2020: Pause & Connect

In 2020, during the height of the global pandemic, the Iceland Writers Retreat and what should have been the inaugural Iceland Readers Retreat, took a pause. We kept our former and would-be participants engaged through social media and by offering two online events. Our first event was an Introduction to Icelandic Literature that featured writer, poet and former IWR faculty Gerður Kristný, crime writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir, poet and former IWR volunteer Fríða Ísberg, and writer and poet Mazen Maarouf. This was moderated by IWR Co-Founder Eliza Reid and co-presented with Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature. Our second event was an hour long workshop with acclaimed author Neel Mukherjee calling in from London to talk about point of view before bestselling author and food critic Ruth Reichl joined from New York to talk about writing memoir. With the events open to the public and livestreamed on Facebook and through other channels, we had questions and comments pour in from around the world. While the mini, virtual events weren’t quite like a gathering in Reykjavik, seeing our new and familiar writer friends interact was just the medicine we needed to help us through this trying time.