Andri Snær Magnason's Blog, page 7
October 18, 2016
Tímakistan (The Time Casket) in Japanese!
I proudly announce that the Time Casket has been published in Japan by NHK publishers. This is my fourth book to be published in Japan, but Dreamland, LoveStar and The Story of the Blue Planet have all been published in Japanese.
The Time Casket looks like a glass casket, but it is not made of glass, it’s woven from spider silk, and so densely woven that Time can not penetrate the walls. So when the casket is closed, the person inside is sealed from time and a day, week or a whole year feels like a blink of an eye.
The Story has two stages, it is about Obsidiana, the Princess of Pangea, and her father Dímon that has conquered the world and want’s to conquer time as well. He can give the princess only the moments that really matter, but skip the unimportant moments in life. The other part takes place in our own world, where the Time Caskets have been mass produced and people can skip the boring days, the rainy days, the Mondays and the Februaries. This works out good until some economists predict a very bad year, and everyone decides to skip the year to avoid the problems and the fuss. (The story was written before Brexit.)
Tímakistan won the Icelandic Literary Award, The West Nordic Children’s Book Award, The Icelandic Bookseller Prize and the Reykjavík Council Children’s Book Award.
July 19, 2016
Lights Off Stars On in Reykjavík – by LG in Harpan
In 2006 I proposed to the City of Reykjavík that we should turn off all the city lights to see the stars better. This idea was first in my play Natures Opera (Náttúruóperan 1999) and again in Dreamland in 2006. Now the Idea has been picked up by LG in Korea so the 20th of July a big concert: Light Off Stars On will take place in Harpa with Gus Gus, Ásgeir Trausti and Ólafur Arnalds. Here is the trailer for the event:
Here is an interview with myself about turning the lights off the city to see the stars:
Here is some more information about the concert and the concept:
Andri Snaer Magnason
The Icelandic writer, the UKLA* Award winner,
inspired our project
“….seeing the total black and the real colours of the twinkling stars
and all these small tiny, but important things you get when you turn off
the lights and get true blackness.”
He made a proposal to city to turn off all the lights to rediscover
the true night sky and reveal nature’s colours without any light interference.
This reflects the philosophy of the LG OLED TV’s Perfect Black.
July 6, 2016
LoveStar in Quebec
LoveStar has been published in Quebec by Alto with this beautiful new cover design.
LoveStar won the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaaire and was on the longlist for the Québec Bookseller Award of 2016. Along with Ishiguru, Houellebecq, Kim Leine, Toni Morrison and more.
Here is some more information:
Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire
Première sélection – Prix des libraires du Québec
« Il existe en chaque être humain deux choses incomplètes. »
Le génial et énigmatique LoveStar, fondateur de l’entreprise du même nom, invente un mode de transmission des données inspiré des ondes des oiseaux, libérant d’un coup l’humanité de l’emprise de l’électronique : l’homme sans fil est né ! Il développe au passage quelques applications favorisant le bonheur humain, dont inLove, système aussi redoutable qu’efficace qui identifie les âmes sœurs par simple calcul.
Quand Indriði et Sigríður se retrouvent ainsi calculés, ils tombent des nues : leur « seul et unique » est ailleurs. Ces Roméo et Juliette postmodernes sont rapidement projetés dans une quête improbable, portant sur leurs épaules l’espoir de meilleurs lendemains.
Récit jubilatoire et clairvoyant, LoveStar pourrait être le rejeton de 1984 et L’écume des jours. Devant cette vision absurde et terriblement juste du futur, le lecteur hésitera entre le rire et l’effroi.
Les libraires conseillent : sélection de juillet 2016
Traduit de l’islandais par Éric Boury
Here is some press:
http://www.lecourrierdusud.ca/art-de-vivre/societe/2016/7/5/lovestar-d-andri-snaer-magnason.html
June 25, 2016
Running for President of Iceland!
Today we have a presidential election here in Iceland and I am running.
Dear friends,
I am running for President of Iceland!
I am running because the President can act as a channel for new ideas and new approaches – and after the events of recent years and days, we really need new approaches.
We live in interesting times and in a creative moment in history – where the foundations of our language, our nature and our democracy are all at an important turning point. We are at a moment in history where we can define paths that will lead us far into the future.
The President of Iceland can connect people, bring groups together and raise important issues. The President of Iceland can refer passed legislation to a national referendum, he or she is our spokesperson abroad, and is strictly speaking the only person in Iceland who is directly elected.
The President can bring together opposing voice and help them find common ground, but he or she must have a clear vision and a strong voice.
If every generation has left something great behind, what should we try to accomplish? What could we do together acting as one?
Here are three ideas that I believe might be big ideas for our future.
Land
In recent years, our highlands have been threatened by plans of massive development. For various reasons, the most extreme plans have not materialised and this vast unspoiled wilderness remains intact.
