President Vigdís

Thirty years ago, Iceland found itself in the international spotlight: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir – a single, divorced mother – was the first woman in the world to be elected head of state in a democratic election:

“Her election as president was an international story. One of the few news items from this small country to resound in the international media. It received more space than news of an eruption – a far more common occurrence than a woman being elected as head of state in a democratic election. That had never happened before.”

Such are the words of biographer Páll Valsson in his work Vigdís – kona verður forseti / Vigdís – A Woman Becomes President, which came out in Iceland last year. As the former president had rebuffed the advances of all publishers and biographers up until crossing paths with Valsson, the book offered readers a first-time glimpse behind Vigdís' official persona. Valsson had previously earned the Icelandic Literary Prize and critical accolades for his work on national poet Jónas Hallgrímsson. For Vigdís' biography, he received unprecedented access to her documents and co-operated closely with Vigdís herself. While mostly written in the third person, the work is interspersed with her own accounts in the first person. The resulting narrative is a a polyphonic, personal account – a true-story bildungsroman of sorts, which is also a description of the most tumultuous times in Iceland's history.

The work was warmly received by critics. Fréttablaðið critic Páll Baldvin awarded the book four stars: “There is much to be found here: Valsson weaves a entertaining and detailed description of how the “European generation,” comprised of of those who traveled south for their education, changed society [...] It's a bright story, but interspersed with profound, sad passages.”

DV critic Jóhann Hauksson gave the book four and a half stars, and said that no-one would be left disappointed by it: “Páll Valsson exercises due diligence in this 450-page account of the childhood, family, influences and traumas of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir [...] Valsson's style is captivating, restrained and smooth. He has certainly not let things slide since his award-winning biography of Jónas Hallgrímsson.”

Morgunblaðið gave the book four stars. “Writing the biography of Vigdís – a living legend – is no mean task. Páll Valsson accomplishes this with great care, respect and affection for his subject.”

“My goal was to shed light on Vigdís as a human being”

“Publishers and others had their nets out for Vigdís for years, trying to coax her into telling her story, but to no avail,” says Valsson. “She always said no. But when she finally agreed to participate in such a project, she did it in style, turning over all her private documents and always being prepared to help.”

Few Icelanders have left a mark on the nation's history the way Vigdís has. Today, she is virtually a living legend. How can you write the biography of such a person in an honest way?

"Before agreeing to write the book, I set two conditions: that I would receive all of her letters and documents, and that I would have complete freedom and the final word regarding the text itself. Vigdís responded favorably to this and answered all of my questions. Most importantly for this kind of work, there was a relationship of trust between us. My goal was shed light on Vigdís as a human being: who is she and where does she come from? What are her roots? What values defined her and how did they develop? I also wanted to give an account of her life before the presidency – a period she had never spoken of before."

What role does Vigdís play today, in Iceland and abroad, in your opinion?

"Vigdís is one of the most famous Icelanders of all time, and she enjoys a lot of respect around the world. In consequence, her willingness to introduce Iceland to the world means a lot. For us, she is a symbol of unity: she commands the attention of the entire nation when she speaks up. That's why the last chapter of the book is differently structured from the rest: it's a conversation between me and Vigdís, where we discuss the financial crisis in Iceland – what we did wrong, and how we can deal with the problem."

How could Vigdís' biography speak to foreigners?

"The story of Vigdís isn't only an account of a remarkable person and an unconventional woman – it's also the story of Iceland in the 20^th century. During her lifetime, the entire society was utterly transformed. Iceland went through many upheavals during the course of a few decades, and the book offers a portrait of them, mediated through this one woman. After reading the book, the reader should not only have learned a lot about Vigdís, but also about Iceland – its culture, society and people."

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is guardian of the Friends of Sagenhaftes Island Society.