortly closely connected with Icelanders’ newly-developed how the fertility god Freyr steals his bride from her and often under the influence of new films, while in the intense characterization. The same can be said for provocative in her books. She has written a personal humor, and this celebrated stylist manages to combine after Iceland’s sovereignty was recognized, Þórbergur patriotic con-sciousness; the exotic tribe, the giants, is based on 1980’s his focus turned to Iceland, another storyteller, Vigdís Grímsdóttir account of Halldór Laxness, sincerity and irony in unique Þórðarson (1888 – 1974) published a novel that was as Icelandic sagas represented the During Iceland’s violence, coercion and suffering, as the setting for the dramatic novel In recent (1953 –), who writes both aesthetically who was her grandfather. Like In the same way that ways. In Heaven and Hell (2007), far removed from an Icelandic saga as could possibly be. origin of this heritage and were seen from the perspective of the Grámosinn glóir (Justice Undone, and thematically radical novels about so many of the younger writers, which takes place a hundred Novels It was characterized by a new “subjectivity”; modernity accorded the status of sacred struggle for independ­ maiden. 1986), which earned Thor the years Reykjavik’s sexuality and death. Ever since the Auður is cosmopolitan in the writers of the years ago, Jón Kalman tells of IN ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICELhad come to stay. Þórbergur Þórðarson’s novel was texts. Laxness and his friends Nordic Council Literature Prize seventies, women have played a outlook and has written about the struggle of the Icelandic By Dagný Kristjánsdóttir Bréf til Láru (Letter to Lára, 1924), a hybrid text that were very interested in reclaiming ence in the 19th In 1940 the British occupied (1988). In recent years Thor criminal underworld strong role in Icelandic literature and immigrants in Iceland, cultural medieval Icelandic sagas people with the harsh forces professor of modern Icelandic Literature combined letters, essays, short stories, fantasy, and medieval Icelandic literature from century, its politicians Iceland due to the great strategic Vilhjálmsson became ever more has been mapped by changed its form. clashes and ”cultural fault” told of the origins of of nature, a struggle that is at the University of Iceland humor. In place of the objective style of the Icelandic the clutches of the nationalists and importance of its location, and in interested in medieval Icelandic (dislocation). She describes the existential in every sense, since sagas, this novel displayed a subjective, unruly self- published several of the sagas with realized the possi­ 1941 the Americans took over. The literature, in particular Sturlunga a growing number of Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (1950 –) dark sides of globalization in society in Iceland and it involves giving life meaning SEL LECTIONOFNEWICELANDI expression that put Icelandic readers ill at ease. modern spelling for the general occupation had a huge financial, saga, and he used its content in has written in all of the literary her novel Vetrarsól (Winter Sun, through one’s actions. Beauty bilities of using the writers of crime novels, the voyage from the old public, underlining the fact that the social, and cultural impact on novels on the cloven nature of man genres, and few Icelandic books 2008). In Yosoy (2005), Guðrún and basic values are also the Around the same time, another very young Icelandic sagas were a living literature. country’s medieval the country. Signs of this can be and his struggles with himself. chief among them have attracted as much attention Eva Mínervudóttir (1976 –) also homeland to the new, subject of the art historian Auður writer, Halldór Laxness (1902 – 1998), wrote a letter seen clearly in the literature of or touched so many emotionally as takes a look at the strange and Ava Ólafsdóttir (1958 –) in her here to begin when describing Icelandic to a friend of his in which he declared that he knew This worked in an interesting way, literature for political the post-war years, which often Einar Kárason (1955 –) has also Arnaldur Indriðason. her novel Tímaþjófurinn (The Thief of terrifying aspects of the global contemporary Icelandic unpretentious novel Afleggjarinn CTNEWICELANDICWORTliterature? Should the story start in the of no type of writing more boring or obsolete as the since the existential sympathies expresses either nostalgia for the turned to medieval Icelandic , 1986), which tells in a stylistic, consumer society. She tells of ( , 2007), which purposes. Time authors bring both The Greenhouse Wyear 1000 when, according to the Icelandic works of Snorri Sturluson and other medieval writers; of the Icelandic sagas and their old farming society or a modernist literature and paid homage to the saga heritage humorous way of the ”grand passion” of an upper-class an Icelandic ”freak show” in goes back to a time before scholar Sigurður Nordal, the Völuspá – one of the most the Icelandic sagas were primitive concoctions of no objective, concise narrative method consciousness of loss, separation, in his own way, after having won the hearts and spinster. The book is a philosophical, cutting analysis the theater Yosoy, where both history and the literary consumerism and globalization beautiful and dramatic poems in Old Norse literature – relevance to the modern world. Laxness believed he fell in well with literary trends of the post-war years; the and both personal and social depression. Modernism minds of readers with his trilogy on the Quonset-hut of the obsessive search for happiness. This is also external and internal pain is put heritage into the modern and starts at the beginning, with ONOFNEWICELANDICWORwas composed in Iceland? Whatever the case may be, had urgent business with his contemporaries, as can be sagas’ style was not dissimilar to that of Hemingway, appeared as an artistic movement in Iceland in the neighborhoods of Reykjavik in the 1960’s. He has also perhaps the central idea behind a short, unpretentious on display. Emotional frigidity the love and thus the trust that it is certainly not possible to ignore medieval Icelandic seen in his novel Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír (The Great among other modern authors. In 1952 Halldór Laxness 1960’s, first in painting, then in poetry and finally in tapped into Sturlunga saga with the intention of bringing but brilliant novel by Sjón (1962 –), in which we follow and loneliness characterize the world and write novels arise between a small child and literature, which has not only played a major role in Weaver from Kashmir, 1927), which describes a young then published his own Icelandic saga, the novel prose literature, and the gap between high and low the past into the future. In the novels Óvinafagnaður a fox hunter, except that both the hunter and the fox modern sex industry and both its father. This trust or “empathy” the history of the nation but is also Iceland’s chief man’s passionate search for himself, a search that Gerpla (The Happy Warriors, 1952), which tells of two culture widened. (Gathering of Foes, 2001) and Ofsi (Fury, 2008) he undergo metamorphosis and their struggle in the white are dealt with by Steinar Bragi about sagas. is perhaps the bud and the contribution to world culture. takes him across Europe and ends with him rejecting friends, the hero and the poet, who dream of becoming focuses on the conflicts between Icelandic chieftains snow is by nature unwinnable, by either of them. This (1975 –) in his powerful novel origin of all love and Auður Ava FICELANDICWORKSINENGLI the confused and crazy world, becoming a Catholic and soldiers and courtiers to St. Ólafur, the king of Norway The writers who upheld modernism in prose were in the 13th century. The roots of these conflicts lie novel, Skugga-Baldur (The Blue Fox, 2003), earned Konur (Women, 2008), which was both praised and Ólafsdóttir’s novel contains religious allusions to the Saga Noregs konunga (The History of the Kings of entering a monastery. Halldór Laxness wrote the book (995 – 1030). One of the two friends becomes a Svava Jakobsdóttir (1930 – 2004), Thor Vilhjálmsson in the ”honor” of the leading figures and in the name its author the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2005. debated in Iceland for its cruelty and beauty. rose. Norway) was written in Iceland. The Icelandic sagas were for the most part in Taormina in Sicily. The Great Weaver mercenary in England and finds himself face-to-face (1925 – 2011), and Guðbergur Bergsson (1932 –). Svava of this ”honor”, envy, rivalry, and hatred grow and Sjón first made his mark as a poet; he was one of the written in the 13th and 14th centuries and are unique from Kashmir was supposed to be Laxness’s ode to the with the horrors of murder and the plundering of the Jakobsdóttir was a leading figure in the second wave of come to a climax in revolting mass murder. Einar Már main songwriters for the rock band Sugarcubes and is Cruelty is also on the agenda of a complex and Just as medieval poets and scholars traveled from for many different reasons. They are not structured like Catholic Church, but with this book he in fact wrote Vikings; the other sacrifices everything he holds dear feminism in Iceland, a journalist, member of parliament, Guðmundsson (1954-) also writes about venomous a colleague and friend of Björk Guðmundsdóttir. The compelling work by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (1978-): Illska Iceland to the mainland and made pilgrimages to Rome WD DDWORKSINENWGLISLONThe Icelandic Literature Center is a government-funded chronicles or local legends; instead they are stylistically himself off from the Church. The next that Icelanders to deliver his poem to the king and express his fealty and an author. She was a prolific producer of short conflicts, but focuses on the present day inHvíta bókin same goes for Bragi Ólafsson (1962 –), who was the (Evil, 2012), which won the Icelandic Literary Prize the or sailed to Trondheim or Paris to study, Icelandic foundation which contributes to the promotion and translation more akin to modern novels and their stories are told heard from him was after he had to him. By the time the poet finally stories, plays, and novels, utilizing both (The White Book, 2009), a work on bass player for the Sugarcubes before leaving music and same year. The novel’s narrative is clipped into short contemporary authors have made the world their with great artistry. No one knows who wrote these books. travelled to Los Angeles and become meets his king he has become richer irony and grotesque humor in innovative Iceland’s financial collapse. Many have turning to writing. Bragi Ólafsson’s distinctive feature is scenes, as in a film, allowing it to move rapidly between subject. In the same way that the writers of the medieval of Icelandic literature abroad. Foreign publishers of Icelandic The sagas tell of the settlement of Iceland and the a communist; now he busied himself for the experience and neither the ways. Guðbergur Bergsson followed In 1955 Laxness compared the modern fiscal situation his subtle, delicate irony that he applies systematically characters, time periods, and events. The story focuses Icelandic sagas told of the origins of society in Iceland books can apply to the Center for translation subsidies. Authors, It is certainly division of the land between families, the establishment with preaching to his countrymen about leader nor the praise poem matter close on her heels and acheived to the power struggles and greed of the in his novels to shed light on ordinary people in absurd on three young people in contemporary Reykjavík, and the voyage from the old homeland to the new, WDDDORKSINENGILISHSELECTIONpublishers and organizers of literary events can apply for support of law and the structuring of society, and conflicts based received the Nobel Prize materialism and scientific socialism. not possible any longer. The novel is in part a success with his novel Tómas Jónsson Sturlung Age. Einar Már Guðmundsson circumstances. Yet another master of the compact and the history of one of them, Agnes, in the village contemporary Icelandic authors bring both history and for Icelandic authors travelling abroad to promote their work. on personal interests or honor. These conflicts often Þórbergur Þórðarson and Halldór reckoning with and criticism of the metsölubók (Tómas Jónsson Bestseller, for infusing medieval won the Nordic Council Literature Prize form and the unstated is Gyrðir Elíasson (1961 –), who of Jurbarkas in Lithuania, where her ancestors were the literary heritage into the modern world and write The Icelandic Literature Center also subsidizes the publications developed into complicated patterns of violence and Laxness dominated the landscape of to ignore medieval dictators Hitler and Stalin and the 1966) which shocked Icelandic readers in 1995 for Englar alheimsins (Angels received the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2011 murdered during the Holocaust. It is ironic that Agnes, novels about sagas. of works written in Icelandic as well as translations into Icelandic. retribution, culminating historically in a full-blown civil Icelandic literature for a major part of Icelandic literature, soldiers and poets who followed them in innumerable ways, lashing out as it Icelandic literature of the Universe, 1993), a powerful, for his short-story collection Milli trjánna (Between the the Jew, should fall for the neo-Nazi whom she meets WINELISHASELECTIONOFwar in the 13th century, which led to Iceland’s coming the 20th century, and both had strong blindly. It is also Laxness’s reckoning does at Icelandic society of the post- with new life and tragicomic novel about a young, Trees, 2009). Gyrðir is both a poet and novelist, known while conducting her research. One of the tasks of this Translated by The Icelandic Literature Center under the control of Norway and later Denmark. Iceland opinions as to what Icelandic culture which is Iceland’s chief with those who wished to put the war years for its cultural confusion, schizophrenic artist. The film director for writing strangely compelling, beautiful and peaceful book is to assemble stories of victims and executioners, Philip Roughton austurstraeti 18 4th floor | 101 reykjavík | iceland was a Danish colony for more than six centuries, but was or should be. contribution to world saga tradition into the service of a amorality, and hypocrisy. The main new roles through his Friðrik Þór Friðriksson made a splendid texts in which there is often an imminent threat, causing humanism and dehumanization, first and foremost in +354 552 8500 | www.islit.is during that entire time Icelanders continued to copy, romantic interpretation of the past character is a grumpy old man who film based on this novel. the reader to feel that all peace is temporary, that order to explore the origins of radical evil. read, and discuss the old sagas. During the Depression and WWII culture. and nationalism. In 1955 Laxness speaks and writes in various styles, inter pretations and nothing in life comes free and that if the threat does not I N ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICELHalldór Laxness produced one great received the Nobel Prize for infusing grumbles and babbles and criticizes innovations. Icelandic films have flourished over the come from the outside, it comes from within. Reykjavik’s criminal underworld has been mapped During Iceland’s struggle for independence in the 19th literary work after another; he wrote medieval Icelandic literature with everything that appears in his own past twenty years, often deriving their by a growing number of writers of crime novels, chief century, its politicians realized the possibilities of using about Salka Valka, a female fish worker in a seaside new life and new roles through his interpretations imaginative world. Guðbergur’s (post) subjects from intriguing contemporary Hallgrímur Helgason (1959 –) is both a writer and an among them Arnaldur Indriðason (1961 –). Arnaldur was Further information on Icelandic literature: icelandic literature center the country’s medieval literature for political purposes. village; the farmer Bjartur of Summerhouses, a farm and innovations. Halldór Guðmundsson has written a modernist task was to identify the social instabilities novels. Ágúst Guðmundsson made a film version of the artist, but his literary hallmarks are eloquence and rich educated as a historian and uses his knowledge and www.islit.is Miðstöð íslenskra bókmennta In order to prove that the colony had cultural value of on an isolated heath; the popular poet Ólafur Kárason dramatic biography of Halldór Laxness, for which he in the life of the newly independent postcolonial nation magical realist novel Mávahlátur (The Seagull’s Laughter, imagery. His books spin together influences from the understanding to unveil crimes that often have their www.literature.is SEL ICUIONOFNIHICELANDIwhich it could be proud, these politicians and others and the female laborer Ugla, who travels from the north received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2005. that did not know what it was. Thor Vilhjálmsson was 1995) by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir (1949 –), which media and mass culture combined with world literature, roots in the pasts of individuals and families. The same www.cityofliterature.is CTIO FIINIUEWICELIANDICW Andri SnÆr M children’S fiction $12.99 uS / $12.99 cAn UPCOMING ICELANDIC Ketilsey island, 1960. “With The Story of the Blue Planet, Andri Snær Andri Brimir and Hulda are best Magnason gives our own aching planet a deep friends who live on an island green fable in which ordinary children can wreck SnÆr on a beautiful blue planet where there are only Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring a world . . . or save it. A global ecosystem, or a children and no adults, everyone is their friend, TITLES IN ENGLISH brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by child’s inner ecology, Andri cares for the well- MAgnASon and each day is more exciting than the last. Their Illustrated by lives are simple and happy until, one day, a rocket three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish being of both, and demonstrates the ways in A ship piloted by a strange-looking adult named

gn ÁSlAug JónSdóttir cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious which the two are, in fact, indivisible.” Gleesome Goodday crashes onto the beach. TRANSLATION —MArcuS ewert, author of the award-winning 10,000 Dresses Goodday promises to make the children’s lives a link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey. A

