noisedfisk

Bókmenntahátí­ð

2005.09.12

— Music

This year the Reykjaví­k International Literature Festival (Bókmenntahátí­ð) is celebrating its twentieth anniversary since its inauguration in 1985 and will be held from 11 to 17 september. Its aim is to inform the public about some of the most important trends in contemporary literature, with the emphasis this year on the relationship between literature and the world, and how literature interacts with the political and global developments of recent years.

Leading the line-up of foreign guests at this year’s festival are renowned Canadian writer and Booker prize-winner Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, one of America’s greatest living writers, DBC Pierre, winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize, Hanan Al-Shaykh, one of the foremost female writers in the Arab world, and two winners of the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize, Finland’s Kari Hotakainen (2004) and Norway’s Lars Saabye Christensen (2002). The other distinguished guests are Nick Hornby, who needs no introduction to the cinema-going public, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Javier Cercas, Antonio Tabucchi, Thomas Brussig, Karen Duve, Graeme Gibson, Siri Hustvedt, Roy Jacobsen, James Meek, Ílvaro Mutis, Hanne-Vibeke Holst, Andrei Kurkov, Annie Proulx, Mehmed Uzun and Karin Wahlberg.

Obviously, many icelandic authors will attend the festival as well.

• Comments