Reykjavík International Literary Festival (RILF) is as the name implies a literature festival in Reykjavík, attracting readers and authors from around the world since it was first held in 1985. It features a wide range of events, including readings, conversations, lectures, children’s programs, film screenings, discussions, poetry readings and writing workshops. All the events are free and open to the public. The festival focuses on issues of freedom of expression and human rights, dedicating specific events to these topics.

This year’s festival marks the 40th birthday of RILF and features authors such as Claire Keegan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Hernan Diaz, and Anne Carson. The opening ceremony takes place at The House of Collections on Hverfisgata at 18:00 today. At 20:00 in Salka bookstore further up the same street, there will be a literary pub quiz hosted by local author Kamilla Einarsdóttir.

Thursday 23 April

Tomorrow, on the First Day of Summer, the program starts at 11:00 at the Nordic House, where journalist Þóra Arnórsdóttir moderates a discussion with Kuluk Helms and Abdulrazak Gurnah. Helms is a performance artist, mask dancer, poet, actress, and teacher, known for her lively and entertaining stage presence. Gurnah is the author of ten highly acclaimed novels, among them Paradise, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. His latest book, Afterlives, was published in 2020. Abdulrazak Gurnah teaches English Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury. In 2021, Abdulrazak Gurnah received the Nobel Prize in literature. 

At 12:00 in the Nordic House, Rosie Goldsmith moderates a discussion with Irish author Claire Keegan, whose works have been translated into over 30 languages. Keegan is highly decorated and her novella Small Things Like These was named the best book of the 21st century by The New York Times. Keegan has published four collections of short stories and two novellas.

At 19:30 in IÐNÓ, María Elísabet Bragadóttir moderates a discussion with Swedish author Andre Walden and Icelandic author Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir. Walden made a memorable breakthrough with his autobiographical book Bloody Men. The book explores his mother’s relationships with various men and the impact these relationships had on him during his formative years. Guðrún Eva released In The Shadow of the Trees before last Christmas and it became widely popular. There she discusses her own relationships, with two marriages taking center stage.

To conclude the day’s program, Bergur Ebbi Benediktsson moderates a talk with French author Hervé Le Tellier and local author Brynja Hjálmsdóttir. Tellier began his career as a science journalist but is best known for L’Anomalie, which was published in 2020 and won the Goncourt Prize the same year. Brynja Hjálmsdóttir is a poet and author, with her debut novel Friðsemd being a dystopian story set in a world made almost unrecognizable by climate change.

Friday 24 April

At 10 AM, there is a French brunch at Alliance Française de Reykjavík where you can meet two rising French authors, Clémentine Mélois and Victor Pouchet, to discuss their writing and imagination. While Victor Pouchet seeks to arrange the world into poetry through his memories, wandering thoughts, passion for imagination, and admiration for the writer Georges Perros, Clémentine Mélois, a true word artist, offers unconventional literature centered around her love for the book as an object, which she treats as a unique material, and her passion for the surrealistic style known as “Contrainte Oulipienne.” This event is in French.

At 7 PM In the evening in IÐNÓ, Anne Carson performs poetry from The Albertine Workout published in 2014. The Albertine Workout contains fifty-nine paragraphs, with appendices, summarizing Anne Carson’s research on Albertine, the principal love interest of Marcel in Proust’s Á la recherche du temps perdu.

Half an hour later, Hernan Diaz speaks with Fríða Ísberg and Einar Kári Jóhannsson. Hernan Diaz is a multi-award-winning bestselling author. He was born in Argentina, raised in Sweden, and now lives and works in the United States. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Trust, which was selected as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century by The New York Times.

At 8 PM, there is a talk with Claire Keegan and half an hour later to conclude the day’s program Abdulrazak Gurnah in a talk with Helga Soffía Einarsdóttir.

Saturday 26 April

At 12:00 in the Nordic House, German poet Dinçer Güçyeter and Norwegian poet and writer Knut Ødegård in a talk with Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson. Güçyeter has received numerous awards for his works, including the Literature Prize at the Leipzig Book Fair. Ødegård organized the first international literary festival of Norway and also the literary academy (both named after the Nobel prize winner Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson). When moving to Iceland in 1984, he was offered the position as director of Nordic House and as such he was the founder – together with Thor Vilhjálmsson and Einar Bragi – of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival in 1984.

At 14:00, Freyr Eyjólfsson moderates a discussion with Annette Bjergfeldt, a Danish singer, songwriter, pianist, and author who has garnered significant attention for her lively and captivating novels. Additionally, she is a multi-award-winning musician and has been nominated for Grammy Awards. Her book Mr. Saitos Travelling Cinema was listed by Politiken as one of the best books of the year when it was released.

Towards the end of the day’s program, there is a poetry performance happy hour at Hótel Holt and the launch of books by Anne Carson, Wolfgang Schiffer & Dinçer Güçyeter. Last but not least, at 20:00, DJ Ívar Pétur performs at IÐNÓ and band HKL flokkurinn debuts.

Sunday 27 April

On the last day at 13:00 in the Nordic House: The Absent Author: Program on imprisoned author Boualem Sansal in collaboration with Icelandic PEN.

From 16:00 to 18:00 the last event of the festival takes place at The House of Collections in Hverfisgata. Reading and book launch in the reading roomþ The National Gallery of Iceland and Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature in collaboration with the Reykjavík International Literary Festival invite you for a reading and a launch event for the book Crossroads – An Anthology of Art-Inspired writing where fifteen writers and poets were invited to choose one work in the exhibition that inspires them. And, just as the works of art called out to those selected artists, their writings will in turn lead us observers into the works, and connect us with the art, and at the same time with the creative imagination of the writers, in new and myriad ways.

The authors who contributed to the book are: Anne Carson, Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir, Bergþóra Snæbjörnsdóttir, Brynjólfur Þorsteinsson, Hallgrímur Helgason, Jón Kalman, Karólína Rós, Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Maó Alheimsdóttir, Margrét Bjarnadóttir, María Elísabet Bragadóttir, Ragna Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson, Ragnheiður Harpa Leifsdóttir and Sjón

Full program and more info on bokmenntahatid.is