S hundred times more fun in exchange for just a little “The Story of the Blue Planet combines the vivid o bit of their youth, and sprinkles them with magical, n Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast. simplicity of a fable or fairy tale with a modern sun-activated, flying powder—he even nails the sun to the sky so they can fly all day and all night. The

This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with Andri snær MAgnAson is one of Iceland’s most The voice, spiced with droll humor. An imaginative, children are so enamored of their new games that celebrated young writers. In 2002 LoveStar was the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to original vision that is more than an environ- they forget all the many activities they used to love.

named “Novel of the Year” by Icelandic booksellers Story During Goodday’s great flying competition, Hulda investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world and received the DV Literary Award and a nomina- mental parable or a thrilling story: it peers into and Brimir soar to the other side of planet, where tion to the Icelandic Literary Prize. The Story of the the human heart in search of wit, courage, and of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. The they discover it is dark all the time and the children DAYBREAK Blue Planet—now published or performed in 22 compassion.” Story are sickly and pale. Hulda and Brimir know they must countries—was the first children’s book to receive — rebeccA Stefoff, YA author and adapter of A Young People’s help save the pale children, but first they need to get Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with the Icelandic Literary Prize and was also the recipi- History of the United States and A Different Mirror for Young People back to their island and convince their friends that ent of the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award and the visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full of the Gleesome Goodday is not what he seems. By Viktor Arnar West Nordic Children’s Book Prize. Andri Magna- “The surprise at the end of this cautionary tale A fantastical adventure, beautifully told, unfolds of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so son is also the winner of the 2010 Kairos Award. of the in a deceptively simple tale. The Story of the Blue captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. celebrates the wisdom and generosity of children.” Bu Planet Blue Planet will delight and challenge readers of all ages. ÁslAug Jónsdóttir has written and illustrated, Blue — YouMe, author and illustrator of Selavi (That Is Life) among others, The Egg (Eggið, 2003), I Want Fish! (Ég vil and Mali Under the Night Sky Ingólfsson fisk! 2007), and the award-winning Good Evening (Gott kvöld, 2005), which received The Bookseller’s Prize as the best children’s book of 2005, The Icelandic Illustra- Planet tion Award, and The Reykjavik Educational Council Amazon Crossing 2013/US Children’s Book Prize. (May, 2013)

$12.99 US / $12.99 CAN ISBN: 978-1-60980-428-2 seven stories press www.sevenstories.com Author photo: Christopher Lund JAcket Art: Áslaug Jónsdóttir THE SORROW OF ANGELS SOMEONE TO THE SHIP THE SEASON OF THE BLACK SKIES GUNNLÖTH‘S TALE BLOODHOOF LOVESTAR RESTORATION THE CREATOR THE BLUE PLANET ON THE COLD THE GREENHOUSE CHILDREN IN IS THIS SOME KIND REPLY TO A LETTER BOY ON THE EDGE MAXIMUS MUSICUS WHAT SHOULD I SWEET DREAMS By Jón Kalman WATCH OVER ME By Stefán Máni WITCH By Arnaldur Indriðason By Svava Jakobsdóttir By Gerður Kristný By Andri Snær By Olaf Olafsson By Guðrún Eva By Andri Snær COASTS By Auður Ava REINDEER WOODS OF JOKE? FROM HELGA By Friðrik Erlingsson VISITS THE FEED MY BABY? Sleep and sleeping Stefánsson By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Murdoch Books 2012 By Árni Þórarinsson Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Magnason Translated from Icelandic Mínervudóttir Magnason By Vilborg Davíðsdóttir Ólafsdóttir By Kristín Ómarsdóttir By Hugleikur Dagsson By Bergsveinn Meadowside Children‘s ORCHESTRA habits from birth till By Ebba Guðný MacLehose Press 2013/UK Hodder 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. by Oliver Watts. Norvik by Rory McTurk. ARC Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Ecco/ Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Penguin Books 2008/US Birgisson Books 2012/UK By Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir the age of two The ship is the Per Se, a How to Books Ltd. 2013/ (July, 2013) by Anna Yates. Harvill Secker 2012/UK Pre ss 2011/UK Publications 2012/UK by Victoria Cribb. Seven HarperCollins 2012/US by Sarah Bowen. by Julian Meldon D‘Arcy. by Alda Sigmundsdóttir. by Brian FitzGibbon. by Lytton Smith. Open Angry and disturbed, and Þórarinn Már merchant vessel bound Translated from Icelandic UK By Arna Skúladóttir A young man with Down’s Hugleikur Dagsson is the Henry is sent to a home for exotic Suriname, a Amazon Crossing 2012/US Stories Press 2012/US Portobello Books 2012/ Seven Stories Press 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2011/ Letter Books 2012/US by Philip Roughton. Baldursson Translated from Icelandic THE LAST DAYS Syndrome has been A man is making a crude In the 1980s, a Bloodhoof is the re- Having grown up in an most famous cartoonist for troubled boys in the What should I feed world away from the bit- UK US US US. Amazon Crossing 2013/ Translated from Icelandic by Ian Watson. Carrol & OF MY MOTHER convicted of burning When the editors at leather mask with an iron hardworking Icelandic casting into compulsively LoveStar, the enigmatic exclusive circle of wealthy Eleven-year-old Billie lives in Iceland. Iceland is middle of nowhere. There, my baby? is a simple ter rain and treacherous US by Daði Kolbeinsson. Brown 2012/UK down his care home and Reykjavik-based The spike fixed in the middle businesswoman and her spare modern verse of an and obsessively driven British ex-pats in Flor- Sveinn is a reclusive, On a blue planet far out The year is 1419. Ragn- For Lobbi, the tragic at a ‘temporary home for very cold, very bleak and he struggles with loss but thorough guide for By Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson killing five people, but seas of Iceland. Each of of the forehead. It is a teenage daughter Dís, ancient Eddic poem - but very expensive. The only Music Word Media Group Afternoon News decide founder of the LoveStar ence in the 1920s, Alice middle-aged bachelor in space there are no fridur and Thorkell are passing of his mother children’ called Children Bjarni has long held and loneliness. Yet in this parents who want to In Sweet Dreams, Open Letter Books 2013/US a fellow inmate at his the nine crew members ‘death mask’, once used who has been arrested this only begins to hint at things to do there are 2012/US (September, 2013) to expand the newspaper corporation, has unlocked Orsini shocks everyone who devotes his life to adults, only children, who betrothed as children, proves to be a profound in Reindeer Woods, which onto a letter from former most unlikely of places, introduce their baby to pediatric nurse and secure psychiatric unit carries a secret — some into northern Iceland— by Icelandic farmers to for apparently committing its attractions. the key to transmitting she discovers one after- drink and kill whales. He wholesome and nutritious when she marries the son creating and selling play when they want to by decision of their catalyst. Their shared lover Helga, with whom he discovers kindness, In Maximus Musicus sleep specialist, Arna has hired Thora to prove even have blood on their with their crime writer slaughter calves, and he a strange and senseless It is a minimalist epic data via birdwaves, thus noon, to her surprise, is in hopes you like this one. food right from the start. of a minor Italian land- beautiful custom-made and go to sleep when highranking parents. But love of tending rare he shared an illicit, hope and the most impor- Visits the Orchestra, Ice- Skúladóttir, brings us STRANGE SHORES Jakob is innocent. If he hands — but none real- Einar as its sole reporter has revenge in mind. robbery, are unwittingly telling of the abduction freeing mankind from a war zone. When a group Otherwise he‘ll have to owner and begins restor- sex dolls. Loa is a they are tired. Then a Ragnfridur becomes roses in her greenhouse impassioned love and tant of all: friendship. land’s best-loved musical into a baby’s world and By Arnaldur Indriðason didn’t do it, who did? ises that this may be their on location—the journal- Moving from the villas of drawn into a ritual-bound of Gerdur Gymisdottir wires and devices, and of paratroopers kill every- kill some whales. divorced mother of two, mysterious man lands on pregnant by an English inspires him to leave whom invited him to mouse discovers the explores it through Harvill Secker 2013/UK final voyage. ing San Martino, a crum- And how is the multiple ist feels as though he has Reykjavík’s banking elite world of goddesses, from the land of giants allowing consumerism, whose eldest daughter’s the planet, and teaches castaway, and after this his studies behind and one who lives there, and leave his wife and his bling villa in Tuscany, to wonders of music and the the lens of sleep. She (September, 2013) murder connected to the stepped back in time. to a sordid basement flat, sacrificial priests, golden to the court of Freyr of technology, and science increasing isolation is them how to fly when the Thorkell leaves to study travel to a remote village then turn on each other, Also by Hugleikur in farm and follow her to its former glory. But after symphony orchestra in discusses ways to death of Magga, killed in So it’s only fitting that Black Skies is a story of thrones, clashing crags the ‘wolf-grey eyes’, and to run rampant over all giving her real cause sun shines, by flicking at the Sorbonne in Paris. monastery to restore its Billie is forced to learn English translation: the city. Years later, as years of hard work, filling Other works in English by his own joyful and charm- improve sleep habits, how BUTTERFLIES a hit and run on her way one of Einar’s first as- greed, pride and murder and kings-in-waiting. the subsequent events aspects of daily life. for concern. Their lives the dust off butterflies’ While he is away, unrest once fabulous gardens. to live with the violent, IS THIS SUPPOSED TO he reflects on a long and Friðrik Erlingsson: ing manner. (Includes to solve sleep problems, IN NOVEMBER to babysit? from one of Europe’s This spirited and at times culminating in the birth the acres with orchards, innocent, and troubled signments is to cover a Indridi and Sigrid, two collide on the evening wings. A perilous grows in Iceland. The While transforming BE FUNNY? simple life shepherding in audio CD). and what role parents most successful crime sinister novel ensnares of her son and her hopes livestock, and farmhands, FISH IN THE SKY / By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir Someone to Watch Over college theater production blissfully happy young when Loa’s car breaks adventure ensues, taking Norwegian authorities the garden under the Rafael, who decides to Penguin Books, 2007. the Icelandic hillsides, he play in establishing and is the fifth Thóra writers. is the reader in a tangled of being saved by her Alice’s growing restless- Meadowside Books Pushkin Press 2013/UK Me of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Black Skies lovers, have their perfect down outside Sveinn’s the children through feel threatened by the watchful eye of a abandon the soldier’s life SHOULD YOU BE finally finds himself ready maintaining good sleep 2008/UK and BENJAMIN (November, 2013) Gudmundsdóttir novel Icelandic folktale of ambi- Arnaldur Indriðason´s encounter between own kin. worlds threatened (along ness pulls her into the house. dark forests and skies of growing English presence cinephile monk, he is and become a farmer, no to explain why. LAUGHING AT THIS? DOVE / North-South habits in their babies and from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tion and greed. tenth novel in English modern-day Scandinavia with Indridi’s sanity) heady social swirl of Funny, and touching, and blue. Their friendship and in Iceland. When Thorkell surprised by a visit from matter what it takes. Penguin Books, 2006. Books 2007/US small children. in English translation. translation. and the ancient world of when they are “calculated wartime Rome and a never far from tragedy, ingenuity are put to the returns, and falls in with Anna, a friend of a friend HEART’S PLACE myth. apart” and are forced to reckless affair that will The Creator is an affect- test as never before. the English bishop of with whom he shared a by Steinunn FROM THE MOUTH THE WHISPERING THE SAGAS OF with the world’s great voyage to the New World go to extreme lengths to have devastating conse- ingly original story of an Holar, he meets up with fateful moment in his THE BLUE FOX Sigurðardóttir literary treasures – as and contain the oldest OF THE WHALE MUSE ICELANDERS prove their love. quences. Restoration is unlikely friendship and the bishop’s housekeeper, mother’s greenhouse, By Sjón Amazon Crossing 2013/US Edited by Örnólfur epic as Homer, as deep descriptions of the North Olaf Olafson´s fifth novel an unlikely cure for the Ragnfridur, and her young and the daughter they Translated by Vicky Cribb. By Sjón By Sjón in tragedy as Sophocles, American continent. son … together conceived that Thorsson in English translation. problem of never quite Farrar, Straus and Giroux Translated by Vicky Cribb. Translated by Vicky Cribb as engagingly human as GERPLA / THE HAPPY feeling real. night. 2013/US Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Jane Shakespeare. WARRIORS 2013/US 2013/US Smiley. Penguin Classics. The 10 Sagas and “When I need something By Halldór Laxness Also by Andri Snær in seven shorter tales in epic and lyrical I call “From the Mouth of the “A quirky, melodic, tick- Archipelago Press 2013/US In Iceland, the age of English translation: Also by Andri Snær in the Vikings is also known this volume include the upon Sjón ... The Blue Whale is strange and lish, seamlessly trans- THE STORY OF THE English translation: as the Saga Age. A celebrated “Vinland Sa- Fox is a magical novel.” wonderful, an epic made lated, lovingly polished THE THAW BLUE PLANET LOVESTAR unique body of medieval gas,” which recount Leif – Björk mad, made extraordinary.” gem of a novel.” By Ólafur Gunnarsson Seven Stories Press 2012/ Seven Stories Press literature, the Sagas rank Eiriksson’s pioneering – Junot Díaz – David Mitchell New American Press 2013/ US 2012/US US ERFISM HV ER M K U I

Prentun: Oddi umhverfisvottuð6 pt. Oddi umhverfisvottuðprentsmiðja prentsmiðja 141 776 PRENTGRIPUR The Perfec

“A sensational book. I can’t recommend it enough.” Andri SnÆr M children’S fiction $12.99 uS / $12.99 cAn – Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X UPCOMING ICELANDIC Ketilsey island, 1960. “With The Story of the Blue Planet, Andri Snær Andri Brimir and Hulda are best Magnason gives our own aching planet a deep friends who live on an island green fable in which ordinary children can wreck SnÆr on a beautiful blue planet where there are only Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring a world . . . or save it. A global ecosystem, or a children and no adults, everyone is their friend, TITLES IN ENGLISH brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by child’s inner ecology, Andri cares for the well- MAgnASon and each day is more exciting than the last. Their Illustrated by lives are simple and happy until, one day, a rocket three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish After building A cAreer in the gAlleries being of both, and demonstrates the ways in A ship piloted by a strange-looking adult named

gn ÁSlAug JónSdóttir cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious and museums of Amsterdam, art theorist Hanna which the two are, in fact, indivisible.” Gleesome Goodday crashes onto the beach. T TRANSLATION —MArcuS ewert, author of the award-winning 10,000 Dresses Goodday promises to make the children’s lives a link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey. A has returned to Iceland to what she hopes will be Landsca P S hundred times more fun in exchange for just a little a posh new job. Though small, the museum in “The Story of the Blue Planet combines the vivid o bit of their youth, and sprinkles them with magical, n Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast. The PerfecT sun-activated, flying powder—he even nails the sun simplicity of a fable or fairy tale with a modern Reykjavik has a sterling reputation—one sure to to the sky so they can fly all day and all night. The

