Andri Snær Magnason's Blog, page 3

Rebecca Solnit and Andri Snær Magnason on Earth Day.

Orion Magazine and Point Reyes Books present a special Earth Day conversation featuring Rebecca Solnit and Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnason. The two will discuss Magnason’s new book, On Time and Water (translated by Lytton Smith for Open Letter Books).

“It is difficult to express to someone who has not read [On Time and Water] how wonderful and how horrifying—in a nutshell, how truly vital—this book is. Magnason has created a masterpiece, staunchly scientific and highly informative, yet utterly raw in its humanity.”—Asymptote Journal

This pre-recorded conversation will premiere here on Crowdcast  in celebration of Earth Day 2021. 

This is a free event, but we encourage you to pay what you can or purchase the book to support the bookstore and Orion Magazine. All ticket sales will be split between the organizations.

About On Time and Water

A few years ago, Andri Snaer Magnason, one of Iceland’s most beloved writers and public intellectuals, was asked by a leading climate scientist why he wasn’t writing about the greatest crisis mankind has faced. Magnason demurred: he wasn’t a specialist, he said; it wasn’t his field. But the scientist persisted: “If you cannot understand our scientific findings and present them in an emotional, psychological, poetic or mythological context,” he told him, “then no one will really understand the issue, and the world will end.”

Based on interviews and advice from leading glacial, ocean, climate, and geographical scientists, and interwoven with personal, historical, and mythological stories, Magnason’s response is a rich and compelling work of narrative nonfiction that illustrates the reality of climate change–and offers hope in the face of an uncertain future. Moving from reflections on how one writes an obituary for an iceberg to exhortation for a heightened understanding of human time and our obligations to one another, throughout history and across the globe, On Time and Water is both deeply personal and globally-minded: a travel story, a world history, and a desperate plea to live in harmony with future generations. Already a massive bestseller in Iceland, and selling in two dozen territories around the world, this is a book unlike anything that has yet been published on the current climate emergency.

About Andri Snaer Magnason and Rebecca Solnit

Andri Snær Magnason is one of Iceland’s most celebrated writers. He has won the Icelandic Literary Prize for fiction, children’s fiction, and non-fiction. In 2009, Magnason co-directed the documentary Dreamland, which was based on his book Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation (forthcoming from Open Letter). In 2010, Magnason was awarded the Kairos Prize, presented to outstanding individuals in the field of intercultural understanding. Magnason ran for president of Iceland in 2016 and came third out of nine candidates.

Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books, including A Field Guide to Getting Lost, The Faraway Nearby, A Paradise Built in Hell, River of Shadows, and Wanderlust. She is also the author of Men Explain Things to Me and many essays on feminism, activism and social change, hope, and the climate crisis. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is a regular contributor to The Guardian and other publications.

Night Walk to Welcome our Newborn Volcano – A Short Travel Story

4am Sunday morning the 21st of March we head off from Reykjavik to see the volcanic eruption that had just started close to The Blue Lagoon, about 30 minutes from Reykjavík. I got a ride with two photographers from Fréttablaðið Sigtryggur Ari and Anton Brink.

Faint red glow

We could see a faint glow behind the mountains. Some kind of a Mordor vibe in the distance. We parked the Landrover, put on our headlights and climed the hills in the darkness, like moths heading for the light.

The fog was thick so it was harder to find the way than we expected. I used my phone to navigate towards the area on the horizon that had the brightest glow.

First vision in the fog and rain. Was not sure what I was seeing.

And as we came closer. The lava glowing like a city. And rivers of liquid rock flowing and filling the little valley, once a green oasis in this rocky landscape.

Like landing on a hostile alien planet. The craters up in the fog could be seen from where the lava was flowing.

I was kind of startstruck, coming so close to flowing lava. I had seen it once before, in the 2010 eruption but this time I was much closer and I could feel the heat. Photographer Ari Magg took this photo of me.

Slowly the fog cleared and you remember you are witnessing how our earth is constantly recreating itself. We got extremely close to the lava, the heat burning, worried that the phone might melt. Wind was good, volcanic gasses can kill so low lying areas should be avoided.

We headed up to see the main crater. People seemed to be super close. The volcano is strangely seducing. The sounds are soft, come closer…

No it is not the lens. This is just shot on my iphone. We felt safe but a volcano is unpredictable. New craters can open up anywhere.

