Andri Snær Magnason's Blog

Introduction to the guest article by Andri Snær Magnason with photos by Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir

The peak of Okjokull mountain, or Ok mountain, in the west of Iceland.  Photo by Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir

As a writer I have always tried to understand the importance of words and stories. I write in Icelandic, which clearly shows the connection between the land and the language.

After just over a thousand years of human habitation, the surface of Iceland is covered with an invisible layer of stories — places carry names derived from historical events, folklore and geology. Since we speak a language that is spoken only on this island, we can see when ideas arrive and how they spread until they become a new paradigm of thought.

One of the last places in Iceland to be named and explored was the plateau of Vatnajokull glacier. It was a tabula rasa, without names or stories because previous generations had no means of navigating the area. I had the privilege to be close to some of the pioneers who named many places on the glacier. My grandparents were founding partners of the Icelandic Glacial Research Society. Their honeymoon in 1956 was a three-week journey to map and measure this largest glacier in Europe. The peak in the center of it is called Brúðarbunga — “The belly of the bride.”

In my guest essay for Times Opinion — in collaboration with the photographer Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir — I explore what it means to be a writer now that nature is changing faster than the language we use to describe it. Changes that used to take thousands, even millions, of years can now be witnessed in decades or a single lifetime. When I was young, glaciers were a symbol of eternity, but since 1995 they have been collapsing so rapidly that the names we gave them don’t seem to apply to the reality of the landscape.

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Two granite memorials bearing messages from acclaimed authors Manjushree Thapa and Andri Snær Magnason will be unveiled on May 12, 2025 at the rapidly retreating Yala Glacier in Nepal’s Langtang Valley, in a poignant tribute to one of the Himalaya’s most studied and endangered glaciers.

The ceremony, set to take place at an altitude of over 5,000 metres, will bring together scientists, monks, villagers, and government officials, stated a press note by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). It will begin with a Buddhist prayer led by local monks, followed by speeches from glaciologists and central government representatives. Attendees will then tour the glacier site, viewing photographic comparisons that starkly illustrate the glacier’s retreat from 1974 to the present.

Yala Glacier, long used to train Nepal’s glaciologists due to its accessibility, is forecast to vanish by 2040. Its memorial plaques, carved into local Nepali granite, bear inscriptions in English, Nepali and the locally spoken Tibetan language. The text includes a reading of current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and Magnason’s haunting words: “We know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.” Dill mark the third global glacier to bear Magnason’s climate message, following memor for Iceland’s OK Glacier in 2019 and Mexico’s Ayoloco Glacier in 2021. The tribute forms part of Nepal’s contributions to the United Nations’ International Year for Glaciers’ Preservation 2025. It also coincides with the lead-up to the Sagarmatha Sambaad summit, where glacier loss and its consequences for food, water and energy security are set to dominate discussions. A community gathering was held on May 9 in the nearby village of Mundu, offering local residents and scientists an opportunity to share knowledge and personal stories of change in the region. Experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Tribhuvan University and Kathmandu University are expected to attend the event, underscoring Yala’s significance both as a research site and a symbol of the accelerating climate crisis in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

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I will be a guest performer with the Kronos Quartet in Nalen in Stockholm the 11th of May. Really looking forward to going on stage with that legendary group. Here is more information about the event – in Swedish:

Världsberömda och genreöverskridande Kronos Quartet gästar Stockholm för första gången på tio år när de inviger Strange Attractors på Nalen – en ny serie evenemang där konst och vetenskap möts för att utforska mänsklighetens framtid.

– Om Radiohead spelade fioler skulle de låta som Kronos Quartet. Mer Yorke än Bach,” säger Owen Gaffney, VD för Planetary Stewardship och initiativtagare till Strange Attractors. 

Polarprisbelönade, trefaldigt Grammy-vinnande, rastlösa och extraordinärt experimentella – Kronos Quartet har genom åren samarbetat och framträtt live med profiler som punklegenden Patti Smith, den inuitiska strupsångaren Tanya Tagaq, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Waits, Rhiannon Giddens, k.d. lang och The National. 

I maj återvänder Kronos Quartet till Stockholm för första gången på tio år. Tillsammans med den prisbelönte isländske författaren och filmskaparen Andri Snær Magnason framför Kronos Quartet bland annat ett smakprov av det kommande projektet “A Farewell to Glaciers” och inviger Strange Attractors – en ny serie evenemang utformade för att föra samman stora konstnärer med världsledande tänkare, författare och vetenskapsmän. 

Bakom Strange Attractors står Per Olsson, biträdande forskningschef vid Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholms universitet, och Owen Gaffney, VD för Planetary Stewardship. 