This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with son is one of Iceland’s most The voice, spiced with droll humor. An imaginative, children are so enamored of their new games that be burnished by a valuable painting donated by a LoveStar was the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to original vision that is more than an environ- they forget all the many activities they used to love.

wealthy patron. Painted by Iceland’s most beloved Story During Goodday’s great flying competition, Hulda investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world LandscaPe mental parable or a thrilling story: it peers into and Brimir soar to the other side of planet, where twentieth-century artist, the acquisition is poised The Story of the the human heart in search of wit, courage, and of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. The they discover it is dark all the time and the children DAYBREAK compassion.” Story are sickly and pale. Hulda and Brimir know they must to become the jewel of the museum’s collection— — rebeccA Stefoff, YA author and adapter of A Young People’s help save the pale children, but first they need to get Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with until a conservator announces it’s a fake.

e History of the United States and A Different Mirror for Young People back to their island and convince their friends that visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full Determined to preserve the museum’s of the Gleesome Goodday is not what he seems. By Viktor Arnar of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so “The surprise at the end of this cautionary tale A fantastical adventure, beautifully told, unfolds reputation—and bolster her own—Hanna delves Ragna Sigu of the in a deceptively simple tale. The Story of the Blue captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. celebrates the wisdom and generosity of children.” Bu Planet Blue Planet will delight and challenge readers of all ages. has written and illustrated, Blue deep into the shadowy world of art forgery, where — YouMe, author and illustrator of Selavi (That Is Life) (Eggið, 2003), I Want Fish! (Ég vil and Mali Under the Night Sky Ingólfsson she will discover an unexpected truth framed by a Good Evening (Gott half-century of lies. - Planet Amazon Crossing 2013/US R da

R (May, 2013) dotti

$12.99 US / $12.99 CAN ISBN 978-1612184319 ISBN: 978-1-60980-428-2 51495 > R Ragna SiguRdaRdottiR 9 781612 184319 tRanS lated By SaR ah Bowen THE SORROW OF ANGELS THE FLATEY ENIGMA THE PERFECT THE HITMAN‘S GUIDE TWICE IN A LIFETIME THE CREATOR THE BLUE PLANET ON THE COLD THE GREENHOUSE CHILDREN IN IS THIS SOME KIND REPLY TO A LETTER BOY ON THE EDGE MAXIMUS MUSICUS WHAT SHOULD I SWEET DREAMS By Jón Kalman By Viktor Arnar LANDSCAPE TO HOUSECLEANING By Ágúst Borgþór By Guðrún Eva By Andri Snær COASTS By Auður Ava REINDEER WOODS OF JOKE? FROM HELGA By Friðrik Erlingsson VISITS THE FEED MY BABY? Sleep and sleeping Stefánsson Ingólfsson By Ragna By Hallgrímur Helgason Sverrisson Mínervudóttir Magnason By Vilborg Davíðsdóttir Ólafsdóttir By Kristín Ómarsdóttir By Hugleikur Dagsson By Bergsveinn Meadowside Children‘s ORCHESTRA habits from birth till By Ebba Guðný MacLehose Press 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic Sigurðardóttir Amazon Crossing 2012/ Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Penguin Books 2008/US Birgisson Books 2012/UK By Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir How to Books Ltd. 2013/ the age of two (July, 2013) by Brian FitzGibbon. Translated from Icelandic US by María Helga Guð- by Sarah Bowen. by Julian Meldon D‘Arcy. by Alda Sigmundsdóttir. by Brian FitzGibbon. by Lytton Smith. Open Translated from Icelandic Angry and disturbed, and Þórarinn Már UK By Arna Skúladóttir Hugleikur Dagsson is the Henry is sent to a home Amazon Crossing 2012/ by Sarah Bowen. Amazon mundsdóttir and Anne Portobello Books 2012/ Seven Stories Press 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2011/ Letter Books 2012/US by Philip Roughton. Baldursson Translated from Icelandic THE LAST DAYS With some 66 hits under most famous cartoonist for troubled boys in the What should I feed US Crossing 2012/US Behassi. UK US US US. Amazon Crossing 2013/ Translated from Icelandic by Ian Watson. Carrol & OF MY MOTHER his belt, Tomislav Bokšic, Eleven-year-old Billie lives in Iceland. Iceland is middle of nowhere. There, my baby? is a simple Comma Press 2011/UK US by Daði Kolbeinsson. Brown 2012/UK Near a deserted island When a wealthy patron or Toxic, has a flawless Sveinn is a reclusive, On a blue planet far out The year is 1419. Ragn- For Lobbi, the tragic at a ‘temporary home for very cold, very bleak and he struggles with loss but thorough guide for By Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson record as hitman for the very expensive. The only Music Word Media Group off the western coast donates a valuable As a birthday treat to middle-aged bachelor in space there are no fridur and Thorkell are passing of his mother children’ called Children Bjarni has long held and loneliness. Yet in this parents who want to In Sweet Dreams, Open Letter Books 2013/US Croatian mafia in New things to do there are 2012/US (September, 2013) of Iceland in 1960, landscape painting to herself, a young woman who devotes his life to adults, only children, who betrothed as children, proves to be a profound in Reindeer Woods, which onto a letter from former most unlikely of places, introduce their baby to pediatric nurse and York. That is, until he she discovers one after- drink and kill whales. He wholesome and nutritious the dawning of spring Reykjavik’s art museum, decides to dial one of two creating and selling play when they want to by decision of their catalyst. Their shared lover Helga, with whom he discovers kindness, In Maximus Musicus sleep specialist, Arna kills the wrong guy and is noon, to her surprise, is in hopes you like this one. food right from the start. brings new life for the the staff can hardly numbers in the phone- beautiful custom-made and go to sleep when highranking parents. But love of tending rare he shared an illicit, hope and the most impor- Visits the Orchestra, Ice- Skúladóttir, brings us STRANGE SHORES forced to flee the States, a war zone. When a group Otherwise he‘ll have to local wildlife. But for believe its luck. book that may belong to sex dolls. Loa is a they are tired. Then a Ragnfridur becomes roses in her greenhouse impassioned love and tant of all: friendship. land’s best-loved musical into a baby’s world and By Arnaldur Indriðason leaving behind the life he of paratroopers kill every- kill some whales. the body discovered But when the museum’s her estranged father. divorced mother of two, mysterious man lands on pregnant by an English inspires him to leave whom invited him to mouse discovers the explores it through Harvill Secker 2013/UK knows and loves. one who lives there, and by three seal hunters, conservator suggests the A successful business whose eldest daughter’s the planet, and teaches castaway, and after this his studies behind and leave his wife and his wonders of music and the the lens of sleep. She (September, 2013) Suddenly, he finds then turn on each other, Also by Hugleikur in winter is a matter of painting might be a fake, man tries to scheme his increasing isolation is them how to fly when the Thorkell leaves to study travel to a remote village farm and follow her to symphony orchestra in discusses ways to permanence. After it is himself on a plane giving her real cause sun shines, by flicking at the Sorbonne in Paris. monastery to restore its Billie is forced to learn English translation: the city. Years later, as Hanna, a newly arrived way out of a paternity Other works in English by his own joyful and charm- improve sleep habits, how BUTTERFLIES found to be a missing art theorist, realizes the hurtling toward Reykjavik, test by offering his less for concern. Their lives the dust off butterflies’ While he is away, unrest once fabulous gardens. to live with the violent, IS THIS SUPPOSED TO he reflects on a long and Friðrik Erlingsson: ing manner. (Includes to solve sleep problems, IN NOVEMBER Danish cryptographer, museum’s reputation is Iceland, borrowing the fortunate brother a deal collide on the evening wings. A perilous grows in Iceland. The While transforming innocent, and troubled BE FUNNY? simple life shepherding in and what role parents FISH IN THE SKY / audio CD). By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir the ensuing investigation not the only one in danger identity of an American he cannot refuse. when Loa’s car breaks adventure ensues, taking Norwegian authorities the garden under the Rafael, who decides to Penguin Books, 2007. the Icelandic hillsides, he play in establishing and Meadowside Books Pushkin Press 2013/UK uncovers a mysterious of crumbling. televangelist named Each of Sverrisson’s down outside Sveinn’s the children through feel threatened by the watchful eye of a abandon the soldier’s life SHOULD YOU BE finally finds himself ready maintaining good sleep 2008/UK and BENJAMIN (November, 2013) link between the Father Friendly. With no house. dark forests and skies of growing English presence cinephile monk, he is and become a farmer, no to explain why. What Hanna doesn’t stories is a study in the LAUGHING AT THIS? DOVE / North-South habits in their babies and researcher and a means of escape from Funny, and touching, and blue. Their friendship and in Iceland. When Thorkell surprised by a visit from matter what it takes. know she vows to learn, precariousness of life, Penguin Books, 2006. Books 2007/US small children. medieval manuscript venturing deep into the this island devoid of gun the frailty of memory, and never far from tragedy, ingenuity are put to the returns, and falls in with Anna, a friend of a friend HEART’S PLACE known as The Book of shadowy world of art shops and contract killing, the transitory nature of all The Creator is an affect- test as never before. the English bishop of with whom he shared a by Steinunn THE BLUE FOX FROM THE MOUTH THE WHISPERING Flatey. forgery. Only then will tragicomic hilarity ensues opportunity. ingly original story of an Holar, he meets up with fateful moment in his Sigurðardóttir as he is forced to come OF THE WHALE MUSE she be able to strip away unlikely friendship and the bishop’s housekeeper, mother’s greenhouse, By Sjón Amazon Crossing 2013/US the varnish of the past to to terms with his bloody an unlikely cure for the Ragnfridur, and her young and the daughter they Translated by Vicky Cribb. By Sjón By Sjón uncover the truth. past and reevaluate his problem of never quite son … together conceived that Translated by Vicky Cribb Farrar, Straus and Giroux Translated by Vicky Cribb. GERPLA / THE HAPPY future. feeling real. night. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2013/US Farrar, Straus and Giroux WARRIORS Also by Viktor Arnar 2013/US 2013/US By Halldór Laxness Ingólfsson in English “When I need something “A quirky, melodic, tick- Archipelago Press 2013/US translation: Also by Hallgrímur Also by Andri Snær in epic and lyrical I call “From the Mouth of the upon Sjón ... The Blue lish, seamlessly trans- HOUSE OF EVIDENCE Helgason in English English translation: Whale is strange and Fox is a magical novel.” wonderful, an epic made lated, lovingly polished THE THAW Translated by Björg Árna- translation: LOVESTAR – Björk mad, made extraordinary.” gem of a novel.” dóttir / Andrew Cauthery 101 REYKJAVÍK Seven Stories Press By Ólafur Gunnarsson – Junot Díaz – David Mitchell Amazon Crossing 2012/US Scribner 2007/UK 2012/US New American Press 2013/ US ERFISM HV ER M K U I

Prentun: Oddi umhverfisvottuð6 pt. Oddi umhverfisvottuðprentsmiðja prentsmiðja 141 776 PRENTGRIPUR UPCOMING ICELANDIC Ketilsey island, 1960.

Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring TITLES IN ENGLISH brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious TRANSLATION link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey.

Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast.

This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. DAYBREAK

Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full By Viktor Arnar of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. Ingólfsson Amazon Crossing 2013/US (May, 2013)

