A Room for Authors | Two New Books

Authors Haukur Arnþórsson and Hermann Stefánsson invite you to an literary event at the Reykjavík City Library, Grófin, where they will read from and discuss their new novels. Haukur Arnþórsson recently published his debut novel, Christmas or Not Christmas, while Hermann Stefánsson has just released an new novel title, Lambing.
About Christmas or Not Christmas by Haukur Arnþórsson:
Set between Christmas Eve and St. Stephen’s Day in Seyðisfjörður in 1966, the novel tells the story of a group of young people. Old Iceland encounters new ideas, new music, and new technology. Ships arrive and depart, untangling difficult knots along the way.
The principal narrator is a country boy who works as a messenger at the town’s telephone exchange. Little escapes the notice of the staff there. The exchange operator, who is also the town’s singer, finds herself at a turning point and must make decisions that cannot wait. At Hotel Snæfell, a bewildered intellectual from Reykjavík attempts to drink away unresolved contradictions in his own life and in Icelandic food production. The machine workshop’s ship repairs play a role in the story, the chair of the women’s association takes on new challenges with admirable determination, while a senior civil servant continues in familiar fashion.
Review of Christmas or Not Christmas:
“I have now finished reading Haukur Arnþórsson’s novel Christmas or Not Christmas. It is a good book. A very good one, I would say. It kept us engaged and interested through every chapter because we genuinely cared about the people who appeared in it. I already knew Haukur was a fine writer, capable of sharp commentary and clear, concise writing in his professional field. But he also proves himself to be a remarkable storyteller, with a powerful imagination.” (Þórarinn Hjartarson)
About Lambing:
Lambing is a work of fiction by Hermann Stefánsson, whose narrator responds to the following advertisement on Bland.is:
“Looking for a hardworking hand to help with lambing this spring ...”
I wrote to inquire. The person who replied was Elínóra. She gave me her phone number, and we discussed wages and conditions on the farm over the phone. I got the job.
So I set off on my way.
Of course, the advertisement neglected to mention that the stay would come to resemble sitting beneath a sword suspended by a single horsehair, hanging over people’s heads and liable to fall at any moment, bringing sudden death ...
I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
I did not know that the farm more closely resembled an ancient Greek tragedy than an ordinary Icelandic sheep farm.
Reviews of Lambing:
“The best book I have read this year.” – Uggi Jónsson
“Few things are more Icelandic than lambing season, and Hermann draws out its mythic yet simultaneously chilling dimensions. The quotation on the book’s cover is far from the usual booksellers’ hype, because when I read it for the third time, I genuinely felt that this could well be the book of the year, perhaps even more than that.” – Ármann Jakobsson
“Hermann is the good shepherd who, like all great writers, finds the stories lurking within society, brings them into the light and into the hands of readers, so that they may carry away the sins of the world.” – Guðmundur Andri Thorsson
Everyone is warmly welcome.
Space for Authors
Writers and poets who are publishing a book and would like to present a new and/or previous work are welcome to reserve space at Reykjavík City Library free of charge. Authors are free to use the space as they see fit, whether for readings (including in collaboration with other authors), book launches, or presentations.
For further information, please contact:
Þorgerður Agla Magnúsdóttir
Project Manager | Literature and Reading Promotion
thorgerdur.agla.magnusdottir@reykjavik.is