Literature that lasts

“I believe that we need poetry, if we want to come through the storm,” said author Thor Vilhjálmsson.

His novel Morgunþula í stráum (Morning Verse in the Grass), which received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 1998, is currently being translated into German. Thor himself is as happily busy as ever, writing long into the nights, but unwilling to divulge what he is working on. Perhaps it is a novel, which will simply be ready when it is ready, as he says himself.

“I'm definitely not attempting a rewrite of The Saga of the Sturlungs in Morning Verse in the Grass. I'm not trying to imitate anything that has previously been written on Sturla Þórðarson, the protagonist, or the Age of the Sturlungs. This is my work, and writing is my life. One always needs to come to grips with what one perceives.”

Thor Vilhjálmsson died on March 2, 2011, shortly after the interview, aged 85. 

Production/Editing: Þorsteinn J.

Photography: Bjarni Felix Bjarnason

Archive material: Sveinn M. Sveinsson from Plús Film

Older Interview: Einar Kárason

Subtitles: Steingrímur Teague