Lesung im Garten Pristin 24.05.2025 Das Alphabet des Feuers Poesie aus Island von und mit Jón Thor Gíslason und Wolfgang Schiffer

In the organizer's words:

Reading in the Pristin Garden 24.05.2025

The Alphabet of Fire - Poetry from Iceland

by and with Jón Thor Gíslason and Wolfgang Schiffer

One paints, the other writes. Together they form the translator duo Gíslason/Schiffer and translate poems from the rich treasure trove of Icelandic poetry into German. To date, they have published a good ten books, most of which have been edited bilingually, and several articles in literary journals and anthologies; the two of them also "populate" the online literary journal Signaturen-Magazin with their own series of current poetry from the island of fire and ice: Wortlaut Island.

Drawing on all this, Jón Thor Gíslason and Wolfgang Schiffer take their guests into the lyrical cosmos of Icelandic poetry, from pioneers of literary modernism in Iceland such as Jón úr Vör and Stefán Hörður Grímsson to subsequent authors such as Steinunn Sigurðardóttir, Linda Vilhjámsdóttir, Sigurður Pálsson, Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson or Sjón to Fríða Ísberg, Dagur Hjartarson or Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir and thus exemplarily to the younger poets of Iceland's current poetic landscape.

Conclusion: While literature, and poetry in particular, was considered the greatest of all arts on the island in the Arctic Ocean in earlier years, even today, in the age of streaming, computer games and AI, poetry in particular has lost little of its cultural and social power. The nation likes poetry, it loves its poets, it honors them with appreciation and prizes that are explicitly geared towards poetry.

Jón Thor Gíslason, born in Hafnarfjörður in 1957, has lived in Germany as a visual artist since the early 1990s; professional pop musician in Iceland until 1988, then postgraduate studies (master class) at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart; occasional correspondent in Germany (art and culture) for the Icelandic daily newspaper Morgunblaðið. Publications: Stories in cultural supplements of the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið as well as various translations of Icelandic poetry in collaboration with Wolfgang Schiffer, mainly for ELIF Verlag.

Wolfgang Schiffer, born in 1946 in Nettetal/Lower Rhine, lives in Cologne and Prague. He works as a translator from Icelandic and as an editor and writes prose and poetry. His most recent publications include his poetry collection "Dass die Erde einen Buckel werfe" (ELIF Verlag 2022), the translations "Lose Blätter" by Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson (2023) and "nachtarbeit" by Sjón (2024, both co. with Jón Thor Gíslason (ELIF Verlag) as well as the poetry collections "Gespräche mit dem Enkel", with illustrations by Jón Thor Gíslason (Corvinus Presse 2024), and "Ich höre dem Regen zu" (ELIF Verlag 2024). Wolfgang Schiffer has received several prizes and awards, including the Knight's Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1991 and the Icelandic Culture Prize in 1994 for his services to the dissemination of Icelandic literature and culture.