Land of Love and Ruins

“Oddny Eir is an authentic author, philosopher and mystic. She weaves together diaries and fiction. She is the writer I feel can best express the female psyche of now and has bridged the gap between rural Iceland and Western philosophy. A true pioneer!!!!!!!!”?—Bjork

The winner of the Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize in 2012, Land of Love and Ruins is the debut novel by a daring new voice in international fiction: Oddny Eir. Written in the form of a diary but with fantastical linguistic verve, the narrator sets out on a universal quest: to find a place to belong—and a way of being in the world. Paradoxically, her longing to settle down drives her to embark on all kinds of journeys, physical and mental, through time and space, in order to find answers to questions that concern not only her personally, but also the whole of humankind. She explores various modes of living, ponders different types of relationships and contemplates her bond with her family, land and nation; trying to find a balance between companionship and independence, movement and stability, past, present, and future.

An enchanting blend of autobiography, diary, philosophical inquiry, and fantasy, Land of Love and Ruins is a richly imagined and utterly unique book about being human in the modern world.

Oddny Eir Avarsdottir was born in 1972. She completed a doctoral minor degree at Sorbonne University, as well as carrying out research in Icelandic museum field studies. She has written three autobiographical novels, translated and edited literary works, organised visual arts events and ran a visual arts space in New York and Reykjavik (Dandruff Space) in collaboration with her brother, archaeologist Uggi Avarsson. Together they run the publishing company Apaflasa (Monkey Dandruff). She has also worked as editor of the environmental web site Nattura.info. Heim til mins hjarta was nominated for the cultural prize of the newspaper DV in 2009. Land of Love and Ruins (Jarenaei) was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Award in 2011 and won the Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize in 2012.

Philip Roughton is an award-winning translator of Icelandic literature, currently residing in Reykjavik.?He earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with specialties in medieval Icelandic, medieval Chinese, and Latin literature, and wrote his dissertation on medieval Icelandic translations of saints’ and apostles’ lives.? He has taught modern and world literature at CU-Boulder, and medieval literature at the University of Iceland.?His translations include works by many of Iceland’s best-known writers, including the Nobel laureate Halldor Laxness, Jon Kalman Stefansson, Bergsveinn Birgisson, Steinunn Sigureardottir, and others. He was recently awarded the 2015 American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Competition Prize, for his translation of Halldor Laxness’ novel Gerpla (Wayward Heroes).