Lions And Bears And Puffins, Oh My
Ah, autumn in Reykjavík when, as Reykjavík International Film Festival Chair Hrönn Marinósdóttir observes, “it starts to rain, the leaves start to fall, it gets dark again,
What Will Lifting Capital Controls Mean For Iceland’s Recovery?
If Icelanders wants to buy currency, say US dollars, they can only purchase $2,800 USD, and they must prove to their bank that they are travelling to another country. Icelanders [&
Immigrants Cross 25,000 Mark
There are now over 25,000 immigrants in Iceland, although they still comprise roughly the same percentage of the total population as they have for at least the past five years. [&h
Rokkjötnar 2012
A one-day festival event, Rokkjötnar, featured Iceland’s “Giants of Rock,” as the festival name suggests (…although “jötnar” is also an old word for “troll,” so y
Drawing On The Walls
Dan Perjovschi presents his satirical cartoons on the walls of the world’s museumsIt was 2007 and Dan Perjovschi had just finished drawing on a wall in the lobby of the […
The Nazi Clause Strikes Again
Can an individual degrade a whole nation or nation state? Apparently the answer is “yes” as suggested by the 95th clause of Iceland’s criminal code: “Anyone who publicl
So What’s This Icelandic Tea Party I Keep Hearing About?
Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, former education and culture minister, current member of parliament and recent vice-chairman of the right-wing Independence Party, said in a rec
Iraqi Asylum Seeker To Be Deported
An Iraqi man who was in the process of appealing his asylum application to the courts was arrested last Sunday, to be deported on his way back to Iraq. Ahmed […]
Sentenced In Lithuania, Pardoned In Iceland
An Icelander who was arrested and sentenced in Lithuania for possessing a kilo of marijuana is now walking free in Iceland. Vísir reports that in the summer of 2010, Erlingur [&he
Pussy Riot To Receive Peace Award
Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot – three members of whom are currently in prison – will be honoured with a peace award next month. As many readers are no […]
Siv Friðleifsdóttir Retires From Parliament
The longest-serving sitting MP for the Progressive Party, Siv Friðleifsdóttir, has announced that she will not run again next spring. She denies that her decision has anything to
Lone Riders On Electronic Horses
Harpa Kaldalón is not a venue I would normally associate with hot-and-heavy rock and roll action. True, the acoustics are great, bordering on excellent, but with its high slope an
The Revolution Growing On Iceland’s Farms
Sunday morning, 11:00. Þorvaldseyri farm. Autumn has arrived, but this morning is sunny and unseasonably mild. The waves of a golden field of rapeseed flowers undulate in the gent
News In Brief: Late September Edition
September began weirdly, as the media widely reported on a brutal attack of a six-year-old boy by a group of older boys, which allegedly left the victim hospitalised. The event [&h
Budget Request For Asylum Seekers Submitted
A bill has been submitted to parliament which would increase the Directorate of Immigration’s budget by 100 million ISK, in order to better process asylum seeker applications
“Facebook Bomber” Charged
A man who earlier this year posted photos of himself posing with weapons and explosives on Facebook has been formally charged, and has plead innocent. As reported, last February a
Dog Show Canceled Due To Poison Scare
A dog show scheduled to be held in Kópavogur last Saturday was canceled when it was suspected that someone may have attempted to poison the dogs. DV reports that when […]
Breaking Out Of His Old Skin – The Ólafur Arnalds Interview
“What happened was a table attacked me! We were being filmed pretending to fight each other in a scene, but the director didn’t think that we were being realistic enough. [&hel
Toward An Icelandic Product Design
“If I had to say,” Harpa Þórsdóttir says, “the identity of Icelandic product design is in the materials: fish bone, fish skin, knitted wool. And it’s in the handicrafts
Lost In Translation
This month marks the four-year anniversary of Iceland’s economic collapse of October 2008. In that time, as Sigrún Davíðsdóttir recounts on page 14, Iceland has gone from bei
Hekla’s Volcanic Heart Of Darkness
People often set aside the interior of Iceland as “other” from the rest of the country: it’s a barren, uninhabitable desert, accessible only by certain vehicles at certai