West Camel presents the online launch of The Book of Reykjavik, A City in Short Fiction.
Recorded on the 1st September 2021.
Part of Comma’s popular ‘Reading the City’ series, this beautiful collection includes ten stories, translated into English for the first time capturing the essence of contemporary Iceland and its writing.
Hear West Camel in conversation with two of the brilliant authors, discussing inspirations and the creative ideas behind this fascinating anthology.
Reykjavik, on the coast of Iceland, is known for its striking architecture and Viking heritage which attracts a constant stream of visitors all year round to this diminutive capital city, home to a third of Iceland’s population.
Icelanders hold their writers and poets in the same regard as the heroes of their mythic past and have a deep-rooted love of literature. It is said every Icelander has a story up their sleeve: in this anthology we have gathered ten short stories by ten Icelandic authors which capture this vibrant, modern city that is brimming with creative energy, and unearth the cosmopolitan metropolis hiding in the guise of a small town.
Published with the support of the Icelandic Literature Center.
West Camel
Born and bred in South London – and not the Somerset village with which he shares a name – West Camel worked as an editor in higher education and business before turning his attention to the arts and publishing.
He has worked as a book and art journalist, and was editor at Dalky Archives Press, where he edited the Best European Fiction 2015 anthology, before moving to new press Orenda Books just after its launch.
He currently combines his work as editorial director at Orenda with ediditing The Riveter Magazine and # RivetingReviews for the European Literature Network. He has also written several short scripts, which have been produced in London’s fringe theatres, and was longlisted for the Old Vic’s 12 playwrights project.
His debut novel, Attend was published in 2018. and was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and longlisted for the Waverton Good Reads Award. His second novel, Fall will be published in December 2021.
Follow west on Twitter @west_camel and on his website www.westcamel.net.
About the authors speaking on this podcast:
Fríða Ísberg (b. 1992) is “one of the most remarkable writers of a new generation”, according to the judging panel of the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Her short story collection, Itch, was nominated for the prize in 2020, as well as The Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize and won The Icelandic Booksellers’ Prize. Her work has been translated into five languages and has appeared in various publications abroad as well as at home. She occasionally writes reviews for The Times Literary Supplement. Ísberg is also a member of the poetry collective Impostor Poets and has published three books of poetry with the collective.
Björn Halldórsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1983. He studied English and American Literature at the University of East-Anglia in Norwich and has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. His short stories have been published by literary journals in Iceland and the UK and have also appeared in translation in English, German, Italian and Hebrew. His first book, a short story collection titled Smáglæpir (Misdemeanours), was published in 2017, and his second book, Stol (Route 1), a novel, was published in early 2021. He lives in Reykjavík with his wife.
The Book of Reykjavik: A City in Short Fiction is available to buy from Stanfords.co.uk.