Forlagið, Iceland's leading publishing house, presents Ísland pólerað by Ewa Marcinek. A bittersweet collection of stories, poems, and anecdotes about immigrant life in Iceland.
After a painful divorce and a sexual assault from a stranger, a young Polish woman grabs an opportunity and moves to Iceland to start a new life. Yet, the new chapter is filled with half-blind encounters and quirky dialogues with customers of a small Reykjavík restaurant, linguistic mishaps, and attempts to rediscover herself in a new country and a new language.
Ísland polerað is an autobiographical collection of stories, poems, and anecdotes, fragments of everyday conversations, thoughts, memories, and observations. The title of the book comes from a play on words, Polish and to polish, referring to physical work, the most common form of the first employment among immigrants moving to Iceland.
LANGUAGE: ICELANDIC
Translation: Helga Soffía Einarsdóttir
Design: Alexandra Buhl / Forlagið
Published by: JPV útgáfa · Forlagið
Reykjavík · 2022
ISBN 978-9935-29-246-9
www.forlagid.is
media coverage
12/05/2022
SKÁLD.IS: "We need to keep counting the loops and keep our eyes on the needles" - interview with Ewa Marcinek.
With irony and warmth at the same time, Ewa artistically draws on amusing situations and ironic conversations as she recounts a painful experience. Although the work is the poet's first published book, she has been very active in Icelandic literary life in recent years. Ewa is one of the founders of Ós Pressan and Reykjavík Ensemble. She is one of the authors of the poetry book “Pólífónía af erlendum uppruna”, which was published last year, and was also a columnist at Tímarit Mál og menningar in 2021.
- Guðrún Steinþórsdóttir og Helga Jónsdóttir