Author photo: JAcket Art: THE SORROW OF ANGELS SOMEONE TO THE SHIP THE SEASON OF THE BLACK SKIES GUNNLÖTH‘S TALE BLOODHOOF LOVESTAR RESTORATION CHILDREN IN IS THIS SOME KIND REPLY TO A LETTER BOY ON THE EDGE MAXIMUS MUSICUS WHAT SHOULD I SWEET DREAMS By Jón Kalman WATCH OVER ME By Stefán Máni WITCH By Arnaldur Indriðason By Svava Jakobsdóttir By Gerður Kristný By Andri Snær By Olaf Olafsson REINDEER WOODS OF JOKE? FROM HELGA By Friðrik Erlingsson VISITS THE FEED MY BABY? Sleep and sleeping Stefánsson By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Murdoch Books 2012 By Árni Þórarinsson Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Magnason Translated from Icelandic By Kristín Ómarsdóttir By Hugleikur Dagsson By Bergsveinn Meadowside Children‘s ORCHESTRA habits from birth till By Ebba Guðný MacLehose Press 2013/UK Hodder 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. by Oliver Watts. Norvik by Rory McTurk. ARC Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Ecco/ Translated from Icelandic Penguin Books 2008/US Birgisson Books 2012/UK By Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir the age of two The ship is the Per Se, a How to Books Ltd. 2013/ (July, 2013) by Anna Yates. Harvill Secker 2012/UK Pre ss 2011/UK Publications 2012/UK by Victoria Cribb. Seven HarperCollins 2012/US by Lytton Smith. Open Angry and disturbed, and Þórarinn Már merchant vessel bound Translated from Icelandic UK By Arna Skúladóttir A young man with Down’s Hugleikur Dagsson is the Henry is sent to a home for exotic Suriname, a Amazon Crossing 2012/US Stories Press 2012/US Letter Books 2012/US by Philip Roughton. Baldursson Translated from Icelandic THE LAST DAYS Syndrome has been A man is making a crude In the 1980s, a Bloodhoof is the re- Having grown up in an most famous cartoonist for troubled boys in the What should I feed world away from the bit- US UK Amazon Crossing 2013/ Translated from Icelandic by Ian Watson. Carrol & OF MY MOTHER convicted of burning When the editors at leather mask with an iron hardworking Icelandic casting into compulsively LoveStar, the enigmatic exclusive circle of wealthy Eleven-year-old Billie lives in Iceland. Iceland is middle of nowhere. There, my baby? is a simple ter rain and treacherous US by Daði Kolbeinsson. Brown 2012/UK down his care home and Reykjavik-based The spike fixed in the middle businesswoman and her spare modern verse of an and obsessively driven British ex-pats in Flor- at a ‘temporary home for very cold, very bleak and he struggles with loss but thorough guide for By Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson killing five people, but seas of Iceland. Each of of the forehead. It is a teenage daughter Dís, ancient Eddic poem - but very expensive. The only Music Word Media Group Afternoon News decide founder of the LoveStar ence in the 1920s, Alice children’ called Children Bjarni has long held and loneliness. Yet in this parents who want to In Sweet Dreams, Open Letter Books 2013/US a fellow inmate at his the nine crew members ‘death mask’, once used who has been arrested this only begins to hint at things to do there are 2012/US (September, 2013) to expand the newspaper corporation, has unlocked Orsini shocks everyone in Reindeer Woods, which onto a letter from former most unlikely of places, introduce their baby to pediatric nurse and secure psychiatric unit carries a secret — some into northern Iceland— by Icelandic farmers to for apparently committing its attractions. the key to transmitting she discovers one after- drink and kill whales. He wholesome and nutritious when she marries the son lover Helga, with whom he discovers kindness, In Maximus Musicus sleep specialist, Arna has hired Thora to prove even have blood on their with their crime writer slaughter calves, and he a strange and senseless It is a minimalist epic data via birdwaves, thus noon, to her surprise, is in hopes you like this one. food right from the start. of a minor Italian land- he shared an illicit, hope and the most impor- Visits the Orchestra, Ice- Skúladóttir, brings us STRANGE SHORES Jakob is innocent. If he hands — but none real- Einar as its sole reporter has revenge in mind. robbery, are unwittingly telling of the abduction freeing mankind from a war zone. When a group Otherwise he‘ll have to owner and begins restor- impassioned love and tant of all: friendship. land’s best-loved musical into a baby’s world and By Arnaldur Indriðason didn’t do it, who did? ises that this may be their on location—the journal- Moving from the villas of drawn into a ritual-bound of Gerdur Gymisdottir wires and devices, and of paratroopers kill every- kill some whales. whom invited him to mouse discovers the explores it through Harvill Secker 2013/UK final voyage. ing San Martino, a crum- And how is the multiple ist feels as though he has Reykjavík’s banking elite world of goddesses, from the land of giants allowing consumerism, one who lives there, and leave his wife and his bling villa in Tuscany, to wonders of music and the the lens of sleep. She (September, 2013) murder connected to the stepped back in time. to a sordid basement flat, sacrificial priests, golden to the court of Freyr of technology, and science then turn on each other, Also by Hugleikur in farm and follow her to its former glory. But after symphony orchestra in discusses ways to death of Magga, killed in So it’s only fitting that Black Skies is a story of thrones, clashing crags the ‘wolf-grey eyes’, and to run rampant over all Billie is forced to learn English translation: the city. Years later, as years of hard work, filling Other works in English by his own joyful and charm- improve sleep habits, how BUTTERFLIES a hit and run on her way one of Einar’s first as- greed, pride and murder and kings-in-waiting. the subsequent events aspects of daily life. to live with the violent, IS THIS SUPPOSED TO he reflects on a long and Friðrik Erlingsson: ing manner. (Includes to solve sleep problems, IN NOVEMBER to babysit? from one of Europe’s This spirited and at times culminating in the birth the acres with orchards, innocent, and troubled signments is to cover a Indridi and Sigrid, two BE FUNNY? simple life shepherding in audio CD). and what role parents most successful crime sinister novel ensnares of her son and her hopes livestock, and farmhands, FISH IN THE SKY / By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir Someone to Watch Over college theater production blissfully happy young Rafael, who decides to Penguin Books, 2007. the Icelandic hillsides, he play in establishing and is the fifth Thóra writers. is the reader in a tangled of being saved by her Alice’s growing restless- Meadowside Books Pushkin Press 2013/UK Me of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Black Skies lovers, have their perfect abandon the soldier’s life SHOULD YOU BE finally finds himself ready maintaining good sleep 2008/UK and BENJAMIN (November, 2013) Gudmundsdóttir novel Icelandic folktale of ambi- Arnaldur Indriðason´s encounter between own kin. worlds threatened (along ness pulls her into the house. and become a farmer, no to explain why. LAUGHING AT THIS? DOVE / North-South habits in their babies and from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tion and greed. tenth novel in English modern-day Scandinavia with Indridi’s sanity) heady social swirl of matter what it takes. Penguin Books, 2006. Books 2007/US small children. in English translation. translation. and the ancient world of when they are “calculated wartime Rome and a HEART’S PLACE myth. apart” and are forced to reckless affair that will by Steinunn FROM THE MOUTH THE WHISPERING THE SAGAS OF with the world’s great voyage to the New World go to extreme lengths to have devastating conse- THE BLUE FOX Sigurðardóttir literary treasures – as and contain the oldest OF THE WHALE MUSE ICELANDERS prove their love. quences. Restoration is By Sjón Amazon Crossing 2013/US Edited by Örnólfur epic as Homer, as deep descriptions of the North Olaf Olafson´s fifth novel Translated by Vicky Cribb. By Sjón By Sjón in tragedy as Sophocles, American continent. Thorsson in English translation. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Translated by Vicky Cribb. Translated by Vicky Cribb as engagingly human as GERPLA / THE HAPPY feeling real. 2013/US Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Jane Shakespeare. WARRIORS 2013/US 2013/US Smiley. Penguin Classics. The 10 Sagas and “When I need something By Halldór Laxness Also by Andri Snær in seven shorter tales in epic and lyrical I call “From the Mouth of the “A quirky, melodic, tick- Archipelago Press 2013/US In Iceland, the age of English translation: the Vikings is also known this volume include the upon Sjón ... The Blue Whale is strange and lish, seamlessly trans- THE STORY OF THE as the Saga Age. A celebrated “Vinland Sa- Fox is a magical novel.” wonderful, an epic made lated, lovingly polished THE THAW BLUE PLANET unique body of medieval gas,” which recount Leif – Björk mad, made extraordinary.” gem of a novel.” By Ólafur Gunnarsson Seven Stories Press 2012/ literature, the Sagas rank Eiriksson’s pioneering – Junot Díaz – David Mitchell New American Press 2013/ US US ERFISM HV ER M K U I

Prentun: Oddi umhverfisvottuð6 pt. Oddi umhverfisvottuðprentsmiðja prentsmiðja 141 776 PRENTGRIPUR The Perfec

“A sensational book. I can’t recommend it enough.” Andri SnÆr M children’S fiction $12.99 uS / $12.99 cAn – Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X UPCOMING ICELANDIC Ketilsey island, 1960. “With The Story of the Blue Planet, Andri Snær Andri Brimir and Hulda are best Magnason gives our own aching planet a deep friends who live on an island green fable in which ordinary children can wreck SnÆr on a beautiful blue planet where there are only Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring a world . . . or save it. A global ecosystem, or a children and no adults, everyone is their friend, TITLES IN ENGLISH brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by child’s inner ecology, Andri cares for the well- MAgnASon and each day is more exciting than the last. Their Illustrated by lives are simple and happy until, one day, a rocket three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish After building A cAreer in the gAlleries being of both, and demonstrates the ways in A ship piloted by a strange-looking adult named

gn ÁSlAug JónSdóttir cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious and museums of Amsterdam, art theorist Hanna which the two are, in fact, indivisible.” Gleesome Goodday crashes onto the beach. T TRANSLATION —MArcuS ewert, author of the award-winning 10,000 Dresses Goodday promises to make the children’s lives a link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey. A has returned to Iceland to what she hopes will be Landsca P S hundred times more fun in exchange for just a little a posh new job. Though small, the museum in “The Story of the Blue Planet combines the vivid o bit of their youth, and sprinkles them with magical, n Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast. The PerfecT sun-activated, flying powder—he even nails the sun simplicity of a fable or fairy tale with a modern Reykjavik has a sterling reputation—one sure to to the sky so they can fly all day and all night. The

This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with The voice, spiced with droll humor. An imaginative, children are so enamored of their new games that be burnished by a valuable painting donated by a LoveStar was the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to original vision that is more than an environ- they forget all the many activities they used to love. wealthy patron. Painted by Iceland’s most beloved Story During Goodday’s great flying competition, Hulda investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world LandscaPe mental parable or a thrilling story: it peers into and Brimir soar to the other side of planet, where twentieth-century artist, the acquisition is poised The Story of the the human heart in search of wit, courage, and of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. The they discover it is dark all the time and the children DAYBREAK compassion.” Story are sickly and pale. Hulda and Brimir know they must to become the jewel of the museum’s collection— — rebeccA Stefoff, YA author and adapter of A Young People’s help save the pale children, but first they need to get Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with until a conservator announces it’s a fake. e History of the United States and A Different Mirror for Young People back to their island and convince their friends that visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full Determined to preserve the museum’s of the Gleesome Goodday is not what he seems. By Viktor Arnar of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so “The surprise at the end of this cautionary tale A fantastical adventure, beautifully told, unfolds reputation—and bolster her own—Hanna delves Ragna Sigu of the in a deceptively simple tale. The Story of the Blue captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. celebrates the wisdom and generosity of children.” Bu Planet Blue Blue Planet will delight and challenge readers of all ages. deep into the shadowy world of art forgery, where — YouMe, author and illustrator of Selavi (That Is Life) I Want Fish! (Ég vil and Mali Under the Night Sky Ingólfsson she will discover an unexpected truth framed by a Good Evening (Gott half-century of lies. - Planet Amazon Crossing 2013/US R da

R (May, 2013) dotti

$12.99 US / $12.99 CAN ISBN 978-1612184319 ISBN: 978-1-60980-428-2 51495 > R Ragna SiguRdaRdottiR 9 781612 184319 tRanS lated By SaR ah Bowen THE SORROW OF ANGELS SOMEONE TO THE SHIP THE SEASON OF THE BLACK SKIES THE FLATEY ENIGMA THE PERFECT THE HITMAN‘S GUIDE TWICE IN A LIFETIME THE CREATOR THE BLUE PLANET ON THE COLD THE GREENHOUSE MAXIMUS MUSICUS WHAT SHOULD I SWEET DREAMS By Jón Kalman WATCH OVER ME By Stefán Máni WITCH By Arnaldur Indriðason By Viktor Arnar LANDSCAPE TO HOUSECLEANING By Ágúst Borgþór By Guðrún Eva By Andri Snær COASTS By Auður Ava VISITS THE FEED MY BABY? Sleep and sleeping Stefánsson By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Murdoch Books 2012 By Árni Þórarinsson Translated from Icelandic Ingólfsson By Ragna By Hallgrímur Helgason Sverrisson Mínervudóttir Magnason By Vilborg Davíðsdóttir Ólafsdóttir ORCHESTRA habits from birth till By Ebba Guðný MacLehose Press 2013/UK Hodder 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Translated from Icelandic Sigurðardóttir Amazon Crossing 2012/ Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic By Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir the age of two The ship is the Per Se, a How to Books Ltd. 2013/ (July, 2013) by Anna Yates. Harvill Secker 2012/UK by Brian FitzGibbon. Translated from Icelandic US by María Helga Guð- by Sarah Bowen. by Julian Meldon D‘Arcy. by Alda Sigmundsdóttir. by Brian FitzGibbon. and Þórarinn Már UK By Arna Skúladóttir A young man with Down’s merchant vessel bound Amazon Crossing 2012/US Amazon Crossing 2012/ by Sarah Bowen. Amazon mundsdóttir and Anne Portobello Books 2012/ Seven Stories Press 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2011/ Baldursson Translated from Icelandic Syndrome has been for exotic Suriname, a A man is making a crude With some 66 hits under What should I feed THE LAST DAYS US Crossing 2012/US Behassi. UK US US US. Translated from Icelandic convicted of burning world away from the bit- When the editors at leather mask with an iron his belt, Tomislav Bokšic, my baby? is a simple by Ian Watson. Carrol & OF MY MOTHER Comma Press 2011/UK by Daði Kolbeinsson. down his care home and ter rain and treacherous Reykjavik-based The spike fixed in the middle Near a deserted island When a wealthy patron or Toxic, has a flawless Sveinn is a reclusive, On a blue planet far out The year is 1419. Ragn- For Lobbi, the tragic but thorough guide for Brown 2012/UK By Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson killing five people, but seas of Iceland. Each of of the forehead. It is a record as hitman for the Music Word Media Group Afternoon News decide off the western coast donates a valuable As a birthday treat to middle-aged bachelor in space there are no fridur and Thorkell are passing of his mother parents who want to In Sweet Dreams, Open Letter Books 2013/US a fellow inmate at his the nine crew members ‘death mask’, once used Croatian mafia in New 2012/US (September, 2013) to expand the newspaper of Iceland in 1960, landscape painting to herself, a young woman who devotes his life to adults, only children, who betrothed as children, proves to be a profound introduce their baby to pediatric nurse and secure psychiatric unit carries a secret — some into northern Iceland— by Icelandic farmers to York. That is, until he wholesome and nutritious the dawning of spring Reykjavik’s art museum, decides to dial one of two creating and selling play when they want to by decision of their catalyst. Their shared In Maximus Musicus sleep specialist, Arna has hired Thora to prove even have blood on their with their crime writer slaughter calves, and he kills the wrong guy and is food right from the start. brings new life for the the staff can hardly numbers in the phone- beautiful custom-made and go to sleep when highranking parents. But love of tending rare - Visits the Orchestra, Ice- Skúladóttir, brings us STRANGE SHORES Jakob is innocent. If he hands — but none real- Einar as its sole reporter has revenge in mind. forced to flee the States, local wildlife. But for believe its luck. book that may belong to sex dolls. Loa is a they are tired. Then a Ragnfridur becomes roses in her greenhouse land’s best-loved musical into a baby’s world and By Arnaldur Indriðason didn’t do it, who did? ises that this may be their on location—the journal- Moving from the villas of leaving behind the life he the body discovered But when the museum’s her estranged father. divorced mother of two, mysterious man lands on pregnant by an English inspires him to leave mouse discovers the explores it through Harvill Secker 2013/UK And how is the multiple final voyage. ist feels as though he has Reykjavík’s banking elite knows and loves. by three seal hunters, conservator suggests the A successful business whose eldest daughter’s the planet, and teaches castaway, and after this his studies behind and wonders of music and the the lens of sleep. She (September, 2013) murder connected to the stepped back in time. to a sordid basement flat, Suddenly, he finds winter is a matter of painting might be a fake, man tries to scheme his increasing isolation is them how to fly when the Thorkell leaves to study travel to a remote village symphony orchestra in discusses ways to death of Magga, killed in So it’s only fitting that Black Skies is a story of permanence. After it is himself on a plane giving her real cause sun shines, by flicking at the Sorbonne in Paris. monastery to restore its Hanna, a newly arrived way out of a paternity his own joyful and charm- improve sleep habits, how BUTTERFLIES a hit and run on her way one of Einar’s first as- greed, pride and murder found to be a missing art theorist, realizes the hurtling toward Reykjavik, test by offering his less for concern. Their lives the dust off butterflies’ While he is away, unrest once fabulous gardens. ing manner. (Includes to solve sleep problems, IN NOVEMBER to babysit? from one of Europe’s Iceland, borrowing the signments is to cover a Danish cryptographer, museum’s reputation is fortunate brother a deal collide on the evening wings. A perilous grows in Iceland. The While transforming audio CD). and what role parents most successful crime By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir Someone to Watch Over college theater production the ensuing investigation not the only one in danger identity of an American he cannot refuse. when Loa’s car breaks adventure ensues, taking Norwegian authorities the garden under the play in establishing and is the fifth Thóra writers. is Pushkin Press 2013/UK Me of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Black Skies uncovers a mysterious of crumbling. televangelist named Each of Sverrisson’s down outside Sveinn’s the children through feel threatened by the watchful eye of a maintaining good sleep Gudmundsdóttir novel Arnaldur Indriðason´s (November, 2013) Icelandic folktale of ambi- link between the What Hanna doesn’t Father Friendly. With no stories is a study in the house. dark forests and skies of growing English presence cinephile monk, he is habits in their babies and from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tenth novel in English tion and greed. researcher and a know she vows to learn, means of escape from precariousness of life, Funny, and touching, and blue. Their friendship and in Iceland. When Thorkell surprised by a visit from small children. in English translation. translation. medieval manuscript venturing deep into the this island devoid of gun the frailty of memory, and never far from tragedy, ingenuity are put to the returns, and falls in with Anna, a friend of a friend HEART’S PLACE known as The Book of shadowy world of art shops and contract killing, the transitory nature of all The Creator is an affect- test as never before. the English bishop of with whom he shared a by Steinunn FROM THE MOUTH THE WHISPERING THE SAGAS OF with the world’s great voyage to the New World Flatey. forgery. Only then will tragicomic hilarity ensues opportunity. ingly original story of an Holar, he meets up with fateful moment in his Sigurðardóttir literary treasures – as and contain the oldest as he is forced to come OF THE WHALE MUSE ICELANDERS she be able to strip away unlikely friendship and the bishop’s housekeeper, mother’s greenhouse, Amazon Crossing 2013/US Edited by Örnólfur epic as Homer, as deep descriptions of the North the varnish of the past to to terms with his bloody an unlikely cure for the Ragnfridur, and her young and the daughter they By Sjón By Sjón in tragedy as Sophocles, American continent. past and reevaluate his son … together conceived that Thorsson uncover the truth. problem of never quite Translated by Vicky Cribb. Translated by Vicky Cribb as engagingly human as future. GERPLA / THE HAPPY feeling real. night. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Jane Shakespeare. WARRIORS Also by Viktor Arnar 2013/US 2013/US Smiley. Penguin Classics. By Halldór Laxness The 10 Sagas and Ingólfsson in English “A quirky, melodic, tick- Archipelago Press 2013/US In Iceland, the age of seven shorter tales in translation: Also by Hallgrímur Also by Andri Snær in “From the Mouth of the lish, seamlessly trans- the Vikings is also known this volume include the HOUSE OF EVIDENCE Helgason in English English translation: Whale is strange and as the Saga Age. A celebrated “Vinland Sa- wonderful, an epic made lated, lovingly polished THE THAW Translated by Björg Árna- translation: LOVESTAR unique body of medieval gas,” which recount Leif mad, made extraordinary.” gem of a novel.” dóttir / Andrew Cauthery 101 REYKJAVÍK Seven Stories Press By Ólafur Gunnarsson literature, the Sagas rank Eiriksson’s pioneering – Junot Díaz – David Mitchell Amazon Crossing 2012/US Scribner 2007/UK 2012/US New American Press 2013/ US ERFISM HV ER M K U I

