Thursday 10.3 at 6pm: Talk on Eitur fyrir byrjendur (Poison for Beginners) by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl

 Dear friend of Arkadia, You are warmly invited to a discussion on Eitur fyrir byrjendur (Poison for Beginners) by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl on Thursday 10.3 at 6pm. Poison for Beginners has been recently published in German by Kozempel & Timm and will soon be published in Swedish by Rámus. The author will discuss the book – and perhaps some of his other books – with literary scholar Mathias Rosenlund and do a short reading of a chapter from Poison for Beginners in English. The event will be English and hopefully some words will be uttered in Icelandic Warm regards, Ian www.arkadiabookshop.fiEntrance is free and green tea will be offered. A donation of €2 (or more!) to fund the event is suggested and would be most welcome! Poison for Beginners: Halldór is unemployed and living in Reykjavík. Something’s not right in his life. He lives with Dísa, a philosophy student who lost a child in a car accident. They are not lovers, yet sometimes they wish they were. When Halldór, under mysterious circumstances, loses the ability to leave the house, and Dísa brings into the home a poisonous house plant – a burning bush – as well as a new man, Högni, a student of gender-studies, Halldór feels himself beginning to fade. Eitur fyrir byrjendur has been published to great praise in Iceland and Germany and is forthcoming in Sweden. “A thoroughly nerve-wracking story hardly to be recommended for delicate souls. Eiríkur Örn has no reservations about delving into the darkest recesses of man and pulling out alls sorts of filth and perversion. […] A tremendously well written book.” – Sigríður Albertsdóttir – DV Newspaper, Iceland “Up until now I could only imagine that great writers like Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl lived and wrote in Iceland […] a book for all human beings and all those who wish they were.” – Katharina Thiel – Kreuzberg Liest, Germany. Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is an Icelandic author and poet who has to date published three novels and whose poetry has been translated into many languages, including Polish, Estonian, Swedish, Danish, English, Spanish, Slovakian, German, Finnish, Mandarin and French. He has been called a ‘Snorri Sturluson for the 21st century’ and ‘a despicable eunuch, the progeny of a toaster and a handbook on assembling cluster bombs. And the first and greatest poet of 21st century Iceland.’ Besides writing books Eiríkur regularly performs sound poetry at various festivals in Europe and North America, and his visual poetry has been exhibited, printed and screened in many countries. In 2010 he won a Special Mention at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. In 2009 he received the Icelandic Translators Award for his translation of Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn and in 2007 he received ‘The Red Feather’ – a prize for erotic writing – for a chapter in Poison for Beginners. Eiríkur lives in Oulu, Finland, with his family. Mathias Rosenlund is working on a Master’s Degree in Nordic literature at Helsinki University. He has a particular interest in 20th century Central European and American literature. He has written short stories and is writing a novel at the present time.