The pictures and videos above are taken by myself on my daughters iphone. This one here below is taken by Ari Magg:

And Sigtryggur Ari took this one:

On Time and Water – published in USA and Canada

On Time and Water is released in USA and Canada the 23rd of March in 2021 by Open Letter Books and Biblioasis in Canada.

“Based on interviews and advice from leading glacial, ocean, climate, and geographical scientists, and interwoven with personal, historical, and mythological stories, Magnason’s response is a rich and compelling work of narrative nonfiction that illustrates the reality of climate change—and offers hope in the face of an uncertain future. Moving from an obituary for a glacier to exhortation for a heightened understanding of human time and our obligations to one another, throughout history and across the globe. On Time and Water is both deeply personal and globally-minded: a travel story, a world history, and a desperate plea to live in harmony with future generations. Already a massive bestseller in Iceland, and selling in thirty territories around the world, this is a book unlike anything that has yet been published on the current climate emergency.”

First reviews are out one very fine is here:
www.asymptotejournal.com
“It is difficult to express to someone who has not read it how wonderful and how horrifying—in a nutshell, how truly vital—this book is. Magnason has created a masterpiece, staunchly scientific and highly informative, yet utterly raw in its humanity. (…) Read this unforgettable book to understand the enormity of the task ahead of us, and to have your mind—and heart—irrevocably changed.”

TED Talk: On Time and Water

My TED talk is live now – On Time and Water:

“Over the next 200 years, we can expect all of Iceland’s glaciers to disappear as a result of climate change — unless we act now, says writer Andri Snær Magnason. Telling the story of the Okjökull glacier in Iceland, the first glacier lost to global warming, Magnason explains why we need to start connecting to the future in a more intimate, urgent way in order to stabilize the Earth for generations to come.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.”

The talk is based on the work in my book. On Time and Water – soon available in 26 languages.

TED Countdown. 10.10.2020

I have the honour of participating in an important TED event this Saturday, with TED COUNTDOWN. Countdown is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action.

The goal: To build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 in the race to a zero-carbon world – a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone.

Every organization, company, city and nation and citizens everywhere are invited to collaborate with Countdown and take action on climate. It is a movement open to everyone – and everyone has a vital role to play.

Check out the Countdown Website, everyone is invited to follow the event. More than 50 speakers from all fields of science, art and industry. I am speaking in section five with speakers like, Chris Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Roman Krznaric, Amanda Gorman and His Holiness Pope Francis. It seems like I will be the last speaker, right after His Holiness! So the challenge of coming after big speakers is taken to the next level here.

On Time and Water available in the UK

Press release from Serpents Tail:

By Andri Snær Magnason

6 August 2020 | £16.99 | Hardback & ebook

‘The earth’s mightiest forces have forsaken geological time and now change on a human scale. Changes that previously took 100,000 years now happen in 100. Such speed is mythological; it affects all life on earth, the root of everything we think, choose, produce and believe. It affects everyone we know, everyone we love.’

Icelandic author and activist Andri Snær Magnason’s ‘Letter to the Future an extraordinary and moving eulogy for the lost Okjökull glacier, made global news and was shared by millions. Now he attempts to come to terms with the issues we all face in his new book On Time and Water. Magnason writes of the melting glaciers, the rising seas and acidity changes that haven’t been seen for 50 million years. These are changes that will affect all life on earth.

Taking a path to climate science through ancient myths about sacred cows, stories of ancestors and relatives and interviews with the Dalai Lama, Magnason allows himself to be both personal and scientific. The result is an absorbing and original mixture of travel, history, science and philosophy.

Andri Snær Magnason master storyteller and environmental activist, is one of Iceland’s most celebrated writers. He has won the Icelandic Literary Prize for fiction, children’s fiction and non-fiction and his books have been translated into more than thirty languages.

@AndriMagnason

He is available for interview and online events down-the-line from Iceland.

For more information please contact Anna-Marie Fitzgerald anna-marie@profilebooks.com.

On Time and Water – international publications are coming out.

On Time and Water is being published worldwide these days. And it has been a privilege to work with the great publishers and wonderful translators. The English version is coming out by Serpents Tail the 6th of August. The US and Canadian versions will be published in March 2021.