Prentun: Oddi umhverfisvottuð6 pt. Oddi umhverfisvottuðprentsmiðja prentsmiðja 141 776 PRENTGRIPUR The Perfec “A sensational book. I can’t recommend it enough.” Ketilsey island, 1960. – Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X

Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish After building A cAreer in the gAlleries cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious and museums of Amsterdam, art theorist Hanna T link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey. has returned to Iceland to what she hopes will be Landsca P a posh new job. Though small, the museum in Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast. The PerfecT Reykjavik has a sterling reputation—one sure to This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with Andri snær MAgnAson is one of Iceland’s most be burnished by a valuable painting donated by a the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to celebrated young writers. In 2002 LoveStar was wealthy patron. Painted by Iceland’s most beloved named “Novel of the Year” by Icelandic booksellers investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world LandscaPe and received the DV Literary Award and a nomina- of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. twentieth-century artist, the acquisition is poised tion to the Icelandic Literary Prize. The Story of the Blue Planet—now published or performed in 22 to become the jewel of the museum’s collection— countries—was the first children’s book to receive Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with until a conservator announces it’s a fake. the Icelandic Literary Prize and was also the recipi- e visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full ent of the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award and the Determined to preserve the museum’s West Nordic Children’s Book Prize. Andri Magna- of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so reputation—and bolster her own—Hanna delves son is also the winner of the 2010 Kairos Award. Ragna Sigu captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. deep into the shadowy world of art forgery, where ÁslAug Jónsdóttir has written and illustrated, among others, The Egg (Eggið, 2003), I Want Fish! (Ég vil she will discover an unexpected truth framed by a fisk! 2007), and the award-winning Good Evening (Gott half-century of lies. kvöld, 2005), which received The Bookseller’s Prize as the best children’s book of 2005, The Icelandic Illustra- tion Award, and The Reykjavik Educational Council Children’s Book Prize. R da R dotti

ISBN 978-1612184319 51495 > seven stories press R Ragna SiguRdaRdottiR www.sevenstories.com Author photo: Christopher Lund 9 781612 184319 tRanS lated By SaR ah Bowen JAcket Art: Áslaug Jónsdóttir

SOMEONE TO THE SHIP THE SEASON OF THE BLACK SKIES THE FLATEY ENIGMA THE PERFECT THE HITMAN‘S GUIDE TWICE IN A LIFETIME GUNNLÖTH‘S TALE BLOODHOOF LOVESTAR RESTORATION CHILDREN IN IS THIS SOME KIND REPLY TO A LETTER BOY ON THE EDGE WATCH OVER ME By Stefán Máni WITCH By Arnaldur Indriðason By Viktor Arnar LANDSCAPE TO HOUSECLEANING By Ágúst Borgþór By Svava Jakobsdóttir By Gerður Kristný By Andri Snær By Olaf Olafsson REINDEER WOODS OF JOKE? FROM HELGA By Friðrik Erlingsson By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Murdoch Books 2012 By Árni Þórarinsson Translated from Icelandic Ingólfsson By Ragna By Hallgrímur Helgason Sverrisson Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Magnason Translated from Icelandic By Kristín Ómarsdóttir By Hugleikur Dagsson By Bergsveinn Meadowside Children‘s Hodder 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Translated from Icelandic Sigurðardóttir Amazon Crossing 2012/ Translated from Icelandic by Oliver Watts. Norvik by Rory McTurk. ARC Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Ecco/ Translated from Icelandic Penguin Books 2008/US Birgisson Books 2012/UK The ship is the Per Se, a by Anna Yates. Harvill Secker 2012/UK by Brian FitzGibbon. US by María Helga Guð- Pre ss 2011/UK Publications 2012/UK by Victoria Cribb. Seven HarperCollins 2012/US by Lytton Smith. Open Angry and disturbed, merchant vessel bound Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic A young man with Down’s Hugleikur Dagsson is the Henry is sent to a home for exotic Suriname, a Amazon Crossing 2012/US Amazon Crossing 2012/ by Sarah Bowen. Amazon mundsdóttir and Anne Stories Press 2012/US Letter Books 2012/US by Philip Roughton. Syndrome has been A man is making a crude With some 66 hits under In the 1980s, a Bloodhoof is the re- Having grown up in an most famous cartoonist for troubled boys in the world away from the bit- US Crossing 2012/US Behassi. Amazon Crossing 2013/ convicted of burning When the editors at leather mask with an iron his belt, Tomislav Bokšic, hardworking Icelandic casting into compulsively LoveStar, the enigmatic exclusive circle of wealthy Eleven-year-old Billie lives in Iceland. Iceland is middle of nowhere. There, ter rain and treacherous Comma Press 2011/UK US down his care home and Reykjavik-based The spike fixed in the middle Near a deserted island When a wealthy patron or Toxic, has a flawless businesswoman and her spare modern verse of an and obsessively driven British ex-pats in Flor- at a ‘temporary home for very cold, very bleak and he struggles with loss seas of Iceland. Each of killing five people, but Afternoon News decide of the forehead. It is a off the western coast donates a valuable record as hitman for the As a birthday treat to teenage daughter Dís, ancient Eddic poem - but founder of the LoveStar ence in the 1920s, Alice children’ called Children very expensive. The only Bjarni has long held and loneliness. Yet in this the nine crew members a fellow inmate at his to expand the newspaper ‘death mask’, once used of Iceland in 1960, landscape painting to Croatian mafia in New herself, a young woman who has been arrested this only begins to hint at corporation, has unlocked Orsini shocks everyone in Reindeer Woods, which things to do there are onto a letter from former most unlikely of places, secure psychiatric unit carries a secret — some by Icelandic farmers to for apparently committing its attractions. drink and kill whales. He into northern Iceland— the dawning of spring Reykjavik’s art museum, York. That is, until he decides to dial one of two the key to transmitting when she marries the son she discovers one after- lover Helga, with whom he discovers kindness, has hired Thora to prove even have blood on their slaughter calves, and he kills the wrong guy and is a strange and senseless It is a minimalist epic hopes you like this one. with their crime writer brings new life for the the staff can hardly numbers in the phone- data via birdwaves, thus of a minor Italian land- noon, to her surprise, is in he shared an illicit, hope and the most impor- hands — but none real- Jakob is innocent. If he Einar as its sole reporter has revenge in mind. local wildlife. But for believe its luck. forced to flee the States, book that may belong to robbery, are unwittingly telling of the abduction freeing mankind from a war zone. When a group Otherwise he‘ll have to impassioned love and tant of all: friendship. ises that this may be their owner and begins restor- didn’t do it, who did? on location—the journal- Moving from the villas of the body discovered But when the museum’s leaving behind the life he her estranged father. drawn into a ritual-bound of Gerdur Gymisdottir wires and devices, and of paratroopers kill every- kill some whales. whom invited him to final voyage. ing San Martino, a crum- And how is the multiple ist feels as though he has Reykjavík’s banking elite by three seal hunters, knows and loves. world of goddesses, from the land of giants allowing consumerism, one who lives there, and leave his wife and his conservator suggests the A successful business bling villa in Tuscany, to murder connected to the stepped back in time. to a sordid basement flat, winter is a matter of painting might be a fake, Suddenly, he finds man tries to scheme his sacrificial priests, golden to the court of Freyr of technology, and science then turn on each other, Also by Hugleikur in farm and follow her to its former glory. But after death of Magga, killed in So it’s only fitting that Black Skies is a story of permanence. After it is Hanna, a newly arrived himself on a plane way out of a paternity thrones, clashing crags the ‘wolf-grey eyes’, and to run rampant over all Billie is forced to learn English translation: the city. Years later, as years of hard work, filling Other works in English by a hit and run on her way one of Einar’s first as- greed, pride and murder found to be a missing art theorist, realizes the hurtling toward Reykjavik, test by offering his less and kings-in-waiting. the subsequent events aspects of daily life. to live with the violent, IS THIS SUPPOSED TO he reflects on a long and the acres with orchards, Friðrik Erlingsson: to babysit? signments is to cover a from one of Europe’s Danish cryptographer, museum’s reputation is Iceland, borrowing the fortunate brother a deal This spirited and at times culminating in the birth Indridi and Sigrid, two innocent, and troubled BE FUNNY? simple life shepherding in livestock, and farmhands, FISH IN THE SKY / Someone to Watch Over college theater production most successful crime the ensuing investigation not the only one in danger identity of an American he cannot refuse. sinister novel ensnares of her son and her hopes blissfully happy young Rafael, who decides to Penguin Books, 2007. the Icelandic hillsides, he Meadowside Books Me is the fifth Thóra of Loftur the Sorcerer, an writers. Black Skies is uncovers a mysterious of crumbling. televangelist named the reader in a tangled of being saved by her lovers, have their perfect Alice’s growing restless- abandon the soldier’s life finally finds himself ready Each of Sverrisson’s SHOULD YOU BE 2008/UK and BENJAMIN Gudmundsdóttir novel Icelandic folktale of ambi- Arnaldur Indriðason´s link between the Father Friendly. With no encounter between own kin. worlds threatened (along ness pulls her into the and become a farmer, no to explain why. What Hanna doesn’t stories is a study in the LAUGHING AT THIS? DOVE / North-South from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tion and greed. tenth novel in English researcher and a means of escape from modern-day Scandinavia with Indridi’s sanity) heady social swirl of matter what it takes. know she vows to learn, precariousness of life, Penguin Books, 2006. Books 2007/US in English translation. translation. medieval manuscript venturing deep into the this island devoid of gun the frailty of memory, and and the ancient world of when they are “calculated wartime Rome and a known as The Book of shadowy world of art shops and contract killing, the transitory nature of all myth. apart” and are forced to reckless affair that will THE BLUE FOX THE SAGAS OF with the world’s great voyage to the New World Flatey. forgery. Only then will tragicomic hilarity ensues opportunity. go to extreme lengths to have devastating conse- ICELANDERS literary treasures – as and contain the oldest she be able to strip away as he is forced to come prove their love. quences. Restoration is By Sjón Edited by Örnólfur epic as Homer, as deep descriptions of the North the varnish of the past to to terms with his bloody Olaf Olafson´s fifth novel Translated by Vicky Cribb. in tragedy as Sophocles, American continent. past and reevaluate his Thorsson uncover the truth. in English translation. Farrar, Straus and Giroux as engagingly human as future. 2013/US Introduction by Jane Shakespeare. Also by Viktor Arnar Smiley. Penguin Classics. The 10 Sagas and “When I need something Ingólfsson in English Also by Andri Snær in seven shorter tales in epic and lyrical I call In Iceland, the age of translation: Also by Hallgrímur English translation: the Vikings is also known this volume include the upon Sjón ... The Blue HOUSE OF EVIDENCE Helgason in English THE STORY OF THE as the Saga Age. A celebrated “Vinland Sa- Fox is a magical novel.” Translated by Björg Árna- translation: BLUE PLANET – Björk unique body of medieval gas,” which recount Leif 101 REYKJAVÍK dóttir / Andrew Cauthery Seven Stories Press 2012/ literature, the Sagas rank Eiriksson’s pioneering Amazon Crossing 2012/US Scribner 2007/UK US The Perfec

“A sensational book. I can’t recommend it enough.” Andri SnÆr M children’S fiction $12.99 uS / $12.99 cAn – Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X UPCOMING ICELANDIC Ketilsey island, 1960. “With The Story of the Blue Planet, Andri Snær Andri Brimir and Hulda are best Magnason gives our own aching planet a deep friends who live on an island green fable in which ordinary children can wreck SnÆr on a beautiful blue planet where there are only Near this deserted island off the western coast of Iceland, the dawning of spring a world . . . or save it. A global ecosystem, or a children and no adults, everyone is their friend, TITLES IN ENGLISH brings with it new life for the local wildlife. But for the decaying body discovered by child’s inner ecology, Andri cares for the well- MAgnASon and each day is more exciting than the last. Their Illustrated by lives are simple and happy until, one day, a rocket three seal hunters, winter is a matter of permanence. After it is found to be a Danish After building A cAreer in the gAlleries being of both, and demonstrates the ways in A ship piloted by a strange-looking adult named

gn ÁSlAug JónSdóttir cryptographer missing for months, the ensuing investigation uncovers a mysterious and museums of Amsterdam, art theorist Hanna which the two are, in fact, indivisible.” Gleesome Goodday crashes onto the beach. T TRANSLATION —MArcuS ewert, author of the award-winning 10,000 Dresses Goodday promises to make the children’s lives a link between him and a medieval manuscript known as the Book of Flatey. A has returned to Iceland to what she hopes will be Landsca P S hundred times more fun in exchange for just a little a posh new job. Though small, the museum in “The Story of the Blue Planet combines the vivid o bit of their youth, and sprinkles them with magical, n Before long another body is found on Flatey, another tiny island off the western coast. The PerfecT sun-activated, flying powder—he even nails the sun simplicity of a fable or fairy tale with a modern Reykjavik has a sterling reputation—one sure to to the sky so they can fly all day and all night. The

