Andri Snær Magnason's Blog, page 6
June 16, 2018
My books in Brazil and Portugal
I have only been to Brazil in my dreams but my books LoveStar and The Casket of Time are in great hands with the publisher Editora Morro Branco. They have many of my favourite authors on their publishing list and seem to be finding really nice readers for the books. In 2017, my book ILUSÃO DO TEMPO, (Tímakistan or The Casket of Time), was published and now LoveStar has been published. Both books are getting lots of good reviews and comments from readers. ILUSÃO DO TEMPO is translated by Suzannah Almeida but LoveStar is translated by Fábio Fernandes. He has also translated the work of William Gibson, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick.
“Às vezes a narrativa volta para o mundo do futuro onde estão Vitória e Marcos, mas a maior parte segue a vida do rei…”, continue lendo em: https://www.correiodocidadao.com.br/n....”
And here is a review on LoveStar:
http://acervodoleitor.com.br/lovestar-resenha/
LoveStar just came out in Portugal as well, translated by Joao Reis published by Bertrand Editora.
May 8, 2018
The Casket of Time (Tímakistan) shortlisted with Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell and more…
Tímakistan (The Casket of Time) is nominated for Tähtifantasia (”Star Fantasy”), the award for best translated fantasy novel in Finland. This year’s line-up includes according to the jury, five books with quite a different view of what fantasy is. Here are the other books:
David Mitchell: The Bone Clocks
Eka Kurniawan: Beauty Is a Wound
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Beginning Place / Threshold
Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn : The Final Empire
or with the Finnish titles:
Eka Kurniawan: Kauneus on kirous
Ursula K. Le Guin: Ikuisen hämärän maa
Andri Snær Magnason: Aika-arkku
David Mitchell: Luukellot
Brandon Sanderson: Viimeinen valtakunta
Tímakistan won the Icelandic literary Prize and has now been published in quite a few languages. In Japan, Denmark, Brazil, Greece, Hungary, Italy, China and Taiwan. The English version will be published by Restless Books in New York.
The Casket of Time:
When things are looking bad and the world seems to be trembling Sigrun’s family is lucky – the can crawl into their magical black TimeBoxes® and wait for better times. But one day, Sigrún’s box opens and she is confronted by an abandoned city in ruins, with everyone still in their black boxes waiting for things to get better.
Sigrun meets an old lady in a house full of old strange things. The old lady tells them a story of a Dímon, a greedy king who conquered the world but yearned to conquer time. He grieved that his greatest treasure, Princess Obsidiana would grow old and die like any other common person. With a magical casket, transparent like glass but woven from spidersilk, with such a dense weave that even time cannot penetrate the walls, the king can spare his beautiful princess the ugly days, the dark days, the rainy days, the normal days and the worthless days. One day a small boy opens the casket and the princess discovers that 20 years have passed, the kingdom is crumbling and the king has gone mad and he does not mean to open the casket until everything is perfect again.
There seems to be a connexion between the old woman’s story and Sigrun’s world. She and her friends must find the link, which will hopefully show them how to fix the world.
Tímakistan shortlisted with Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell and more…
Tímakistan is nominated for Tähtifantasia (”Star Fantasy”), the award for best translated fantasy novel in Finland. This year’s line-up includes five books with quite a different view of what fantasy is. Here are the books with the Finnish titles:
Eka Kurniawan: Kauneus on kirous
Ursula K. Le Guin: Ikuisen hämärän maa
Andri Snær Magnason: Aika-arkku
David Mitchell: Luukellot
Brandon Sanderson: Viimeinen valtakunta
Tímakistan won the Icelandic literary Prize and has now been published in quite a few languages. In Japan, Denmark, Brazil, Greece, Hungary, Italy, China and Taiwan and a few more to come.
April 17, 2018
On Time and Glaciers – Harvard lecture April 19th 2018
New England friends!
I am having two lectures at The Harvard Kennedy School in April. One of them is open to public so it would be great to see you! I will be talking about a work in progress, about time, glaciers, mythology and grandmothers. More information here:
Thu., Apr. 19, 2018 | 12:30pm – 1:45pm
John F. Kennedy School of Government – Belfer Building, Weil Town Hall, Room BL-1
Series
Arctic Initiative Seminar Series
The Arctic Initiative will host a seminar with Andri Snær Magnason, award-winning author of the book Dreamland: A Self-Help Manual for a Frightened Nation, a longtime bestseller in Iceland, and documentary filmmaker. He will discuss how art — literature, film, folklore — can help us confront the realities of climate change.
