Ask An Expert: How Come We Have Inflation-Indexed Loans In Iceland?
If you’ve ever attempted to buy a home in Iceland, you may have noticed inflation-indexed housing loans on offer. If you rent, you may have an agreement with your landlord [&hell
Listening To Volcanoes: Volcano Science Is A Quiet Job—Until It Isn’t
“I grew up in this field,” Baldur Bergsson, a specialist in monitoring at the Icelandic Met Office, tells us as we drive to one of two sites where we will […]
Meet Vicki, The Winner Of The Grapemas Helicopter Ride And Our Grapevine Reader Of The Month!
Now, as the last Christmas lights are being hacked down from light posts and the Yule Lads are entering hibernation, one lucky woman in Australia has a gift she hasn’t [&hell
Ask a Pagan Chieftain: How Was Winter Celebrated Before Christian Traditions?
Christmas lights and traditions bring much-needed warmth to the cold Icelandic winters. But before Christianity arrived in the country, Icelanders were pagan. We asked Hilmar Örn
Ask A Scientist: Why Are Puffin Numbers Going Down?
The puffin is a beloved bird that everybody associates with Iceland. However, recent studies have shown that their numbers have been dwindling. The Grapevine reached out to seabird
Bread And Roses: Iceland’s Labour Struggle In High Gear
Last February, four labour unions— Iceland’s general labourers union Efling, the Store and Office Workers’ Union (VR), the Grindavík Labour Union, and the Akranes Labour Uni
The Power Of Accountability: An Interview With Whistleblower Bára Halldórsdóttir
Bára Halldórsdóttir, a queer disabled woman who has long advocated for the rights of the chronically ill, found herself in the spotlight last November when it was revealed she h
Being Black In Iceland: An Interview With Jewells Chambers
Jewells Chambers is originally from Brooklyn, moved to Iceland in 2016, and has been very busy since then. She manages the website From Foreign To Familiar and runs the All [&helli
Nationalising Words: Literature As A Means Of Bridging Iceland With The World
Unlike in most European languages, þýða, the Icelandic word for translation, denotes translation as the act of nationalising a foreign word, making the meaning agreeable to Icel
Fighting Erasure: The Trans Teen Survival Guide
Being a teenager can be difficult; at a time when pressure to conform is probably at its strongest, being an outlier can make one especially vulnerable, heaping even more difficult
We Can Do Better: Anna Marjankowska Wants To Fight For Your Rights
Anna Marjankowska has a lot of irons in the fire. She’s doing extensive work at Andrými, a volunteer-run community activist centre, applying for her PhD, and working part time.
System Reboot: Universal Basic Income And Iceland
Halldóra Mogensen, an MP for the Pirate Party and the chair of the Welfare Committee, is not the kind of politician who speaks in dry, vague terms about the “importance [&hellip
High Rollers: The Wacky World Of Icelandic Finance
When the Panama Papers leak broke last year, then-Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson wasn’t the only Icelander revealed to be involved in some shady dealings. In fact,
Connecting The Strings: ISNIC’s CEO Talks Internet Freedom
Jens Pétur Jensen is the CEO of ISNIC, the company responsible for the .is domain. This small company, comprised of less than a dozen employees in a downtown office, is […]
Guerrilla Film-Making
Legendary film-maker Werner Herzog is no stranger to Iceland. Apart from his recent documentary on the island’s geological turmoil, ‘Into The Inferno,’ he also has an abiding
Swimming Upstream: Biologist Jóhannes Sturlaugsson
Jóhannes Sturlaugsson is very passionate about fish. After 16 years working at the Institute of Freshwater Fisheries, Jóhannes decided to blaze his own trail in the field of fish
An Airbnb Owner Speaks Out
Unnur María Máney Bergsveinsdóttir, like a lot of Icelanders, rents out her downtown apartment on Airbnb. She travels a lot, especially in the summer, because of her work as a [
Iceland Behind The Shutter
Icelanders are slowly getting used to the idea of temporarily sharing their country with massive amounts of tourists. As tourism industry revenue has grown to a staggering 31% of t
Ask An Astronomer: Do The Clocks Change In Iceland
The short answer is no. Here’s Dr Þorsteinn Sæmundsson from Almanak Háskóla Íslands (University of Iceland Almanac) with the long answer: Daylight saving time was first intr
What Does Your Rainbow Look Like?
“I’m not educated in art,” Jóhann tells us at his home in Vesturbær. “At a very early age, when the French New Wave came, the Icelandic cinemas didn’t want to [
All Aboard The Lava Express! That Train Will Soon Be Here At Last
You’ve been hearing about it for years now. You probably thought it was never going to happen. But now it looks as though the legendary train between Keflavík International Airp