This time, in the ancient Viking tradition, the victim’s back has been mutilated with Andri snær MAgnAson is one of Iceland’s most The voice, spiced with droll humor. An imaginative, children are so enamored of their new games that be burnished by a valuable painting donated by a celebrated young writers. In 2002 LoveStar was the so-called blood eagle. Kjartan, the district magistrate’s representative sent to original vision that is more than an environ- they forget all the many activities they used to love.

named “Novel of the Year” by Icelandic booksellers Story investigate the crime, soon finds himself descending into the dark, dangerous world wealthy patron. Painted by Iceland’s most beloved mental parable or a thrilling story: it peers into During Goodday’s great flying competition, Hulda LandscaPe and received the DV Literary Award and a nomina- and Brimir soar to the other side of planet, where twentieth-century artist, the acquisition is poised tion to the Icelandic Literary Prize. The Story of the the human heart in search of wit, courage, and of ancient legends, symbology, and secret societies to find the killer. The they discover it is dark all the time and the children DAYBREAK Blue Planet—now published or performed in 22 compassion.” Story are sickly and pale. Hulda and Brimir know they must to become the jewel of the museum’s collection— countries—was the first children’s book to receive — rebeccA Stefoff, YA author and adapter of A Young People’s help save the pale children, but first they need to get Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson’s Glass Key–nominated Nordic mystery captures the era with until a conservator announces it’s a fake. the Icelandic Literary Prize and was also the recipi- e History of the United States and A Different Mirror for Young People back to their island and convince their friends that ent of the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award and the visceral authenticity and the austere quiet of a world far off the beaten track. Full of the Gleesome Goodday is not what he seems. By Viktor Arnar Determined to preserve the museum’s West Nordic Children’s Book Prize. Andri Magna- of surprising humor, complex clues, and brooding intensity, The Flatey Enigma is so “The surprise at the end of this cautionary tale A fantastical adventure, beautifully told, unfolds reputation—and bolster her own—Hanna delves son is also the winner of the 2010 Kairos Award. Ragna Sigu of the in a deceptively simple tale. The Story of the Blue captivating you won’t be able to put the book down until Kjartan has cracked the code. celebrates the wisdom and generosity of children.” Bu Planet Blue Planet will delight and challenge readers of all ages. ÁslAug Jónsdóttir has written and illustrated, Blue deep into the shadowy world of art forgery, where — YouMe, author and illustrator of Selavi (That Is Life) among others, The Egg (Eggið, 2003), I Want Fish! (Ég vil and Mali Under the Night Sky Ingólfsson she will discover an unexpected truth framed by a fisk! 2007), and the award-winning Good Evening (Gott half-century of lies. kvöld, 2005), which received The Bookseller’s Prize as the best children’s book of 2005, The Icelandic Illustra- Planet tion Award, and The Reykjavik Educational Council Amazon Crossing 2013/US Children’s Book Prize. R da

R (May, 2013) dotti

$12.99 US / $12.99 CAN ISBN 978-1612184319 ISBN: 978-1-60980-428-2 51495 > seven stories press R Ragna SiguRdaRdottiR www.sevenstories.com Author photo: Christopher Lund 9 781612 184319 tRanS lated By SaR ah Bowen JAcket Art: Áslaug Jónsdóttir THE SORROW OF ANGELS SOMEONE TO THE SHIP THE SEASON OF THE BLACK SKIES THE FLATEY ENIGMA THE PERFECT THE HITMAN‘S GUIDE TWICE IN A LIFETIME GUNNLÖTH‘S TALE BLOODHOOF LOVESTAR RESTORATION THE CREATOR THE BLUE PLANET ON THE COLD THE GREENHOUSE MAXIMUS MUSICUS WHAT SHOULD I SWEET DREAMS By Jón Kalman WATCH OVER ME By Stefán Máni WITCH By Arnaldur Indriðason By Viktor Arnar LANDSCAPE TO HOUSECLEANING By Ágúst Borgþór By Svava Jakobsdóttir By Gerður Kristný By Andri Snær By Olaf Olafsson By Guðrún Eva By Andri Snær COASTS By Auður Ava VISITS THE FEED MY BABY? Sleep and sleeping Stefánsson By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Murdoch Books 2012 By Árni Þórarinsson Translated from Icelandic Ingólfsson By Ragna By Hallgrímur Helgason Sverrisson Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Magnason Translated from Icelandic Mínervudóttir Magnason By Vilborg Davíðsdóttir Ólafsdóttir ORCHESTRA habits from birth till By Ebba Guðný MacLehose Press 2013/UK Hodder 2013/UK Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Translated from Icelandic Sigurðardóttir Amazon Crossing 2012/ Translated from Icelandic by Oliver Watts. Norvik by Rory McTurk. ARC Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Ecco/ Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic Translated from Icelandic By Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir the age of two The ship is the Per Se, a How to Books Ltd. 2013/ (July, 2013) by Anna Yates. Harvill Secker 2012/UK by Brian FitzGibbon. Translated from Icelandic US by María Helga Guð- Pre ss 2011/UK Publications 2012/UK by Victoria Cribb. Seven HarperCollins 2012/US by Sarah Bowen. by Julian Meldon D‘Arcy. by Alda Sigmundsdóttir. by Brian FitzGibbon. and Þórarinn Már UK By Arna Skúladóttir A young man with Down’s merchant vessel bound Amazon Crossing 2012/US Amazon Crossing 2012/ by Sarah Bowen. Amazon mundsdóttir and Anne Stories Press 2012/US Portobello Books 2012/ Seven Stories Press 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2012/ Amazon Crossing 2011/ Baldursson Translated from Icelandic Syndrome has been for exotic Suriname, a A man is making a crude With some 66 hits under In the 1980s, a Bloodhoof is the re- Having grown up in an What should I feed THE LAST DAYS US Crossing 2012/US Behassi. UK US US US. Translated from Icelandic convicted of burning world away from the bit- When the editors at leather mask with an iron his belt, Tomislav Bokšic, hardworking Icelandic casting into compulsively LoveStar, the enigmatic exclusive circle of wealthy my baby? is a simple by Ian Watson. Carrol & OF MY MOTHER Comma Press 2011/UK by Daði Kolbeinsson. down his care home and ter rain and treacherous Reykjavik-based The spike fixed in the middle Near a deserted island When a wealthy patron or Toxic, has a flawless businesswoman and her spare modern verse of an and obsessively driven British ex-pats in Flor- Sveinn is a reclusive, On a blue planet far out The year is 1419. Ragn- For Lobbi, the tragic but thorough guide for Brown 2012/UK By Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson killing five people, but seas of Iceland. Each of of the forehead. It is a record as hitman for the teenage daughter Dís, ancient Eddic poem - but Music Word Media Group Afternoon News decide off the western coast donates a valuable As a birthday treat to founder of the LoveStar ence in the 1920s, Alice middle-aged bachelor in space there are no fridur and Thorkell are passing of his mother parents who want to In Sweet Dreams, Open Letter Books 2013/US a fellow inmate at his the nine crew members ‘death mask’, once used Croatian mafia in New who has been arrested this only begins to hint at 2012/US (September, 2013) to expand the newspaper of Iceland in 1960, landscape painting to herself, a young woman corporation, has unlocked Orsini shocks everyone who devotes his life to adults, only children, who betrothed as children, proves to be a profound introduce their baby to pediatric nurse and secure psychiatric unit carries a secret — some into northern Iceland— by Icelandic farmers to York. That is, until he for apparently committing its attractions. the key to transmitting wholesome and nutritious the dawning of spring Reykjavik’s art museum, decides to dial one of two when she marries the son creating and selling play when they want to by decision of their catalyst. Their shared In Maximus Musicus sleep specialist, Arna has hired Thora to prove even have blood on their with their crime writer slaughter calves, and he kills the wrong guy and is a strange and senseless It is a minimalist epic data via birdwaves, thus food right from the start. brings new life for the the staff can hardly numbers in the phone- of a minor Italian land- beautiful custom-made and go to sleep when highranking parents. But love of tending rare Visits the Orchestra, Ice- Skúladóttir, brings us STRANGE SHORES Jakob is innocent. If he hands — but none real- Einar as its sole reporter has revenge in mind. forced to flee the States, robbery, are unwittingly telling of the abduction freeing mankind from local wildlife. But for believe its luck. book that may belong to owner and begins restor- sex dolls. Loa is a they are tired. Then a Ragnfridur becomes roses in her greenhouse land’s best-loved musical into a baby’s world and By Arnaldur Indriðason didn’t do it, who did? ises that this may be their on location—the journal- Moving from the villas of the body discovered leaving behind the life he drawn into a ritual-bound of Gerdur Gymisdottir wires and devices, and divorced mother of two, mysterious man lands on pregnant by an English inspires him to leave But when the museum’s her estranged father. ing San Martino, a crum- mouse discovers the explores it through Harvill Secker 2013/UK And how is the multiple final voyage. ist feels as though he has Reykjavík’s banking elite by three seal hunters, knows and loves. world of goddesses, from the land of giants allowing consumerism, whose eldest daughter’s the planet, and teaches castaway, and after this his studies behind and conservator suggests the A successful business bling villa in Tuscany, to wonders of music and the the lens of sleep. She (September, 2013) murder connected to the stepped back in time. to a sordid basement flat, winter is a matter of painting might be a fake, Suddenly, he finds man tries to scheme his sacrificial priests, golden to the court of Freyr of technology, and science increasing isolation is them how to fly when the Thorkell leaves to study travel to a remote village its former glory. But after symphony orchestra in discusses ways to death of Magga, killed in So it’s only fitting that Black Skies is a story of permanence. After it is Hanna, a newly arrived himself on a plane way out of a paternity thrones, clashing crags the ‘wolf-grey eyes’, and to run rampant over all giving her real cause sun shines, by flicking at the Sorbonne in Paris. monastery to restore its years of hard work, filling his own joyful and charm- improve sleep habits, how BUTTERFLIES a hit and run on her way one of Einar’s first as- greed, pride and murder found to be a missing art theorist, realizes the hurtling toward Reykjavik, test by offering his less and kings-in-waiting. the subsequent events aspects of daily life. for concern. Their lives the dust off butterflies’ While he is away, unrest once fabulous gardens. ing manner. (Includes to solve sleep problems, IN NOVEMBER to babysit? from one of Europe’s Iceland, borrowing the This spirited and at times culminating in the birth the acres with orchards, signments is to cover a Danish cryptographer, museum’s reputation is fortunate brother a deal Indridi and Sigrid, two collide on the evening wings. A perilous grows in Iceland. The While transforming audio CD). and what role parents most successful crime sinister novel ensnares of her son and her hopes livestock, and farmhands, By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir Someone to Watch Over college theater production the ensuing investigation not the only one in danger identity of an American he cannot refuse. blissfully happy young when Loa’s car breaks adventure ensues, taking Norwegian authorities the garden under the play in establishing and is the fifth Thóra writers. is the reader in a tangled of being saved by her Alice’s growing restless- Pushkin Press 2013/UK Me of Loftur the Sorcerer, an Black Skies uncovers a mysterious of crumbling. televangelist named Each of Sverrisson’s lovers, have their perfect down outside Sveinn’s the children through feel threatened by the watchful eye of a maintaining good sleep Gudmundsdóttir novel Arnaldur Indriðason´s encounter between own kin. ness pulls her into the (November, 2013) Icelandic folktale of ambi- link between the What Hanna doesn’t Father Friendly. With no stories is a study in the worlds threatened (along house. dark forests and skies of growing English presence cinephile monk, he is habits in their babies and from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir tenth novel in English modern-day Scandinavia tion and greed. researcher and a know she vows to learn, means of escape from precariousness of life, with Indridi’s sanity) heady social swirl of Funny, and touching, and blue. Their friendship and in Iceland. When Thorkell surprised by a visit from small children. in English translation. translation. medieval manuscript venturing deep into the this island devoid of gun the frailty of memory, and and the ancient world of when they are “calculated wartime Rome and a never far from tragedy, ingenuity are put to the returns, and falls in with Anna, a friend of a friend HEART’S PLACE known as The Book of shadowy world of art shops and contract killing, the transitory nature of all myth. apart” and are forced to reckless affair that will The Creator is an affect- test as never before. the English bishop of with whom he shared a by Steinunn FROM THE MOUTH THE WHISPERING THE SAGAS OF with the world’s great voyage to the New World Flatey. forgery. Only then will tragicomic hilarity ensues opportunity. go to extreme lengths to have devastating conse- ingly original story of an Holar, he meets up with fateful moment in his Sigurðardóttir literary treasures – as and contain the oldest as he is forced to come OF THE WHALE MUSE ICELANDERS she be able to strip away prove their love. quences. Restoration is unlikely friendship and the bishop’s housekeeper, mother’s greenhouse, Amazon Crossing 2013/US Edited by Örnólfur epic as Homer, as deep descriptions of the North the varnish of the past to to terms with his bloody Olaf Olafson´s fifth novel an unlikely cure for the Ragnfridur, and her young and the daughter they By Sjón By Sjón in tragedy as Sophocles, American continent. past and reevaluate his son … together conceived that Thorsson uncover the truth. in English translation. problem of never quite Translated by Vicky Cribb. Translated by Vicky Cribb as engagingly human as future. GERPLA / THE HAPPY feeling real. night. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux Introduction by Jane Shakespeare. WARRIORS Also by Viktor Arnar 2013/US 2013/US Smiley. Penguin Classics. The 10 Sagas and By Halldór Laxness Ingólfsson in English Also by Andri Snær in seven shorter tales in “From the Mouth of the “A quirky, melodic, tick- Archipelago Press 2013/US In Iceland, the age of translation: Also by Hallgrímur English translation: Also by Andri Snær in the Vikings is also known this volume include the Whale is strange and lish, seamlessly trans- HOUSE OF EVIDENCE Helgason in English THE STORY OF THE English translation: as the Saga Age. A celebrated “Vinland Sa- wonderful, an epic made lated, lovingly polished THE THAW Translated by Björg Árna- translation: BLUE PLANET LOVESTAR gem of a novel.” unique body of medieval gas,” which recount Leif 101 REYKJAVÍK mad, made extraordinary.” By Ólafur Gunnarsson dóttir / Andrew Cauthery Seven Stories Press 2012/ Seven Stories Press literature, the Sagas rank Eiriksson’s pioneering – Junot Díaz – David Mitchell New American Press 2013/ Amazon Crossing 2012/US Scribner 2007/UK US 2012/US US ERFISM HV ER M K U I

