Folk of the land and art-lovers! Readers! Literature enthusiasts – take note! In the coming weeks, the author Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl will travel the fjords of this country, its pubs, libraries and cafés, and read for the nation from his new novel, The Laws of Nature, which is released in bookshops on 19 October. "The Laws of Nature is a love story with supernatural undertones, at once a disciplined historical novel and an unbridled fantasy. It is set in Ísafjörður in 1925 and is about (among other things!) a hundred drunken priests and one reluctant bishop – but also the shopkeeper Engilráð in the Tower and the newspaper girl Rósa Maja at the Lúðrasveinn, the half-man Séra Jónas and the sel Imba, God Almighty in the heavens and even the devil himself, if you look closely enough.

In addition to reading, Eiríkur will talk with readers, viewers and listeners about the setting, faith and superstition, love and treacherous nature, the nature of people, mountains and the sea, and all manner of disasters – and possibly even show pictures! The book will then be on sale and the autograph pen will be at the ready.

Hafnarfjörður: Hafnarfjörður Library
14 November at 17:00

About the book from the publisher, Mál og menning:

„Have you heard the legend that says if seven priests and one one-eyed man stand before the doors of the Ísafjörður church, the whole of Gleiðarhjalli will come loose from the Eyrarfjall and collapse on the town? And that this will bring an end to all human settlement in Ísafjörður?“

Early in the summer of 1925, the youngest, most handsome and at the same time most reluctant bishop of Iceland, Mr Jón Hallvarðsson, has called a clergy conference in Ísafjörður. The main purpose seems to be to defy the superstitions of the locals and to demonstrate the power of Christianity in the face of paganism, spiritualism and the forces of nature. But with his stunt, the bishop sets in motion an unpredictable seven-day course of events in which the natural landscape interacts with the human element.

The Laws of Nature is a novel that offers a unique and carnival-like portrayal of life in the town of Ísafjörður during a period of great transformation in the history of the nation and the entire world. It plays with sources and historical facts in a captivating and highly entertaining story.

About the author:

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is a writer, translator and poet.

He has published nine novels, most recently The Laws of Nature. His books have been translated into numerous languages and published around the world. For the novel Evil, he received the Icelandic Literary Award, The Prix des Lecteurs de la Fnac, the French Transfuge Prize (which he also won for *Foolishness*), and the book was also nominated for the Nordic Council's Literary Prize, the Médicis Prize and the Prix Meilleur Livre Étranger. Eiríkur has also published eight poetry collections, one children's book, edited two books on poetry, published a collection of essays on poetry in English, and written a short book on book theft and copyright. In addition, he has translated numerous books, including selected poems by Allen Ginsberg, a collection of international avant-garde poetry, and the novel Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, for which he received the Icelandic Translation Prize in 2008. His most recent translation is *White Noise* by Athena Farrokhzad, which was published in 2017 by Mál og menning.

Eiríkur has been an artist-in-residence at the Vatnasafnið in Stykkishólmur, courtesy of the Municipality of Stykkishólmur and the Art Angel art fund, as well as at Villa Martinson in Jonsered, Sweden (2015) and at AIR Krems in Austria (2018). In 2010, Eiríkur received an award from the Fjölis Fund. Eiríkur was the City Artist of Ísafjörður 2014-2015. He has received an award for the Jón úr Vör Poetry Stave, the 2017 DV Culture Award for the poetry collection Óratorrek, and a special mention at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin, the Sparibollan for the most beautiful love confession and the Red Feather, an erotic style award from the reading society Krummi. The children's book Frankensleikir was also nominated for the Icelandic Book Awards 2022 and the Reykjavík City Children's Book Award.