Dreamland can now be seen online in Europe via Icelandic Cinema Online. If you are in America you can see it via Indiepix.

For more information see here: www.dreamland.is

Vandana Shiva, the famous environmental activist came to visit Iceland a few days ago to speak for the University of Iceland. More information about Vandana can be found here. Her speech can be seen here: Part  1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Andri Snær Magnason was invited to ask her a question in the panel discussion afterwards and here is a recording of that session. Here are the questions from the others participating in the panel:

Kristín Vala:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJKYEuyaGvY

Stefán:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIbTzAQjmyE

Dominique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZd5o02szOQ

Andri Snær:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mPsYZcz9h0

Guðmundur Páll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFLlgi3sD8c

Sound recorder Chris Watson came to Iceland record sounds and remember the one year anniversary of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Andri Snær Magnason and other Icelanders are interviewed here in this BBC Radio 4 program. BBC introduction is here:

“12 months after Iceland’s ash cloud grounded global air transport, leading sound recordist Chris Watson reveals the secrets of one of Iceland’s more literary but no less famous volcanoes.

A boyhood Jules Verne fan, Chris will retrace the steps of Professor and Axel Lidenbrock from Reykjavik to his favourite place in the world – Snaefellsjokull – the glacier that contains the passage to the Centre of the Earth in Verne’s 1864 seminal work of Science Fiction. Along the way he’ll encounter communities affected by the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull, talking to people who live within this geologically charged environment and meeting artists and musicians who have been inspired by their volcanic landscape.

Tying in with Verne’s theme of geographical exploration, to reach Snaefellsjokull – known to locals simply as Jules Verne’s Volcano – Chris will travel through one of Iceland’s most beautiful National Parks and will use his extraordinary recording techniques to reveal the natural sounds of this unique environment. The sounds of bubbling mud pools and sulphurous springs mirroring Jules Verne’s deep connection to the physical world.

Revealing interviews with leading figures from Iceland’s vibrant arts scene: including the keyboardist of Sigur Ros and best-selling Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason will combine with Chris’s recordings as he creates his own sonic adventure in the shadow of Jules Verne’s novel and Iceland’s volcanoes.

Producer: Rose de Larrabeiti
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.”

Andri Snær Magnason is in Budapest the 15th and 16th of April. The Story of the Blue Planet has been published in Hungarian. More information here:

http://www.koinonia.ro/?hir=35

Andri is reading at the Leipziger Buchmesse – then in Muffatwerk Munchen – Monday the 21st of March, then in Felleshus Berlin Tuesday the 22nd of March.

Iceland is the honorary guest of the Frankfurt Bookfair 2011. Three books of Andri Snær Magnason are now available in German:

Traumland, by Orange Press, 2011.

LoveStar, by Lubbe 2010 – (new paperback in 2011)

Die Geschichte auf dem Blauen Planeten, by Leipziger Kinderbuchverlag, 2006.

Two short stories are also available in Flugelrauschen by Steidl Verlag and soon some poetry and a new short story will be published.

Dreamland has been published in Germany by Orange Press. Author Andri Snær Magnason will do readings and screenings from the film in Germany the next week. Starting in the Leipziger Buchmesse, going to Munchen on Monday, then to Berlin on Tuesday.

Auf der Messe:
Lesung | 18.3. | 14:30 – 15 Uhr
Leseinsel der Jungen Verlage | Halle 5, Stand C200

Gespräch | 19.3 | 10:30 – 11 Uhr
Nordisches Forum | Halle 4, Stand D307

In der Stadt:
Einführung & Film | 19.03. | 20 Uhr
GRASSI Museum f. Völkerkunde | Johannisplatz 5-11

Lesung, Film & Diskussion | 19.3. | 22- 24 Uhr
Horns Erben | Arndtstr. 33

Gespräch | 20.3. | 15 – 16 Uhr
ARTE | Glashalle, Stand 11

weitere Infos unter: www.leipziger-buchmesse.de

I took part in the Chengdu and Beijing international literary festival in the Bookworm. During the visit to China we flew to Xichang and from there we drove to visit a school that was built by donations from Iceland. Soon after the devastating earthquake in Sichuan in May 2008, the Icelandic Business Forum started a fund-raising for victims in the quake-hit area. RMB 500,000 was raised and a new school was built in Huidong County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Area of Sichuan Province. Binghua Hope Primary School was formally opened in March 2010. All the kids got a copy of the Blue Planet that had just been published in Chinese. I was not sure if the kids could actually read the book – but here is the proof. We hope that in the future some schools in Iceland will create a formal friendship relationship with the school.

Andri Snær Magnason – is in China. After seeing the film Social Network on board flight HU7148 with Hainan Airlines from Chengdu to Beijing I thought it would be a good idea to make a Facebook status about it. But no Facebook in China. But if you are in China – you can still be my friend and meet me here, tomorrow at 10:00 or 14:00. More about China in the next posts.

Andri Snær Magnason is in one of the documentaries nominated to the Oscars 2011 – Inside Job by Charles Ferguson. The film starts in Iceland, with an interview with Andri Snær Magnason and some footage from Dreamland. The Award ceremony is sunday. Here is a review.

Andri Snær Magnason is off to Ireland to take part in this, the The Northern Lighs Collaboratory in Dublin.