– Vi vill föra samman världens mest inspirerande konstnärer och tänkare för att utforska nya idéer, föreställa sig vägar mot en bättre framtid och belysa hur omvälvande förändring är möjlig. Det är vårt mål med Strange Attractors, säger Per Olsson, biträdande forskningschef vid Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholms universitet. 

Under Strange Attractors uppträder Andri Snær Magnason och Kronos Quartet också vid platsen för Sveriges första kärnreaktor, R1 Reaktorhallen, vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH). I år är det 80 år sedan den första atombomben detonerades, och evenemanget i reaktorhallen hålls för att diskutera mänsklighetens ansvar för vår framtid och biosfären. 

– Vi lever i en mycket turbulent tid, och människor är oroliga för framtiden. Med Strange Attractors vill vi skapa en plats där vi kan försöka förstå vad som händer, ingjuta hopp och utforska meningsfulla sätt att engagera oss, säger Per Olsson, biträdande forskningschef vid Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholms universitet. 

Strange Attractors med Kronos Quartet och Andri Snær Magnason presenteras av Stockholm Resilience Centre vid Stockholms universitet och Planetary Stewardship i samarbete med Nalen och Luger.  

Biljett- och evenemangsinformation: 

Vad: Strange Attractors med Kronos Quartet & Andri Snær Magnason 
Plats: Nalen, Stockholm
När: 11 maj 2025, klockan 20.00
Biljetter: 495 SEK + service köps via nalen.com eller luger.se
Biljettsläpp onsdag den 26 mars klockan 10.00.

ÄMNEN: NALEN KONSERT & KLUBB

I över hundra år har Nalen varit en samlings- och mötesplats i centrala Stockholm. I dag arrangeras här fler än 100 konserter och klubbar årligen och i den palatsliknande miljön hålls fester, möten och konferenser. Nalen Restaurang med ingång på hörnet av huset är en svensk bistro med ambition att bli en av Stockholms mysigaste kvarterskrogar. Nalen är ett dotterbolag till SAMI – Svenska Artisters och Musikers Intresseorganisation.

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I am collaborating with Arnhildur Pálmadóttir and her team at SAP Architects for the exhibition of the Icelandic Pavillion in the Venice Biennale of Architecture. This is the first time Iceland has a special pavilion. Lavaforming is a speculative project, visioning Iceland in 2150 where floating lava is harnessed as a building material.

“In our story, placed in 2150, we have harnessed the lava flow, just as we did with geothermal energy 200 years earlier in Iceland. The main goal of Lavaforming is to show that architecture can be the force that rethinks and shapes a new future with sustainability, innovation, and creative thinking. A lava flow can contain enough building material for the foundations of an entire city to rise in a matter of weeks without harmful mining and non-renewable energy generation. Lavaforming is exploring a building material that has never been used before. The theme is both a proposal and a metaphor – architecture is in a paradigm shift, many of our current methods have been deemed obsolete or harmful in the long term. In our current predicament – we need to be bold, think in new ways, look at challenges and find the right resources.” 

Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, curator, architect, founder and creative director of  Lavaforming

My role is to join the team in world building, research, imagining futures, taking “interviews” with the first inhabitants of the city, the activists that squatted the first spaces and the scientists that developed the technology. Our hall is just outside the Arsenale – so we have an excellent location.

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In March I had the honor to open the two day SMI conference in the Hampton Court Palace in London with the good help of Högni Egilsson and children from the Grasmere School in the heart of the Lake District.

Marking 5 years of the Sustainable Markets Initiative by King Charles and the Terra Carta, we saw hundreds of CEOs, innovators and political figures gather at Hampton Court Palace, London.

Their mission: to mobilise the trillions of dollars in investment required to progress towards a sustainable future. Throughout the Palace’s numerous chambers, halls and staterooms the focus was on collaboration, innovation, and action.

The Terra Carta is a manifesto that echos the 800 year old Magna Carta. While the Magna Carta stated that we should all abide by the law, even the King, the Terra Carta updates that for our times – we should also all abide by the laws of nature.

For an Icelandic poet this was of course quite significant, as I am not sure and Icelandic poet has done anything for the King of England since Egill Skallagrímsson fought for Aðalsteinn (Adelstan) the first king of England in 937, according to this text here in Egils Saga. Egill made a scaldic poem about Aðalsteinn, and as a poets mead he got from the King two marks of gold and an expensive cape that the king himself had previously warn. I did not have the chance to make a poem about Charles in this visit. I spoke about glaciers and time, and the handshake of generations: “When is someone still alive that you will love.”

I had a nice short conversation with King Charles as we had a mutual friend, Orri Vigfússon, founder of NASF, the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, that died a few years ago, he was an important advocate for nature and the future of the Salmon, often called the king of the Icelandic Rivers. King Charles said he missed him dearly.

The post Celebrating the Terra Carta first appeared on Andri Magnason.