Lunch will be served. RSVP requested.
More here:
December 29, 2017
My Christmas Special on BBC World Service and a podcast
The program I did with Neil McCarthy about the dark Christmas of Iceland will be on BBC World Service today and the next days:
At the darkest time of the year in Iceland scary creatures come out to play. Storyteller Andri Snaer Magnason used to be terrified by his grandmother’s Christmas tales of Gryla the 900-year-old child-eating hagand her 13 troll sons – the Yule Lads – who would come down from the mountains looking for naughty children in the warmth of their homes. These dark lullabies partly hark back to a pre-Christian Christmas when the Norse gods dominated peoples’ lives.
As Iceland opens up to global influences after centuries of isolation, Andri travels from farmstead to lava field to find out how these traditions live on; whether the elves still crash your house to throw a Christmas party or the cows still talk on New Year’s Eve. And what happens when you have to spend Christmas alone, locked inside a suburban furniture showroom?
Broadcasts
Fri 29 Dec 201713:32Local time
BBC WORLD SERVICE
Sat 30 Dec 201702:32Local time
BBC WORLD SERVICE
Sat 30 Dec 201719:32Local time
BBC WORLD SERVICE
EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA, WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA ONLY
. To listen to the podcast you can follow this link here on Seriously.
December 18, 2017
Dreaming of a Dark Christmas
I have the honour to have a Christmas Special on BBC Radio 4, Monday the 18th of December. Guardian has chosen it to be featured as ,,This weeks best radio”:
The BBC Description is here:
Dreaming of a Dark Christmas, in Iceland
At the darkest time of the year in Iceland scary creatures come out to play. Storyteller Andri Snær Magnason used to be terrified by his grandmother’s Christmas tales of Gryla the 900 year old child eating hag and her thirteen troll sons – the Yule Lads – who would come down from the mountains looking for naughty children in the warmth of their homes. These dark lullabies partly hark back to a pre-Christian Christmas when people worshipped the Norse gods.
As Iceland opens up to global influences after centuries of isolation Andri travels from farmstead to lava field and reflects on these traditions: whether the elves still crash your house to throw a Christmas party or the cows still talk on New Year’s Eve; and what happens when you have to spend Christmas alone, locked inside Ikea?
Featuring the Graduale Nobile Choir conducted by Árni Heiðar Karlsson
Partially recorded in Binaural Stereo. Listen on headphones for the best effect.
Additional sound design by Phil Channell
Producer Neil McCarthy.
December 8, 2017
Bónus Poetry in English
Bónus Poetry, the bestselling Poetry book by Andri Snær Magnason is finally available in English and now again in a 44% more edition.
Bónus Poetry takes the reader on a mythological journey through the aisles of an undisclosed Bónus Supermarket branch, and is based on Dante’s Divina Commedia. Starting in “Paradiso” (the fruit and vegetable section), we travel through “Inferno” (meat and frozen goods) before finally ending up in the “Purgatorio” (cleaning products).
The book was initially published by Bónus Supermarkets in Iceland and sold at supermarket counters on eternal “special offer”. The author signed the same contract as every other producer: “If the consumer is harmed by the product, the producer is liable.” Bónus Poetry became the biggest selling poetry volume in the history of Iceland.
Here is a video about the orgin of Bónus Poetry with amazing drone footage in the end:
Bónus Poetry is currently a best selling book in the Faroe Islands and the book was recently published in French, Faroese and Italian.
The book is currently a bestseller in the Faroe Islands.
Translated by Sanna Andrassardottir Dahl for Unga Föroyar.
The Italian version translated by Walter Rosselli for Nottetempo.
The French verstion translated by Walter Rosselli, Editions d’en Bas.
German version was translated by Tina Flecken, published by Orange Press
The english book (realbook) should be available in Bónus, Major bookstores and by Forlagið.
Bónus Poetry was first published in Iceland in 1996, again in 2003 in a 33% more edition, now again in Icelandic in a 44% more version.
June 26, 2017
On the road with BBC, Nikki Bedi and The Arts Hour.
Met some great people from the BBC while recording material for the Culture Cab and The Arts Hour for the BBC:
The Arts Hour on Tour in Reykjavik
The Arts Hour
The Arts Hour on Tour comes from Reykjavik, in the week of the longest day to explore how the white nights, extreme climate and dramatic landscape shape culture in Iceland.
Joining Nikki Bedi on stage at the Tjarnarbio Theatre in downtown Reykjavik are the queen of Nordic crime writing Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, actor and star of Icelandic drama Trapped Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and poet and former presidential candidate Andri Snær Magnason.
