Iceland Noir 2025
- Lee-Anne Fox
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Lee-Anne Fox
I was pleasantly surprised that the programme for my third Iceland Noir revealed a number of Icelandic authors on the daytime panels. I admit to having mixed feelings about the changes the festival has seen over the years, particularly moving away from the Noir and crime element and focusing more on getting the big names in as headliners, for example, George RR Martin of Game of Thrones fame and Squid Game writer, Hwang Dong-Hyuk. I was thrilled to see some of my favourite authors in person during the festival.
A trio of first responders on the panel “Real World Rescue—Do Crime Novels Get It Right?” were hilarious, regaling us with tales, proving how they use humour to deal with traumatic situations. Kristín Ragna Gunnarsdóttir, the illustrator of the Njáls Saga tapestry, sat on a panel with Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. And two former prime ministers, Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Iceland and Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland, had a conversation about the latter’s book, Frankly—A Memoir.
In the evening, I attended an interview with former First Lady Eliza Reid about her book Death of a Diplomat (US title: Death on the Island). Alexander Dan, author of Shadows of the Short Days, interviewed the Icelandic Guest of Honour Hildur Knútsdóttir about her award-winning book The Night Guest , which has the intriguing premise of a woman who perpetually wakes up exhausted and discovers she has unknowingly walked 40,000 steps overnight. Her new book, Dead Weight, features a woman who considers ways of ridding herself of a dead body as a cure for insomnia, little knowing she might need to put these musings into practice.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings there were panels at the IÐNÓ cultural centre or readings in the Edition Hotel, in a cozy side room. Thursday, I chose the panels at IÐNÓ, one with Syd Moore about her book, The Great Deception, which is set in Iceland during the war, when Britain politely invaded Iceland, who politely allowed it. The second panel had Quentin Bates, my translator friend, interviewing Jón Atli Jónasson, whose book Broken is now being made into a TV series, and Donna Moore, a Glaswegian author of historical crime. I also enjoyed a panel with Joachim Schmidt, the author of the wonderful Kalmann books, set in the little northeastern village of Raufarhöfn, where the neurodivergent eponymous hero with an endearing naivete becomes entangled in a significant crime.
On Friday morning, Joachim Schmidt and Sólveig Pálsdóttir were reading at the Edition Hotel. Quentin Bates is Sólveig’s translator and publisher, and I proofread her books. Joachim has a third Kalmann book in the works but has also been working on a book about Jon Ósmann, the longest-serving ferryman at Héraðsvötn. Sólveig's latest book, Ísbirnir (working English title Ice Bears), is about a social media influencer who disappears after leaving her small daughter with her mother-in-law. The cover with a roaring polar bear is one of my favourites of the year.
Sólveig & Quentin talked with Ævar Örn Jósepsson, their “boss” in the Hið íslenska glæpafélag1 (Icelandic Crime Syndicate) at Fríkirkjan. I'm delighted to hear the Icelandic Roots Book Club has set a date with them in 2026.
Later, we headed to the British Ambassador's party, where we enjoyed cocktails devised by Ambassador Bryony Mathew's husband, Paul, who came up with three criminally good cocktail recipes for Eliza Reid to use as the deadly Flaming Viking cocktail in her novel. Eliza tried all three cocktails, purely in the name of research, you understand! Many English and Icelandic authors were there. Hildur Knútsdóttir, to my delight, introduced me to the wonderful poet, author and climate activist Andri Snær Magnason. I also met Alda Sigmundsdóttir, who I'm sure many of you will know from her Little Book of the Icelanders series and other Little Books. I've been in touch with her online and helped with advanced reads of both the Little Book of the Icelanders at Christmas and her autobiography, Daughter. It was wonderful to meet her in real life.
I chatted with Yrsa Sigurðardóttir about how reading a real book can often make the story “stick” in the mind more than an ebook. I told her how much I had enjoyed her book The Prey, with its shades of the Dyatlov Pass incident. A photographer appeared where we were standing with former festival administrator Hattie Williams, now a
published author herself, and Eliza Reid. I stepped aside so he could take their photo, but Yrsa and the others insisted I be in the photo! Later, an Icelandic friend sent me a link to a Vísir article about the party, and there I was in the photo. Fun fact: the article headline, which roughly translates to “Killer book party at the British Embassy” had been mistranslated by Google as “Fatal Stabbing at British Embassy Book Party.” Quentin said it was a pity we missed out on the bloodbath; it would have made good research!
Ragnar Jónasson, bestselling author and festival organiser, hosted an evening panel with George RR Martin and GoT actor Will Tudor. Martin, speaking of his early career, quoted Robert Heinlein's rules:
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
I confess I may have snorted out loud at this point, and to my horror, I was the only one who did so. Fans have been waiting for him to finish his epic Game of Thrones series for years now; The Winds of Winter, the final book, has taken 14 years…and counting.
Saturday, the final day of the festival, I attended Syd Moore’s reading from The Great Deception. Yrsa Þöll & Gunnar Theodór, whom I had seen separately on their own panels, were reading from an exciting new children's Christmas book. I reviewed the book for Roots News in December 2025.
In the afternoon, Andri Snær spoke about his book, Bónus Poetry. He won't be changing the cover to reflect the updated and sanitised pig that is now the logo of the Icelandic discount store. He also shared his eulogy to the extinct Ok glacier, the wording for which has now been used on two other defunct glaciers in the world— a sobering fact. Andri’s TED talk On Time and Water is well worth watching.
Actor and author Richard Armitage and actors Will Tudor and Anna Friel discussed character building on a panel moderated by Sigríður Pétursdóttir. Lena Olin and her director husband, Lasse Hallström flew in from Sweden to discuss the recent TV serialisation of Ragnar Jónasson’s book The Darkness. Lena stars as the close-to-retirement detective Hulda. I closed the festival with George R.R. Martin in conversation with Laura Haehnel and Yrsa Sigurdardottir. It was a wonderful few days filled with very entertaining talent, new friends and old, and several new books for my TBR pile!
I recommend Iceland Noir to any book lover, especially if you like hearing about crime, mystery or thrillers set in a beautiful country, with a good chance of spotting the aurora on your way home. Many came from the US and Canada, some being repeat attendees. It's an ideal festival for the solo traveller as everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Iceland is well known as being one of the safest countries in the world. Why not give it a try!
Notes:
1word-nerdery: it was my first time seeing “the” in use as a separate word hið, rather than a suffix on félag.
