At last. On our ninth trip to Iceland and my third attendance at Iceland Noir (2013 and 2016 were the earlier ones), we saw the Aurora Borealis just as we walked out the door. My husband and our daughter had strolled over to the Frikirkjan to meet me at the end of the Friday night panel. They pointed toward the sky, and there were the Merrie Dancers. The green lights danced and swirled, strung out and condensed, pushed out with pink edges leading the stream of light. How very grateful I am to have seen this cosmic marvel.
The panel that had just concluded was a conversation between Bernardine Evaristo and the organizers of Iceland Noir, Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Ragnar Jonasson. Evaristo won the 2019 Man Booker for Girl, Woman, Other, a novel about 12 Black British women and their various life experiences. Each woman’s story is told separately, but they are all tied together by their attendance at or involvement with a performance at the National of a play about the Dahomey Amazons. I had known nothing about the novel prior to seeing the announced participants for the 2022 IcelandNoir. I’m glad I read it–those women’s experiences continue to bounce around in my mind.
It was the second time that day that I’d seen Evaristo; earlier in the day she and Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club series) chatted about books that had been important to them and explaining why those titles were important. I was fascinated by their respective choices and explanations. Listening to the discourse about their literary choices had me on the edge of my chair with my hand cramping as my writing was trying to keep up with their conversation.
I hope I’ve accurately captured the choices they discussed:
Bernardine Evaristo’s choices: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf”; “Remains of the Day”; “Beloved”; “The Road”; “The Joys of Motherhood”
Richard Osman’s choices: “A Month in the Country”; “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”; the Ripley novels; “Golden Hill”; “Towards the End of the Morning”
This was a day of delights–thoughtful discussions about books and ideas punctuated by the wonders of the universe.
Booked for Travel 