Sjon on Poetry and Iceland

Born in Reykjavik in 1962, Sjón is a celebrated Icelandic novelist. He won the Nordic Council's Literary Prize for his novel 'The Blue Fox' (the Nordic countries' equivalent of the Man Booker Prize) and the novel 'From The Mouth Of The Whale' was shortlisted for both the IMPAC  Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His novel 'Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was' was awarded every Icelandic literature prize, among them the 2013 Icelandic Literary Prize. His latest published work is the definite edition of the trilogy CoDex 1962.

Also a poet, librettist and lyricist, Sjón has published nine poetry collections, written four opera librettos and lyrics for various artists.

We talk here about the influence of David Bowie; modernist poetry; self publishing and promotion; the Icelandic penchant for collaboration; the Surrealist metaphor; respect among practitioners of different art forms in Iceland; Guy Madden; magpies; Icelandic folklore and sagas; beginnings and creation stories; dream logic; story-telling and figuring out life; myths and metamorphosis, the Future Library Project; Reykjavik, city of literature; literary tourism; and his forthcoming book CoDex 62.