A new book on the History of Icelandic Literature

In March 2024, a new book by Halldór Guðmundsson, on the history of Iceland and Icelandic literature, written in German, will be published by btb Verlag / Random House in Germany. It is called “Im Schatten des Vulkans – eine literarische Reise ins Herz Islands” and, as it says in the presentation of the publisher, “takes the reader on a fascinating journey of discovery through this world of literature, which has always reflected the living conditions on that distant, myth-enshrouded island. Starting with the ancient Edda poems and sagas that form the foundation of national identity, the book stretches all the way to the vibrant present.”

The presentation by btb Verlag in German.

A presentation of the book on German television, ZDF heute journal

The Islander republished

The Islander, the English edition of Halldór Guðmundsson’s biography of Halldór Laxness, translated by Philip Roughton, is being republished as a paperback in September 2023. From the presentation by MacLehose Press:

“An enthralling, heartening study of a man of unflagging interest in life” Independent

A strong and memorable portrayal of a man who fought heroically to write for the world, but in one of its rarest languages. Halldór Laxness won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1955. During his life, which spanned nearly the entire century, he not only wrote sixty books, but also became an active participant in Europe’s idealistic debates and struggles.

The presentation by MacLehose Press

Here is a review of this republication by Michael Hofmann in the London Review of Books

A new translation of Laxness’s Salka Valka pubished in the US

The first of the great social novels by Halldór Laxness, Salka Valka, originally published in Iceland in the early thirties, was republished in the US , in a new translation by Philip Roughton, by Archipelago books in 2022. It has had wonderful reviews and many of them refer to the English edition of Guðmundsson’s Laxness biography,The Islander. See e.g.

The New Yorker by Salvatore Scibona about the rediscovery of Laxness

The New York Review of Books by Ruth Margalit

The Presentation by Archipelago books

ITB Award for Land of Stories

With its annual ITB Book Awards, ITB Berlin recognizes publications from Germany and abroad, written mainly in German, but also in German translation. In 2022 ITB Berlin is again honoring outstanding literary and journalistic achievements with the aim of drawing international attention to a wide range of important travel and tourism publications. In 2022 the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show is again collaborating with Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels.

The winners were announced on January 26th, 2022. Halldór Guðmundsson receives the award in the category literary travel books for his work Island: Insel aus Geschichten with photographs by Dagur Gunnarsson, translated by Kristof Magnusson, published by Corso / Verlagshaus Römerweg.

The Laboratory of Literature

A new radio series on Icelandic literature and the book market in the last two decades of the 20th century from Gudmundsson’s point of view as a publisher at that time, in collaboration with Þröstur Helgason and Þorgerður E. Sigurðardóttir. In ten parts, broadcast weekly from January 9th, 2022, until March 12th. Produced by The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, RUV, Radio 1, and available here.