The theme of the book is this:

“In the next hundred years, the nature of water on Earth will undergo a fundamental change. Glaciers will melt, the sea level will rise, and its acidity will change more than it has in the past 50 million years. These changes will affect all life on Earth, everyone who we know, and everyone who we love. It is more complex than the mind can comprehend, greater than all of our past experience, bigger than language. What words can grasp an issue of this magnitude?

Andri Snær Magnason takes both a personal and a scientific approach in an attempt to capture this vast issue—weaving his way through climate science via ancient legends about sacred cows, stories of ancestors and relatives, and interviews with the Dalai Lama. The resulting narrative is at once a travel story, a world history, and a reminder to live in harmony with future generations.”

On Time and Water just came out in Germany by Suhrkamp Verlag / Insel. A nice review about Wasser und Zeit can be found here.

On Time and Water is out in Poland by Karakter publishing house. And in the end of this year by Planetopija in Croatia. They also just publshed The Story of the Blue Planet.

On Time and Water is coming out in all the nordic countries. In Norway by Aschehoug published in September 2020 and also in Denmark by Klim publishers.

The book is being published in Sweden by Norstedts and in Italy by Iperboria.

I will make an other post with the other publications when I get more information about publishing dates. The book is coming out in France, Spain It is a challenge to publish during these strange times – but I still believe – a book will find its reader and the message of connecting us to a deep and intimate future is more urgent than ever.

Apausalypse – official trailer

We have been saying for many years that we as a human race are going too fast. We are cutting too close to the Earth’s boundaries, diminishing biodiversity, and changing the climate. We expect the pH of the oceans to change more in the next eighty years than it has in the last fifty million. Glaciers and permafrost that have been intact for thousands of years are predicted to melt in the next eighty years as well. We have to slow down to avoid a total catastrophe. In my book On Time and Water, I ask this question: If we are sensible creatures and we know where we are heading, why don’t we stop? But never in my dreams would I have expected the world could be stopped so fast in such an extreme way.

When the corona virus hit Iceland the premier of my documentary film directed with Anni Ólafsdóttir, The Hero’s Journey to the Third Pole was cancelled. This was quite a disappointment but then we wondered. Why not go out and capture these times – possibly the most historic times we will live. Cameraman Andri Haraldsson joined us and we went out to ask artists and philosophers a simple question. What’s in the air? We wanted to research the deeper meaning of this great pause – the Apausalypse. We wanted to capture the empty spaces but instead of just filming the emptiness, we used the empty spaces as stages for our artists, to perform where they might never have access again like the empty runway of Keflavik Airport.

For more about this production see this multi media piece by Andri Snær Magnason and Anni Ólafsdóttir in Emergence Magazine:

Apausalypse: Dispatch from Iceland

Apausalypse is in production, hoping to finish in 2020.

Directed by Anni Ólafsdóttir and Andri Snær Magnason

Music: Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir

Editing: Sighvatur Haraldsson, Eva Lind Höskuldsdóttir, Anní Ólafsdóttir

Produced by Elsku Rut, Ursus Parvis and Ground Control Productions.

The Hero’s Journey to the Third Pole – a Bipolar Musical Documentary With Elephants – Official trailer:

New Icelandic documentary directed by Andri Snær Magnason & Anní Ólafsdóttir
Produced by Elsku Rut, Ground Control Productions & Ursus Parvus 

Part road movie, part musical, part serious inquiry into the caverns of the mind, The Hero’s Journey to the Third Pole, is at once an artful, sensitive and amusing examination of mental health, told through an unexpected story of friendship. The film follows Anna Tara Edwards, an Icelander raised in Nepal, and legendary musician Högni Egilsson, as they journey to Anna’s childhood home in the mountain jungles to explore the afflictions and superpowers that come with bipolar disorder. Delving into their respective pasts through textured archival footage and home videos, the narrative follows their present-day quest to raise awareness about the disease and come to terms with the impact it’s had on their own lives. From filmmakers Andri Snær Magnason and Anní Ólafsdóttir, The Hero’s Journey to the Third Pole is a delightful, heartfelt and intimate inquiry that expands our understanding of the human heart and mind.