Plus live music from pioneering rap collective The Daughters of Reykjavik, haunting melodies from Icelandic indie band Mammút and comedy from star of the stand-up circuit Ari Eldjárn, who explains how the Icelandic banking crisis provided plenty of material for his comedy.
Here is a link to the show:
January 3, 2017
Reviews for Tidskisten (The Time Casket) in Danish
Some very nice reviews for The Time Casket have appeared in Denmark. A six star review in Fyens Stiftstidende:
“Der er tale om en uhyrligt velskrivet parabel”
The book just got a nice review in Politiken:
“Andri Snær Magnason får sandelig fyret op under eventyret, så surrealisme blander sig med benhård realisme. Hvor er det godt! Er de ikke lidt skøre, de islændinge?”
The book also got Five stars of six from the literary webpage Modspor:
“Hvad der for børn er et underholdende, spændende eventyr med seje, stærke børnekarakterer, som vi kender dem fra Lindgren, bliver også til religions– og samfundskritisk science fiction for voksne, og dét er mesterligt udført af Magnason.”
And a very nice review here in this webpage. Gyseren.dk:
“Tidskisten var lidt af en overraskelse at læse. Dels troede jeg før læsningen, at her var tale om en ren science fiction roman, men Andri Snær Magnason blander genren med eventyret. Dels var det ikke gået op for mig, at det er en børnebog. Det varede dog ikke mange sider, før jeg overgav mig fuldstændig til Andri Snær Magnasons prisbelønnede roman.”
And here is a long interview with Andri Snær Magnason in Information.
“Tidskisten er svær at genfortælle kort, uden at den kommer til at lyde forenklet, men historien om Ravnetinna og tidskisterne er meget troværdigt skrevet. Den kan læses som en medrivende og fabulerende fortælling, hvis man nu helst vil ignorere det større budskab, som bogen også formidler. Den undgår behændigt den didaktik, som man er så bange for i børnelitteraturen. Den er filosofisk undersøgende og ikke pædagogisk retningsanvisende.”
And here is also a review from Arguimbau.com
“Jeg har ikke tidligere set eventyrgenren så fint bundet op med en sci-fi-historie, en fantasy-fortælling og et nutidsdrama alt sammen på én gang. Det er virkelig elegant og fuld af overraskelser. Det undrer mig derfor heller ikke, at bogen allerede har vundet et par priser på Island.”
Reveiws for Tidskisten (The Time Casket) in Danish
Some very nice reviews for The Time Casket have appeared in Denmark. A six star review in Fyens Stiftstidende:
“Der er tale om en uhyrligt velskrivet parabel”
The book just got a nice review in Politiken:
“Andri Snær Magnason får sandelig fyret op under eventyret, så surrealisme blander sig med benhård realisme. Hvor er det godt! Er de ikke lidt skøre, de islændinge?”
The book also got Five stars of six from the literary webpage Modspor:
“Hvad der for børn er et underholdende, spændende eventyr med seje, stærke børnekarakterer, som vi kender dem fra Lindgren, bliver også til religions– og samfundskritisk science fiction for voksne, og dét er mesterligt udført af Magnason.”
And a very nice review here in this webpage. Gyseren.dk:
“Tidskisten var lidt af en overraskelse at læse. Dels troede jeg før læsningen, at her var tale om en ren science fiction roman, men Andri Snær Magnason blander genren med eventyret. Dels var det ikke gået op for mig, at det er en børnebog. Det varede dog ikke mange sider, før jeg overgav mig fuldstændig til Andri Snær Magnasons prisbelønnede roman.”
And here is a long interview with Andri Snær Magnason in Information.
“Tidskisten er svær at genfortælle kort, uden at den kommer til at lyde forenklet, men historien om Ravnetinna og tidskisterne er meget troværdigt skrevet. Den kan læses som en medrivende og fabulerende fortælling, hvis man nu helst vil ignorere det større budskab, som bogen også formidler. Den undgår behændigt den didaktik, som man er så bange for i børnelitteraturen. Den er filosofisk undersøgende og ikke pædagogisk retningsanvisende.”
And here is also a review from Arguimbau.com
“Jeg har ikke tidligere set eventyrgenren så fint bundet op med en sci-fi-historie, en fantasy-fortælling og et nutidsdrama alt sammen på én gang. Det er virkelig elegant og fuld af overraskelser. Det undrer mig derfor heller ikke, at bogen allerede har vundet et par priser på Island.”