I believe a National Park of the Central Highlands to be one of the important ideas that we could make a reality. This National Park would establish the importance and value of nature in its own right. The central highlands are the core of Iceland’s image, a part of our identity, and thus enrich each and every one of us. A 40,000 km2 National Park would send a striking message to the world, where nature is under threat everywhere.
Environmental issues are, and will remain, by far the largest challenge of the 21st century. If the earth is to support all of our children, we need to rethink and redesign almost the whole of the 20th century. Such changes are vital but they are not a negative thing – they will be the basis for all development in all fields in the near and distant future.
As a fishing nation, we are dependent on the ocean. To my mind, the President of Iceland should be able to provide a valuable voice in matters of ocean protection. A child who grows up in Iceland should be crazy about fish. Whether whales will be edible in the future is probably a more relevant question than whether they are hunted.
If my grandchild reaches the same age as my grandmother did, they will still be alive in the year 2120. 1924 to 2120 – that is the period that belongs to us. That is the time we can touch with our bare hands – the time of those we already know and love and the time of those we will know and love. We need to learn to think in longer time periods than quarterly accounts or political terms of office. This is why environmental issues are among the most significant concerns of the President of Iceland.
People
Parity, equal rights and equal opportunity are essential if we are to call ourselves a nation. I sat in on the 2010 National Constitutional Forum, where 1,000 randomly selected Icelanders came together and discussed their values and vision of the future. It gave me hope, because this cross-section of the nation was a lovely group of people who could talk to each other.
The general public was given a voice and we demonstrated that democracy is a creative, constantly evolving process. The meeting was meant to be followed by a new social contract and constitutional text for our society. This was a unique experiment that raised worldwide interest.
It is important for the new constitution to be completed. We need a new social contract and the process is still valid, though it has been bruised. The new constitution must be based on the National Constitutional Forum, on new ideas of how a constitution can come from the people, not something merely handed down from above.
Language
Over the past ten years, while taking part in projects related to creative writing, I have met over 20,000 school children here in Iceland and abroad. I often ask them whether they speak other languages than Icelandic and in every single class, one or more of them has raised a hand, and they name all kinds of languages.
Those who cultivate their mother tongue understand the importance of language in its own right. The Icelandic language and other mother tongues need an advocate. We need to ensure that the children carry the torch and learn to love language, otherwise it will be lost in one generation.
Iceland must be a land of opportunity for the children that come to live here. Statistics show that many of them are having trouble. If we take good care we will gain strong individuals with deep roots in distant cultures. If we fall asleep on the job, many children might lose their mother tongue without learning Icelandic. Languages are the key to the world and the President can keep this topic in play.
Nature, democracy and culture – three words that encompass the whole spectrum of issues relevant to the office of President of Iceland.
What can our generation do?
We should found a Central Highland National Park, the core of our nature.
We should complete the new constitution, the basis of our democracy.
We should embrace our mother tongues, the channel for our thoughts and cultures.
May 11, 2016
LoveStar wins the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in France
LoveStar, by Andri Snaer Magnason, translated by Éric Boury, is the best and the most innovative foreign science fiction novel published in France for the last 12 months, according to the jury of Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire.
Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire is the oldest literature prize in France still active and considered among the most important science fiction awards in Europe. The prize is awarded for imaginative fiction in ten categories and LoveStar receives the award as the best translated science fiction novel of the year.
The word “imaginaire” in the name of the prize refers to the imagination and creativity of science fiction, fantasy and other genres of the imaginary. Among the nominated authors this year are China Miéville and Michel Faber. Previous winners are Kim Stanley Robinson, Orson Scott Card, Neal Stephenson and Clive Barker, among others.
The prize will be awarded at a ceremony at Étonnants Voyageurs International Book & Film Festival in Saint-Malo on Sunday, May 15, at 18:00.
The French edition of LoveStar was published by Zulma in 2015.
LoveStar was published in English by Seven Stories Press and has been translated to 8 languages.
Below is a link to the website of the award:
http://gpi.noosfere.org/2016.php
February 2, 2016
LoveStar nominated for the 2016 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire
The French edition of LoveStar has been nominated for the 2016 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire with Michel Faber, Ann Leckie, China Melville and more: Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (Great Award of the Imaginary) is a French award for speculative fiction created in 1974 by the writer and critic Jean-Pierre Fontana at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival of Science Fiction. It’s the oldest still active french literary prize. More information on the nominated books and the prize can be found here: LoveStar was translated to French by Eric Boury and published by Zulma in Paris.
January 27, 2016
Blue Planet in Turkish and LoveStar in Arabic
Pleased to announce that The Story of the Blue Planet is available soon in Turkey by Pegasus and LoveStar has just been published in Arabic, by Al Arabi publishing house in Kairo, Egypt.