This is the first feature length film of Anni Ólafsdóttir but Andri Snær Magnason previously co-directed Dreamland, based on his book Dreamland – a Self Help Manual for a Frightened Nation. Dreamland was featured in many of the major film festivals such as IDFA, Toronto HotDocs, Göteborg Film Festival, DocPoint Helsinki etc …

Editing: Eva Lind Höskuldsdóttir, Anni Ólafsdóttir and Davíð Alexander Corno

Music: Högni Egilsson

Camera: Anní Ólafsdóttir and Eiríkur Ingi Böðvarsson

Producers: Andri Snær Magnason, Hlín Jóhannesdóttir, Halldóra Þorláksdóttir and Sigurður Gísli Pálmason. The film will be released in cinemas in September 2020.

The Story of the Blue Planet chosen best children’s book in China

When your book comes out in a faraway place, behind mountains and rainbows, in a language you can not comprehend, it can be difficult to follow how it is doing, if it reached any readers or if it is available at all.

But I recently saw that The Story of the Blue Planet just won one of the best children’s book prizes in China with votes from more than 50.000 children. I found this information here: https://chinesebooksforyoungreaders.wordpress.com/2019/11/03/89-my-favourite-childrens-books-children-in-china-vote-for-their-top-30-books-of-2019/

I repost some this source here, about the prize, the jury etc…:

The  “My Favourite Children’s Books” (我最喜爱的童书) titles of 2019 have just been announced. The winning books are selected by children (the first award of its kind in China). [The awards are similar to the annual Children’s Book Awards in the UK – if you’d like to compare, the UK list starts with 50, is shortlisted to 10 – here’s the 2019 list, which has 3 winners and 7 runners-up.]

“My Favourite Children’s Books” was initiated by Shenzhen Children’s Library 深圳少年儿童图书馆 in 2014, and this year’s list was the sixth. The 2019 awards were co-organised by 39 provincial and city libraries. From January 2019, 5455 books were recommended by 129 institutions and 207 individuals. A panel of 9 experts was involved (see below). 100,000 books were purchased and distributed to 312 schools in 39 provinces and cities across China. A total of 1,309,111 votes were cast.

A total of 30 books (2019年我最喜爱的童书30强) have been selected, 10 in each category: literature, picture books, information books. It’s remarkable how many of these are translations from English and other languages, and how the awards appear to boost distribution and sales of the selected books (and sets of the winning books).

This post is based on the online account published on Wechat/Weixin by Tiantian chubanshe (Tomorrow Publishing House), on 28 Oct 2019.  I’ve added links to all the Chinese books, as listed on the Shenzhen Children’s Library website (which has additional information about the books). I’ve tried to identify the English and foreign titles of these Top 30 books, to make this list more accessible to English readers, and to provide weblinks where possible (many thanks to Minjie Chen for her help). I’ve also created a pdf (see below) showing the covers of all the books, side by side with the covers of the foreign titles.

The expert panel

LIN Wenbao 林文宝  (Taiwan) – expert in children’s readingWANG Yizhen 王宜振  – writer of children’s literature, poetZHOU Mimi 周蜜蜜 – member, Hong Kong Writers AssociationDING Xiaoqing 丁筱青 – Associate Professor, Yangzhou College of EducationGUO Hua 郭骅 – expert in children’s literature and psychologyDAI Yingyuan 戴颖媛 – national reading promoter, ShenzhenYAO Haijun 姚海军 – deputy editor, Science Fiction World magazineXI Zhinong 奚志农 – wildlife photographerSHI Jun 史军 – botanist; member, Songshuhui-Association of Science Communicators

Gold, silver and bronze titles (source of images: Douban)

Gold: [冰] 安德里·斯奈·德纳森/著；[冰]奥丝拉格·琼斯多特尔/绘；刘清彦/译 《蓝色星星的孩子国》(贵州出版集团   贵州人民出版社）-  The Story of the Blue Planet, by Andri Snaer Magnason (Iceland), tr. LIU Qingyan  (total votes: 58,141)

Silver: [美] 米歇尔·奎瓦斯/著；黄鸿砚/译 《我是你的隐形朋友》 (天津出版传媒集团  新蕾出版社)  –  Confessions of an Imaginary Friend, by Michelle Cuevas (USA), tr. HUANG Hongyan  (total votes: 51090)

Bronze: [日] 角野荣子/著；[日]大庭贤哉/绘；魏雯/译 《隧道的森林》（长江出版传媒   长江少年儿童出版社)   –  《トンネルの森1945》 [The Tunnel Through the Woods], by Eiko Kadano (Japan), tr. WEI Wen   (total votes: 45966)