I am coming to Hamburg for an event the 3rd of July. Follow here for more information!

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Grand Prix Marulić is one of the main prizes for outstanding radio in Europe. The first prize this year in the the documentary goes to „Lights Out: Dust“ by the authors Eleanor McDowell and Mike Woolley from the Falling Tree Production in the UK. I had the honour to be featured in this documentary along with renowned visual artist Katie Paterson from Scotland. Here you can find all the winners and categories.

Dust was made by Eleanor McDowall, with music that moved from starlit nights to the depths of the oceans composed by Phil Smith and Zac Gvi, mixed by Mike Woolley and exec’d by Alan Hall. The beautifully recorded journey to Okjökull was by Guðni Tómasson.

More about the program can be found here

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I just wrote an article for The Guardian about the the latest volcanic activities here in Iceland. How the carnival time of the Disney volcanoes of the last three years has turned into something a bit more serious.

In July 2023, I followed a parade of people to what felt like a carnival on the Reykjanes peninsula, where three eruptions have taken place in the past three years. On the hill overlooking the volcano there was a photoshoot for a skin product, on the other side someone was making a music video and next to them two Chinese women were posing in evening gowns. Another couple had set up a table with a white cloth and were enjoying a romantic dinner. The air was buzzing with drones and helicopters and a leading tourist operator hoped the eruption would last into the autumn so he could offer volcanic northern lights tours … click here for the full article!

Not to get me wrong that we should not have embraced this short moment of small and rather safe eruptions. It is wonderful that we could for once enjoy a volcanic eruption – it was a gift – I went about 15 times to see the eruptions, the greatest spectacle on earth. Here are some photos. For those that are superstitious and think human hubris can trigger volcanoes – I saw a few silly things so it was probably not the pole dancer that angered the gods.

I had the honour to work with audio wizard Eleanor McDowall on her last feature of the “Lights Out” series on BBC Radio four. The program has been aired but is available online here. Eleanor and Guðni Tómasson follow me on a journey past Þingvellir up to the sight of the former Ok glacier with thoughts about language and mythology. Also featured is one of my favourite artists, Katie Paterson, but we walked the mountain together in the year 2021.

“I noticed that language seems to fail us. How do you write about the foundations of our existence? That is how mythology enters very naturally into the story, because history is about ideas, religions, empires, wars and culture. Mythology is about the fundaments. Sun, moon, wind, oceans, great floods and tragic gods… We are living in mythological times, where we are shaking the fundaments.” – Andri Snær Magnason

Drawing on ideas in his book, On Time and Water, the Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason and the Scottish artist Katie Paterson explore how our imagination can help us hold the moment we live in. From handfuls of dust to watching geological time mark the landscape, this documentary flows from the night skies into the deepest known point in our oceans.

Archive recording from Raddir – Voices: Recordings of Folk Songs courtesy of the Árni Magnússon Institute
‘Vatnajökull (the sound of)’ recording courtesy of Katie Paterson

Recording of the journey to Okjökull by Guðni Tómasson
Music composed and performed by Phil Smith and Zac Gvi

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

The program has been reviewed in The Irish Times and in the Guardian:

“Produced by the gifted Eleanor McDowall of Falling Tree Productions, Lights Out: Dust is a beautiful, imaginative response to our dying planet that lingers in your thoughts long after the spoken words have faded.” Nuala McCann The Irish Times.

Eleanor McDowall, co-head of indie production house Falling Tree and one of the UK’s most admired production talents. Falling Tree make Lights Out for Radio 4, and Dust, beautiful, careful, wild, is apparently the last ever Lights Out series. 

Coming up – Andri Snær Magnason is the Keynote Speaker of the 82nd annual gathering of the Thoreau Society. Thoreau and the politics of extinction. Follow the link to register, online or in person.

Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer and documentary film director. He writes novels, children’s books, essays, poetry, and nonfiction books. His book On Time and Water has been translated to more than 30 languages. He has been active in the fight against the destruction of the Icelandic Highlands. His book Dreamland: A Self Help Manual for a Frightened Nation takes on these issues, and his text for the memorial of Ok glacier became widely read around the world. He ran for President of Iceland in 2016 with environmental issues on his agenda. He spent some of his early years in New England and now lives in Reykjavik.

(https://andrimagnason.com/wp-en/)

“When I consider that the nobler animals have been exterminated here—the cougar—panther—lynx—wolverine wolf—bear moose–deer, the beaver, the turkey &c &c—I cannot but feel as if I lived in a tamed &, as it were, emasculated country—Would not the motions of those larger & wilder animals have been more significant still—Is it not a maimed & imperfect nature that I am conversant with? . . . The whole civilized country is to some extent turned into a city, and I am that citizen, whom I pity.”

–Henry David Thoreau, the Journal, March 23, 1856