Writers' Residency Programme

Guðrún Eva Minervudóttir at the 2008 anniversary. Photograph by Anna Stykkisholmsposturinn

The writers so far:
2011: Julie Ault
2010: Thordis Bjornsdottir
2010: Oddný Eir Aevarsdóttir
2009: Óskar Árni Óskarsson
2008: Anne Carson
2008: Rebecca Solnit
2007: Guðrún Eva Minervudóttir

Language and writing have been a core element in Horn’s work over the past two decades. Icelandic literary culture is unique, as a predominantly oral tradition persisted until much later than in other Western cultures. It therefore seemed apt that the activity of creative writing be integral to Horn’s vision to give the library building a new life as VATNASAFN.

An annual writers’ residency program has been established at VATNASAFN. A modest but comfortable apartment and writing studio was constructed in the basement of the existing building. Writers are selected by a distinguished panel to receive funding and living space at VATNASAFN for a period of three - six months (from May through October). They may come from the fields of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or screenwriting, or from the natural sciences. The residency alternates between Iceland-based and overseas writers, and began with Icelandic author Guðrún Eva Minervudóttir in 2007.

The residency model is one that has been well developed in the United States and in Europe but until this point there were not any operational programs in Iceland. The writer-in-residence acts as a catalyst for organised readings, both of their own work and that of others: the residency at VATNASAFN is intended to offer not only a place for reflection but also for sharing the experience of writing.