Prentun: Oddi umhverfisvottuð6 pt. Oddi umhverfisvottuðprentsmiðja prentsmiðja 141 776 PRENTGRIPUR pointed to the Icelandic sagas to show that during to Reykjavik and witnesses the chaos and cultural Gerður Kristný (1970-) gave readers another dramatic, one of the modernists who changed the Icelandic enchanted Icelandic readers with its narrative artistry, social criticism, and humor. His award-winning novel, goes for Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (1963 –), who is trained Iceland’s early days of independence its men had been inequalities of the city in the wake of the war. By this feminist reckoning with the violent rhetoric of the cultural life in 1960’s, and in his book Fljótt fljótt sagði powerful characterization, and attention to women’s Höfundur Íslands (The Author of Iceland, 2001), is about as an engineer and is particularly adept at building up WINELISHASELECTIONOFFrom valiant heroes and its women beautiful and proud, and time Laxness had completely changed his views on his Icelandic literary heritage in her poetic work Blóðhófnir fuglinn (Quick Quick, Said the Bird, 1968) he reveals rights, as did her books about the female artist Karítas Halldór Laxness. Hallgrímur, like Laxness, has been an suspense in her novels. that the sun had shone continually on this exemplary country’s medieval literature. Iceland’s literary heritage (Bloodhoof, 2010), which was awarded the Icelandic a new and splintered worldview that nevertheless has (2004 and 2007), which also narrate the history of art active voice in the social dialogue in Iceland, utilizing state. Little by little the ties between Iceland and had been used to strengthen national pride during the Literary Prize in 2010. In an intense, powerful narrative its foundation in the old myths, folktales, and ancient in the twentieth century in an intriguing manner. Kristín all means of communication, from books to Facebook. The novels of Jón Kalman Stefánsson (1963 –) look to Denmark loosened; Iceland attained sovereignty in 1918 country’s struggle for independence and thus became poem, Gerður reveals the way in which the myth of saga motifs. Thor’s novels were cosmopolitan, restless, Marja manages to combine a strong focus on plot with Auður Jónsdóttir (1973 –) is also political, radical, and the vanished rural community with both warmth and WORRKSINENGLISHASELECTILSagas to and finally complete independence in 1944. Shortly closely connected with Icelanders’ newly-developed how the fertility god Freyr steals his bride from her and often under the influence of new films, while in the intense characterization. The same can be said for provocative in her books. She has written a personal humor, and this celebrated stylist manages to combine after Iceland’s sovereignty was recognized, Þórbergur patriotic con-sciousness; the exotic tribe, the giants, is based on 1980’s his focus turned to Iceland, another storyteller, Vigdís Grímsdóttir account of Halldór Laxness, sincerity and irony in unique Þórðarson (1888 – 1974) published a novel that was as Icelandic sagas represented the During Iceland’s violence, coercion and suffering, as the setting for the dramatic novel In recent (1953 –), who writes both aesthetically who was her grandfather. Like In the same way that ways. In Heaven and Hell (2007), far removed from an Icelandic saga as could possibly be. origin of this heritage and were seen from the perspective of the Grámosinn glóir (Justice Undone, and thematically radical novels about so many of the younger writers, which takes place a hundred Novels It was characterized by a new “subjectivity”; modernity accorded the status of sacred struggle for independ­ maiden. 1986), which earned Thor the years Reykjavik’s sexuality and death. Ever since the Auður is cosmopolitan in the writers of the years ago, Jón Kalman tells of IN ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICELhad come to stay. Þórbergur Þórðarson’s novel was texts. Laxness and his friends Nordic Council Literature Prize seventies, women have played a outlook and has written about the struggle of the Icelandic By Dagný Kristjánsdóttir Bréf til Láru (Letter to Lára, 1924), a hybrid text that were very interested in reclaiming ence in the 19th In 1940 the British occupied (1988). In recent years Thor criminal underworld strong role in Icelandic literature and immigrants in Iceland, cultural medieval Icelandic sagas people with the harsh forces professor of modern Icelandic Literature combined letters, essays, short stories, fantasy, and medieval Icelandic literature from century, its politicians Iceland due to the great strategic Vilhjálmsson became ever more has been mapped by changed its form. clashes and ”cultural fault” told of the origins of of nature, a struggle that is at the University of Iceland humor. In place of the objective style of the Icelandic the clutches of the nationalists and importance of its location, and in interested in medieval Icelandic (dislocation). She describes the existential in every sense, since sagas, this novel displayed a subjective, unruly self- published several of the sagas with realized the possi­ 1941 the Americans took over. The literature, in particular Sturlunga a growing number of Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (1950 –) dark sides of globalization in society in Iceland and it involves giving life meaning SEL LECTIONOFNEWICELANDI expression that put Icelandic readers ill at ease. modern spelling for the general occupation had a huge financial, saga, and he used its content in has written in all of the literary her novel Vetrarsól (Winter Sun, through one’s actions. Beauty bilities of using the writers of crime novels, the voyage from the old public, underlining the fact that the social, and cultural impact on novels on the cloven nature of man genres, and few Icelandic books 2008). In Yosoy (2005), Guðrún and basic values are also the Around the same time, another very young Icelandic sagas were a living literature. country’s medieval the country. Signs of this can be and his struggles with himself. chief among them have attracted as much attention Eva Mínervudóttir (1976 –) also homeland to the new, subject of the art historian Auður writer, Halldór Laxness (1902 – 1998), wrote a letter seen clearly in the literature of or touched so many emotionally as takes a look at the strange and Ava Ólafsdóttir (1958 –) in her here to begin when describing Icelandic to a friend of his in which he declared that he knew This worked in an interesting way, literature for political the post-war years, which often Einar Kárason (1955 –) has also Arnaldur Indriðason. her novel Tímaþjófurinn (The Thief of terrifying aspects of the global contemporary Icelandic unpretentious novel Afleggjarinn CTNEWICELANDICWORTliterature? Should the story start in the of no type of writing more boring or obsolete as the since the existential sympathies expresses either nostalgia for the turned to medieval Icelandic , 1986), which tells in a stylistic, consumer society. She tells of ( , 2007), which purposes. Time authors bring both The Greenhouse Wyear 1000 when, according to the Icelandic works of Snorri Sturluson and other medieval writers; of the Icelandic sagas and their old farming society or a modernist literature and paid homage to the saga heritage humorous way of the ”grand passion” of an upper-class an Icelandic ”freak show” in goes back to a time before scholar Sigurður Nordal, the Völuspá – one of the most the Icelandic sagas were primitive concoctions of no objective, concise narrative method consciousness of loss, separation, in his own way, after having won the hearts and spinster. The book is a philosophical, cutting analysis the theater Yosoy, where both history and the literary consumerism and globalization beautiful and dramatic poems in Old Norse literature – relevance to the modern world. Laxness believed he fell in well with literary trends of the post-war years; the and both personal and social depression. Modernism minds of readers with his trilogy on the Quonset-hut of the obsessive search for happiness. This is also external and internal pain is put heritage into the modern and starts at the beginning, with ONOFNEWICELANDICWORwas composed in Iceland? Whatever the case may be, had urgent business with his contemporaries, as can be sagas’ style was not dissimilar to that of Hemingway, appeared as an artistic movement in Iceland in the neighborhoods of Reykjavik in the 1960’s. He has also perhaps the central idea behind a short, unpretentious on display. Emotional frigidity the love and thus the trust that it is certainly not possible to ignore medieval Icelandic seen in his novel Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír (The Great among other modern authors. In 1952 Halldór Laxness 1960’s, first in painting, then in poetry and finally in tapped into Sturlunga saga with the intention of bringing but brilliant novel by Sjón (1962 –), in which we follow and loneliness characterize the world and write novels arise between a small child and literature, which has not only played a major role in Weaver from Kashmir, 1927), which describes a young then published his own Icelandic saga, the novel prose literature, and the gap between high and low the past into the future. In the novels Óvinafagnaður a fox hunter, except that both the hunter and the fox modern sex industry and both its father. This trust or “empathy” the history of the nation but is also Iceland’s chief man’s passionate search for himself, a search that Gerpla (The Happy Warriors, 1952), which tells of two culture widened. (Gathering of Foes, 2001) and Ofsi (Fury, 2008) he undergo metamorphosis and their struggle in the white are dealt with by Steinar Bragi about sagas. is perhaps the bud and the contribution to world culture. takes him across Europe and ends with him rejecting friends, the hero and the poet, who dream of becoming focuses on the conflicts between Icelandic chieftains snow is by nature unwinnable, by either of them. This (1975 –) in his powerful novel origin of all love and Auður Ava FICELANDICWORKSINENGLI the confused and crazy world, becoming a Catholic and soldiers and courtiers to St. Ólafur, the king of Norway The writers who upheld modernism in prose were in the 13th century. The roots of these conflicts lie novel, Skugga-Baldur (The Blue Fox, 2003), earned Konur (Women, 2008), which was both praised and Ólafsdóttir’s novel contains religious allusions to the Saga Noregs konunga (The History of the Kings of entering a monastery. Halldór Laxness wrote the book (995 – 1030). One of the two friends becomes a Svava Jakobsdóttir (1930 – 2004), Thor Vilhjálmsson in the ”honor” of the leading figures and in the name its author the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2005. debated in Iceland for its cruelty and beauty. rose. Norway) was written in Iceland. The Icelandic sagas were for the most part in Taormina in Sicily. The Great Weaver mercenary in England and finds himself face-to-face (1925 – 2011), and Guðbergur Bergsson (1932 –). Svava of this ”honor”, envy, rivalry, and hatred grow and Sjón first made his mark as a poet; he was one of the written in the 13th and 14th centuries and are unique from Kashmir was supposed to be Laxness’s ode to the with the horrors of murder and the plundering of the Jakobsdóttir was a leading figure in the second wave of come to a climax in revolting mass murder. Einar Már main songwriters for the rock band Sugarcubes and is Cruelty is also on the agenda of a complex and Just as medieval poets and scholars traveled from for many different reasons. They are not structured like Catholic Church, but with this book he in fact wrote Vikings; the other sacrifices everything he holds dear feminism in Iceland, a journalist, member of parliament, Guðmundsson (1954-) also writes about venomous a colleague and friend of Björk Guðmundsdóttir. The compelling work by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (1978-): Illska Iceland to the mainland and made pilgrimages to Rome WD DDWORKSINENWGLISLONThe Icelandic Literature Center is a government-funded chronicles or local legends; instead they are stylistically himself off from the Church. The next that Icelanders to deliver his poem to the king and express his fealty and an author. She was a prolific producer of short conflicts, but focuses on the present day inHvíta bókin same goes for Bragi Ólafsson (1962 –), who was the (Evil, 2012), which won the Icelandic Literary Prize the or sailed to Trondheim or Paris to study, Icelandic foundation which contributes to the promotion and translation more akin to modern novels and their stories are told heard from him was after he had to him. By the time the poet finally stories, plays, and novels, utilizing both (The White Book, 2009), a work on bass player for the Sugarcubes before leaving music and same year. The novel’s narrative is clipped into short contemporary authors have made the world their with great artistry. No one knows who wrote these books. travelled to Los Angeles and become meets his king he has become richer irony and grotesque humor in innovative Iceland’s financial collapse. Many have turning to writing. Bragi Ólafsson’s distinctive feature is scenes, as in a film, allowing it to move rapidly between subject. In the same way that the writers of the medieval of Icelandic literature abroad. Foreign publishers of Icelandic The sagas tell of the settlement of Iceland and the a communist; now he busied himself for the experience and neither the ways. Guðbergur Bergsson followed In 1955 Laxness compared the modern fiscal situation his subtle, delicate irony that he applies systematically characters, time periods, and events. The story focuses Icelandic sagas told of the origins of society in Iceland books can apply to the Center for translation subsidies. Authors, It is certainly division of the land between families, the establishment with preaching to his countrymen about leader nor the praise poem matter close on her heels and acheived to the power struggles and greed of the in his novels to shed light on ordinary people in absurd on three young people in contemporary Reykjavík, and the voyage from the old homeland to the new, WDDDORKSINENGILISHSELECTIONpublishers and organizers of literary events can apply for support of law and the structuring of society, and conflicts based received the Nobel Prize materialism and scientific socialism. not possible any longer. The novel is in part a success with his novel Tómas Jónsson Sturlung Age. Einar Már Guðmundsson circumstances. Yet another master of the compact and the history of one of them, Agnes, in the village contemporary Icelandic authors bring both history and for Icelandic authors travelling abroad to promote their work. on personal interests or honor. These conflicts often Þórbergur Þórðarson and Halldór reckoning with and criticism of the metsölubók (Tómas Jónsson Bestseller, for infusing medieval won the Nordic Council Literature Prize form and the unstated is Gyrðir Elíasson (1961 –), who of Jurbarkas in Lithuania, where her ancestors were the literary heritage into the modern world and write The Icelandic Literature Center also subsidizes the publications developed into complicated patterns of violence and Laxness dominated the landscape of to ignore medieval dictators Hitler and Stalin and the 1966) which shocked Icelandic readers in 1995 for Englar alheimsins (Angels received the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2011 murdered during the Holocaust. It is ironic that Agnes, novels about sagas. of works written in Icelandic as well as translations into Icelandic. retribution, culminating historically in a full-blown civil Icelandic literature for a major part of Icelandic literature, soldiers and poets who followed them in innumerable ways, lashing out as it Icelandic literature of the Universe, 1993), a powerful, for his short-story collection Milli trjánna (Between the the Jew, should fall for the neo-Nazi whom she meets WINELISHASELECTIONOFwar in the 13th century, which led to Iceland’s coming the 20th century, and both had strong blindly. It is also Laxness’s reckoning does at Icelandic society of the post- with new life and tragicomic novel about a young, Trees, 2009). Gyrðir is both a poet and novelist, known while conducting her research. One of the tasks of this Translated by The Icelandic Literature Center under the control of Norway and later Denmark. Iceland opinions as to what Icelandic culture which is Iceland’s chief with those who wished to put the war years for its cultural confusion, schizophrenic artist. The film director for writing strangely compelling, beautiful and peaceful book is to assemble stories of victims and executioners, Philip Roughton austurstraeti 18 4th floor | 101 reykjavík | iceland was a Danish colony for more than six centuries, but was or should be. contribution to world saga tradition into the service of a amorality, and hypocrisy. The main new roles through his Friðrik Þór Friðriksson made a splendid texts in which there is often an imminent threat, causing humanism and dehumanization, first and foremost in +354 552 8500 | www.islit.is during that entire time Icelanders continued to copy, romantic interpretation of the past character is a grumpy old man who film based on this novel. the reader to feel that all peace is temporary, that order to explore the origins of radical evil. read, and discuss the old sagas. During the Depression and WWII culture. and nationalism. In 1955 Laxness speaks and writes in various styles, inter pretations and nothing in life comes free and that if the threat does not