Friday 29 May 2009

Sagenhaftes Island

In 2011 Iceland will be the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and in anticipation of the event Iceland's Ministry of Education, Science and Culture has opened a website with news about recently-published Icelandic books, together with presentations and background information.

The website appears in three languages: the Icelandic version possibly has the aptest title of the three − Sögueyjan Ísland (literally "Iceland, the Saga Island", though "Sögueyjan" could also be translated as "The Island of Fables", or "The Island of History"), while the German and English titles seem to owe more to the stylistic conventions of the tourist brochure: Sagenhaftes Island, and Fabulous Iceland.

The website offers an Author of the Month (currently Yrsa Sigurðardóttir), a Book of the Month (Steinar Bragi's Konur), and the slightly oddly-named "Podcast of the Month" − it's really an online video of a subtitled interview with Icelandic author Einar Kárason.

There is also news about an international translators' conference that was held in Reykjavík in April, and it's possible to subscribe to a newsletter giving information about further events and publications.

1 comment:

Eric Dickens said...

The is a welcome move on the part of the Frankfurt Book Fair people. There will be the inevitable sagas, Laxness plus crime novels, but I do hope that people such as Sjón and Icelandic poets such as Kristný and other contemporary poets get a look in.