November 25, 2015
Morrison, Ishiguru, Leine, Houellebecq and Magnason nominated in Québec
Good news from Canada! The Québec Bookseller Award has announced the longlist for the 2016 awards. Some great authors can be found on the list like Toni Morrison, Ishiguru, Kim Leine, Hakan Günday and Houellebecq. So it is with great joy to see LoveStar in such good company. For that I must of course thank Zulma my wonderful publisher and Eric Boury my great translator. The english version of LoveStar is available here.
More information about the Prix Des Libraires can be found here:
Liste préliminaire 2016 // Catégorie Roman hors Québec
Titus n’aimait pas Bérénice, Nathalie Azoulai (P.O.L.)
La première femme nue, Christophe Bouquerel (Actes Sud)
Les Luminaires, Eleanor Catton (Alto)
L’imposteur, Javier Cercas (Actes Sud)
L’amie prodigieuse, Elena Ferrante (Gallimard)
Encore, Hakan Günday (Galaade)
Soumission, Michel Houellebecq (Flammarion)
Le géant enfoui, Kazuo Ishiguro (Fides)
Les prophètes du fjord de l’Éternité, Kim Leine (Gallimard)
Délivrances, Toni Morrison (Christian Bourgois)
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi (Gallimard)
LoveStar, Andri Snaer Magnason (Zulma)
November 23, 2015
Interview in the New York Times
Reykjavík is a UNESCO city of Literature. We have a long written history with the oldest manuscripts from around 1200. We have lots of fine writers today that are translated to up to 40 languages. Dean Nelson from The New York Times just came to Reykjavík and interviewed me and some other people. Here you can read about my theory of how Icelanders possibly evolved from cod (irony alert). This must be the first picture of me in the New York Times but my children’s book: The Story of The Blue Planet got a great review a couple of years ago. 
My books available in English can be found here:
LoveStar – Phillip K Dick Award special citation 2014.
The Story of the Blue Planet – UKLA Literary Awards, 2014, Icelandic Literary Prize. Green Earth Book Award.
November 7, 2015
Press Conference – Björk and Andri Snær during Airwaves, Nov. 6th.
Björk calls for global action to prevent destruction of Iceland’s Highlands
“We ask for the world to support us.”
Björk and renowned writer and environmentalist Andri Snær Magnason are hosting a press conference at Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavik, on behalf of Gætum Garðsins (“Protect the Park”) highlighting the need for urgent action to protect Iceland’s Highlands from environmental destruction.
Launched in March of last year, Gætum Garðsins is a coalition aiming to raise awareness for the conservation of Iceland’s Highlands, which forms the largest area of untouched wilderness in Europe.
The Highlands are a big draw for nature lovers all over the world, with data from the Icelandic Tourist Board showing that around 80% of foreign visitors come to Iceland primarily to experience the country’s wilderness, and about half come specifically for the central highlands. Tourism is now Iceland’s largest revenue-generating sector.
The area, which currently only has limited protection, is currently under threat of extensive development, as outlined by the Icelandic government’s Master Plan for conservation of nature and utilisation of energy. Specifically, the Government has plans to pave roads, erect power lines and build power plants right through the center of Iceland, which would drastically alter the landscape and slice the highlands in half.
As part of the conference, Bjork has released this video message asking “the world to support us against our Government”
To prevent irreversible damage to the Highlands, Gætum Garðsins is proposing that a national park be created, an idea that the majority of Icelanders support, according to a Gallup poll.
The press conference comes one week after UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Iceland, when a new UK-Iceland Energy Task Force was announced to assess the possibility of laying the world’s longest sub-sea power cable (746 miles) to provide the UK with “long-term, renewable” energy.
Commenting on this plan in advance of the press conference, Andri Snær Magnason said:
“The concept of Iceland’s infinite energy of Iceland is on par with other myths from Iceland like elves and trolls. You cannot simply plug into a volcano. Iceland has already harnessed its nature for energy production close to the maximum and the only way this proposal could work would be to build more power plants. While energy for the cable does not seem available, about five factories are being discussed or planned – making it almost impossible to imagine where all the energy can come from without damaging something incredibly wild and fragile.”
“Some of the plans would bring grave environmental consequences – destroying nesting places of pink-footed geese and habitat for the great north atlantic salmon, as well as some of the greatest waterfalls in the wilderness of Iceland or simply the rare tranquility of untouched wilderness.”
Last year Gætum Garðsins hosted a special benefit event, including a special screening of the film ‘Noah’ and a concert with Björk, Patti Smith, Of Monsters and Men, Lykke Li and others – raising over 30 million ISK for the cause.
The organisation will continue to work toward its goal of creating a national park and at once debunk the myth that Iceland is a source of endless energy that should be harnessed at the cost of the country’s true national treasure—its nature.
www.facebook.com/gaetumgardsins
