Writing in English made me become a foreigner in my own country. It helped me create the necessary distance to my homeland. — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
Iceland is a rich country, but in the early 21st century, this prosperity got to our heads, and in 2008, it collapsed. — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
“— It's Hlynur Bjorn Hafsteinsson, Bergporugotu, 8b, Reykjavik, Iceland. — Is there no postal code? — Oh yes. It's hundred and one Reykjavik. I'm the one.” — Hallgrímur Helgason Copy Share Image
... I stare into the fridge. Like a mirrored image of myself. Cold and empty, and the lights come on only when you open… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
Everything is very expensive in Iceland, so I got some things done in India in the two months I was here. I visited the… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
In Iceland, book lives matter in every sense of that phrase: The shelf-life of the book, the lives in the book, the life of… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
Thanks to the Jolabokaflod, books still matter in Iceland; they get read and talked about. Excitement fills the air. Every reading is crowded; every… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
Like many writers, I'm usually more interested in reading about authors than their actual works. We're more curious to know how they were written… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
I'm trying to write about serious issues, about Iceland's journey into modernity, about the soul of Iceland - on how people react when they… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
We have to save ourselves from ourselves. We have to minimize the effect our own politicians can have on our society. We have to… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
My three years in Manhattan were sort of my university years. I was learning by myself, and it was a tough time. That's when… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
Nabokov can be almost too delicate at times, but in 'Lolita,' he puts his aristocratic sensitivity to use in such a dark tale that… — Hallgrimur Helgason Copy Share Image