I N ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICELHalldór Laxness produced one great received the Nobel Prize for infusing grumbles and babbles and criticizes innovations. Icelandic films have flourished over the come from the outside, it comes from within. Reykjavik’s criminal underworld has been mapped During Iceland’s struggle for independence in the 19th literary work after another; he wrote medieval Icelandic literature with everything that appears in his own past twenty years, often deriving their by a growing number of writers of crime novels, chief century, its politicians realized the possibilities of using about Salka Valka, a female fish worker in a seaside new life and new roles through his interpretations imaginative world. Guðbergur’s (post) subjects from intriguing contemporary Hallgrímur Helgason (1959 –) is both a writer and an among them Arnaldur Indriðason (1961 –). Arnaldur was Further information on Icelandic literature: icelandic literature center the country’s medieval literature for political purposes. village; the farmer Bjartur of Summerhouses, a farm and innovations. Halldór Guðmundsson has written a modernist task was to identify the social instabilities novels. Ágúst Guðmundsson made a film version of the artist, but his literary hallmarks are eloquence and rich educated as a historian and uses his knowledge and www.islit.is Miðstöð íslenskra bókmennta In order to prove that the colony had cultural value of on an isolated heath; the popular poet Ólafur Kárason dramatic biography of Halldór Laxness, for which he in the life of the newly independent postcolonial nation magical realist novel Mávahlátur (The Seagull’s Laughter, imagery. His books spin together influences from the understanding to unveil crimes that often have their www.literature.is SEL ICUIONOFNIHICELANDIwhich it could be proud, these politicians and others and the female laborer Ugla, who travels from the north received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2005. that did not know what it was. Thor Vilhjálmsson was 1995) by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir (1949 –), which media and mass culture combined with world literature, roots in the pasts of individuals and families. The same www.cityofliterature.is CTIO FIINIUEWICELIANDICW pointed to the Icelandic sagas to show that during to Reykjavik and witnesses the chaos and cultural Gerður Kristný (1970-) gave readers another dramatic, one of the modernists who changed the Icelandic enchanted Icelandic readers with its narrative artistry, social criticism, and humor. His award-winning novel, goes for Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (1963 –), who is trained Iceland’s early days of independence its men had been inequalities of the city in the wake of the war. By this feminist reckoning with the violent rhetoric of the cultural life in 1960’s, and in his book Fljótt fljótt sagði powerful characterization, and attention to women’s Höfundur Íslands (The Author of Iceland, 2001), is about as an engineer and is particularly adept at building up WINELISHASELECTIONOF time Laxness had completely changed his views on his Icelandic literary heritage in her poetic work Blóðhófnir fuglinn (Quick Quick, Said the Bird, 1968) he reveals rights, as did her books about the female artist Karítas Halldór Laxness. Hallgrímur, like Laxness, has been an suspense in her novels. country’s medieval literature. Iceland’s literary heritage (Bloodhoof, 2010), which was awarded the Icelandic a new and splintered worldview that nevertheless has (2004 and 2007), which also narrate the history of art active voice in the social dialogue in Iceland, utilizing had been used to strengthen national pride during the Literary Prize in 2010. In an intense, powerful narrative its foundation in the old myths, folktales, and ancient in the twentieth century in an intriguing manner. Kristín all means of communication, from books to Facebook. The novels of Jón Kalman Stefánsson (1963 –) look to country’s struggle for independence and thus became poem, Gerður reveals the way in which the myth of saga motifs. Thor’s novels were cosmopolitan, restless, Marja manages to combine a strong focus on plot with Auður Jónsdóttir (1973 –) is also political, radical, and the vanished rural community with both warmth and WORRKSINENGLISHASELECTIL closely connected with Icelanders’ newly-developed how the fertility god Freyr steals his bride from her and often under the influence of new films, while in the intense characterization. The same can be said for provocative in her books. She has written a personal humor, and this celebrated stylist manages to combine patriotic con-sciousness; the exotic tribe, the giants, is based on 1980’s his focus turned to Iceland, another storyteller, Vigdís Grímsdóttir account of Halldór Laxness, sincerity and irony in unique Icelandic sagas represented the During Iceland’s violence, coercion and suffering, as the setting for the dramatic novel In recent (1953 –), who writes both aesthetically who was her grandfather. Like In the same way that ways. In Heaven and Hell (2007), origin of this heritage and were seen from the perspective of the Grámosinn glóir (Justice Undone, and thematically radical novels about so many of the younger writers, which takes place a hundred accorded the status of sacred struggle for independ­ maiden. 1986), which earned Thor the years Reykjavik’s sexuality and death. Ever since the Auður is cosmopolitan in the writers of the years ago, Jón Kalman tells of IN ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICEL texts. Laxness and his friends Nordic Council Literature Prize seventies, women have played a outlook and has written about the struggle of the Icelandic were very interested in reclaiming ence in the 19th In 1940 the British occupied (1988). In recent years Thor criminal underworld strong role in Icelandic literature and immigrants in Iceland, cultural medieval Icelandic sagas people with the harsh forces medieval Icelandic literature from century, its politicians Iceland due to the great strategic Vilhjálmsson became ever more has been mapped by changed its form. clashes and ”cultural fault” told of the origins of of nature, a struggle that is the clutches of the nationalists and importance of its location, and in interested in medieval Icelandic (dislocation). She describes the existential in every sense, since published several of the sagas with realized the possi­ 1941 the Americans took over. The literature, in particular Sturlunga a growing number of Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (1950 –) dark sides of globalization in society in Iceland and it involves giving life meaning SEL LECTIONOFNEWICELANDI modern spelling for the general occupation had a huge financial, saga, and he used its content in has written in all of the literary her novel Vetrarsól (Winter Sun, through one’s actions. Beauty bilities of using the writers of crime novels, the voyage from the old public, underlining the fact that the social, and cultural impact on novels on the cloven nature of man genres, and few Icelandic books 2008). In Yosoy (2005), Guðrún and basic values are also the sagas were a living literature. country’s medieval the country. Signs of this can be and his struggles with himself. chief among them have attracted as much attention Eva Mínervudóttir (1976 –) also homeland to the new, subject of the art historian Auður seen clearly in the literature of or touched so many emotionally as takes a look at the strange and Ava Ólafsdóttir (1958 –) in her This worked in an interesting way, literature for political the post-war years, which often Einar Kárason (1955 –) has also Arnaldur Indriðason. her novel Tímaþjófurinn (The Thief of terrifying aspects of the global contemporary Icelandic unpretentious novel Afleggjarinn CTNEWICELANDICWORT since the existential sympathies expresses either nostalgia for the turned to medieval Icelandic , 1986), which tells in a stylistic, consumer society. She tells of ( , 2007), which purposes. Time authors bring both The Greenhouse of the Icelandic sagas and their old farming society or a modernist literature and paid homage to the saga heritage humorous way of the ”grand passion” of an upper-class an Icelandic ”freak show” in goes back to a time before objective, concise narrative method consciousness of loss, separation, in his own way, after having won the hearts and spinster. The book is a philosophical, cutting analysis the theater Yosoy, where both history and the literary consumerism and globalization fell in well with literary trends of the post-war years; the and both personal and social depression. Modernism minds of readers with his trilogy on the Quonset-hut of the obsessive search for happiness. This is also external and internal pain is put heritage into the modern and starts at the beginning, with ONOFNEWICELANDICWOR sagas’ style was not dissimilar to that of Hemingway, appeared as an artistic movement in Iceland in the neighborhoods of Reykjavik in the 1960’s. He has also perhaps the central idea behind a short, unpretentious on display. Emotional frigidity the love and thus the trust that among other modern authors. In 1952 Halldór Laxness 1960’s, first in painting, then in poetry and finally in tapped into Sturlunga saga with the intention of bringing but brilliant novel by Sjón (1962 –), in which we follow and loneliness characterize the world and write novels arise between a small child and then published his own Icelandic saga, the novel prose literature, and the gap between high and low the past into the future. In the novels Óvinafagnaður a fox hunter, except that both the hunter and the fox modern sex industry and both its father. This trust or “empathy” Gerpla (The Happy Warriors, 1952), which tells of two culture widened. (Gathering of Foes, 2001) and Ofsi (Fury, 2008) he undergo metamorphosis and their struggle in the white are dealt with by Steinar Bragi about sagas. is perhaps the bud and the friends, the hero and the poet, who dream of becoming focuses on the conflicts between Icelandic chieftains snow is by nature unwinnable, by either of them. This (1975 –) in his powerful novel origin of all love and Auður Ava FICELANDICWORKSINENGLI soldiers and courtiers to St. Ólafur, the king of Norway The writers who upheld modernism in prose were in the 13th century. The roots of these conflicts lie novel, Skugga-Baldur (The Blue Fox, 2003), earned Konur (Women, 2008), which was both praised and Ólafsdóttir’s novel contains religious allusions to the (995 – 1030). One of the two friends becomes a Svava Jakobsdóttir (1930 – 2004), Thor Vilhjálmsson in the ”honor” of the leading figures and in the name its author the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2005. debated in Iceland for its cruelty and beauty. rose. mercenary in England and finds himself face-to-face (1925 – 2011), and Guðbergur Bergsson (1932 –). Svava of this ”honor”, envy, rivalry, and hatred grow and Sjón first made his mark as a poet; he was one of the with the horrors of murder and the plundering of the Jakobsdóttir was a leading figure in the second wave of come to a climax in revolting mass murder. Einar Már main songwriters for the rock band Sugarcubes and is Cruelty is also on the agenda of a complex and Just as medieval poets and scholars traveled from Vikings; the other sacrifices everything he holds dear feminism in Iceland, a journalist, member of parliament, Guðmundsson (1954-) also writes about venomous a colleague and friend of Björk Guðmundsdóttir. The compelling work by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (1978-): Illska Iceland to the mainland and made pilgrimages to Rome WD DDWORKSINENWGLISLONThe Icelandic Literature Center is a government-funded to deliver his poem to the king and express his fealty and an author. She was a prolific producer of short conflicts, but focuses on the present day in Hvíta bókin same goes for Bragi Ólafsson (1962 –), who was the (Evil, 2012), which won the Icelandic Literary Prize the or sailed to Trondheim or Paris to study, Icelandic foundation which contributes to the promotion and translation to him. By the time the poet finally stories, plays, and novels, utilizing both (The White Book, 2009), a work on bass player for the Sugarcubes before leaving music and same year. The novel’s narrative is clipped into short contemporary authors have made the world their meets his king he has become richer irony and grotesque humor in innovative Iceland’s financial collapse. Many have turning to writing. Bragi Ólafsson’s distinctive feature is scenes, as in a film, allowing it to move rapidly between subject. In the same way that the writers of the medieval of Icelandic literature abroad. Foreign publishers of Icelandic for the experience and neither the ways. Guðbergur Bergsson followed In 1955 Laxness compared the modern fiscal situation his subtle, delicate irony that he applies systematically characters, time periods, and events. The story focuses Icelandic sagas told of the origins of society in Iceland books can apply to the Center for translation subsidies. Authors, leader nor the praise poem matter close on her heels and acheived to the power struggles and greed of the in his novels to shed light on ordinary people in absurd on three young people in contemporary Reykjavík, and the voyage from the old homeland to the new, WDDDORKSINENGILISHSELECTIONpublishers and organizers of literary events can apply for support received the Nobel Prize any longer. The novel is in part a success with his novel Tómas Jónsson Sturlung Age. Einar Már Guðmundsson circumstances. Yet another master of the compact and the history of one of them, Agnes, in the village contemporary Icelandic authors bring both history and for Icelandic authors travelling abroad to promote their work. reckoning with and criticism of the metsölubók (Tómas Jónsson Bestseller, for infusing medieval won the Nordic Council Literature Prize form and the unstated is Gyrðir Elíasson (1961 –), who of Jurbarkas in Lithuania, where her ancestors were the literary heritage into the modern world and write The Icelandic Literature Center also subsidizes the publications dictators Hitler and Stalin and the 1966) which shocked Icelandic readers in 1995 for Englar alheimsins (Angels received the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2011 murdered during the Holocaust. It is ironic that Agnes, novels about sagas. of works written in Icelandic as well as translations into Icelandic. soldiers and poets who followed them in innumerable ways, lashing out as it Icelandic literature of the Universe, 1993), a powerful, for his short-story collection Milli trjánna (Between the the Jew, should fall for the neo-Nazi whom she meets WINELISHASELECTIONOF blindly. It is also Laxness’s reckoning does at Icelandic society of the post- with new life and tragicomic novel about a young, Trees, 2009). Gyrðir is both a poet and novelist, known while conducting her research. One of the tasks of this Translated by The Icelandic Literature Center with those who wished to put the war years for its cultural confusion, schizophrenic artist. The film director for writing strangely compelling, beautiful and peaceful book is to assemble stories of victims and executioners, Philip Roughton austurstraeti 18 4th floor | 101 reykjavík | iceland saga tradition into the service of a amorality, and hypocrisy. The main new roles through his Friðrik Þór Friðriksson made a splendid texts in which there is often an imminent threat, causing humanism and dehumanization, first and foremost in +354 552 8500 | www.islit.is romantic interpretation of the past character is a grumpy old man who film based on this novel. the reader to feel that all peace is temporary, that order to explore the origins of radical evil. culture. and nationalism. In 1955 Laxness speaks and writes in various styles, inter pretations and nothing in life comes free and that if the threat does not I N ENGLISHSELECTIONOFNICEL received the Nobel Prize for infusing grumbles and babbles and criticizes innovations. Icelandic films have flourished over the come from the outside, it comes from within. Reykjavik’s criminal underworld has been mapped medieval Icelandic literature with everything that appears in his own past twenty years, often deriving their by a growing number of writers of crime novels, chief new life and new roles through his interpretations imaginative world. Guðbergur’s (post) subjects from intriguing contemporary Hallgrímur Helgason (1959 –) is both a writer and an among them Arnaldur Indriðason (1961 –). Arnaldur was Further information on Icelandic literature: icelandic literature center and innovations. Halldór Guðmundsson has written a modernist task was to identify the social instabilities novels. Ágúst Guðmundsson made a film version of the artist, but his literary hallmarks are eloquence and rich educated as a historian and uses his knowledge and www.islit.is Miðstöð íslenskra bókmennta dramatic biography of Halldór Laxness, for which he in the life of the newly independent postcolonial nation magical realist novel Mávahlátur (The Seagull’s Laughter, imagery. His books spin together influences from the understanding to unveil crimes that often have their www.literature.is SEL ICUIONOFNIHICELANDI received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2005. that did not know what it was. Thor Vilhjálmsson was 1995) by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir (1949 –), which media and mass culture combined with world literature, roots in the pasts of individuals and families. The same www.cityofliterature.is