Acclaimed authors at Reykjavík International Literary Festival

Reykjavík International Literary Festival will take place from 6-9 September for the13^th time. Its ambitious event schedule brings 17 internationally acclaimed authors from outside of Iceland together with some of the most well-known Icelandic authors.

Korean writer Han Kang, who received the Man-Booker prize in 2016 for her book The Vegetarian, is one of the most anticipated festival guests. Two other authors who have been shortlisted for the Man-Booker, Eka Kurniawan and Jón Kalman Stefánsson, will come together for a discussion about beauty and ugliness in literature. The Indonesian author Kurniawan, who is best known for his book Beauty is a Wound, will launch the festival with a keynote address on opening night, along with Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, who received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2016

The American historian Timothy Snyder is among the most notable guests at this year’s festival; his timely novel On Tyranny: Lessons from the 20th Century became immensely popular last year after the inauguration the American president Donald Trump. Snyder will deliver the Jón Sigurðsson memorial lecture, hosted by the Historical Institute of the University of Iceland. He’ll also be in conversation with Halldór Guðmundsson. The nordic poets Aase Berg and Maja Lee Langvad will give readings from their work and take part in roundtables, while Hiromi Kawakami, the author of The Stars over Tokyo, will give a reading of her work in Japanese. Swedish author Fredrik Sjöberg, who received international attention with his book The Fly Trap, and Norwegian author Morten Strøksnes, who wrote Shark Drunk, The Art of Catching A Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dingy, will meet to discuss harmony and discord between man and nature. Later, Israeli author and director Etgar Keret will meet Ghanian-American writer Yaa Gyasi for a book reading and Q&A.

Further information about the festival: Bokmenntahatid.is