Olaf Olafsson's Blog, page 3
January 12, 2012
A Hidden Past – Excerpt from Walking Into the Night
Walking Into the Night is a powerful novel about a man's hidden past and about the immutability of love and loss. For twenty years Christian Benediktsson has led a quiet life as the butler to William Randolph Hearst, the greatest newspaper magnate in the world. His days are filled with the rituals of Hearst's life ...
January 3, 2012
Being An Icelandic Expatriate
Q: What has your experience been as an expatriate and how has this experience influenced your writing? A: No matter how far you travel, you will always find that a piece of your home turf has crept into your luggage. You take your origins with you wherever you go. My roots are in Iceland, where ...
December 22, 2011
From Absolution to Restoration
Q: Absolution is the novel that put you on the map in American publishing. How did you come to write it? A: I was still in my late twenties when I wrote Absolution. While it's difficult to go back to exactly what was in my head, I do remember how it felt when I wrote ...
December 13, 2011
An Excerpt From ABSOLUTION
Absolution takes readers inside the mind of Peter Peterson, a man haunted by the crime he planned half a century earlier. The story spans a boyhood in Iceland to the Nazi occupation of Denmark to a cunning business career in modern-day Manhattan. Here is an excerpt from this novel: "On this occasion we remember the ...
December 8, 2011
Valentines – A Collection of Short Stories
Q: You have mainly written novels. How was writing Valentines, your collection of short stories, a different experience? A: Actually, my first book was also a collection of short stories. It was titled Nine Keys and published in Iceland (and only in Icelandic) when I was very young, twenty-three or so. Having now written novels ...
December 1, 2011
Walking Into San Simeon Castle
Q: Walking into the Night takes us inside San Simeon castle, the famously extravagant home of William Randolph Hearst. How did you decide on that setting, and how did you go about depicting it? A: A close friend of mine in New York is an accomplished doctor. He was born in Iceland but he's lived ...
November 23, 2011
Creating Surprising Characters
I have received some interesting questions from readers and would like to try to answer one or two each week. If you have questions about my books or my approach to writing, feel free to post them in the comments section at the bottom of this page. Q: Reading Valentines and The Journey Home, I find ...
October 25, 2011
Introduction
Sometimes the world of social media can seem like a huge fishbowl, helping to make your life visible from every angle. Some enjoy that kind of exposure, others shy away from it. I'm in the latter category, and the ambit of this forum, on the whole, will reflect my belief that my books are the ...
October 24, 2011
Facebook Page Announcement
Where and how should the traditional home of the novelist meet the glittering stage of social media? Visit Olaf's new Facebook page and decide for yourself. As the weeks roll by, you'll be able to check for news, excerpts, interviews, and historical trivia from the books. With the upcoming release of Olaf's new novel Restoration, ...
October 17, 2011
Release Announcement
If you have high hopes for Restoration—Olaf Olafsson's latest book—let us know why. Meanwhile, here are a few updates. Five years on from Olaf's acclaimed story collection Valentines, Ecco Press is finally about to release the new novel, and it may prove his most celebrated yet—a cinematic whirl of love, war, art, and history. Timeless ...
