Nordic Literature in Hamburg
From 24–27 November 2025, Hamburg hosts the Nordische Literaturtage — a biennial festival bringing together writers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
The festival’s premise is to foster genuine encounters with Nordic voices: readings are often in the original languages with German translations, and participants engage in both literary and socio-political conversations.
Notable authors appearing this year include Linn Ullmann from Norway, who opens the festival with her autofictional novel Mädchen, 1983, as well as Kathrine Nedrejord, the first Sami writer ever featured at the event. Also participating are Helle Helle from Denmark, Finnish authors Katja Kettu and Susanna Hast, Danish poet Cecilie Lind.
On Wednesday November 26th at 19:30 Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia and fellow author Berit Glanz will explore how history, genetics, and storytelling intersect in their work. They discuss how Pedro Gunnlaugur’s multi-generational Icelandic family epic Unser leuchtendes Leben weaves myth and memory across time, while Glanz’s novel Unter weitem Himmel examines the randomness of origin through historical lineage and genetic research.
The venue is the elegant Literaturhaus Hamburg, located at Schwanenwik 38.
For tickets and further information visit:
https://www.literaturhaus-hamburg.de/veranstaltungen/pedro-gunnlaugur-garcia-is-2025-11-26/
Berlin, Leipzig, Kiel, Greifswald (Plus One More)
Over the past six months, I’ve had the pleasure of presenting Unser leuchtendes Leben at a series of wonderful literary events across Germany — from Felleshus of the Nordic Embassies in Berlin to the Leipzig Book Fair, the Nordischer Klang festival in Greifswald, and the Literaturhaus in Kiel. I’m grateful for the warm receptions and the thoughtful conversations these events sparked. Now, with a bit of quiet between travels, it’s time to turn my focus to writing the next novel. One more trip to Germany awaits in November — more on that later …
Spanish Translation & Interview in El Mundo
Pulmones, the Spanish edition of Lungu, is now out, published by Editorial AdN (Grupo Anaya). To mark the occasion, I had the opportunity to speak with El Mundo, Spain’s second-largest daily newspaper, about the novel and its themes — memory, migration, and magic.
Full online version here:
https://www.elmundo.es/la-lectura/2025/04/28/68092a5dfdddff0b448b45b8.html
The Spanish translation, by Rafael Garcia Perez, was published on March 27th and distributed in Spain and Latin America, with a cover that features an illustration of one of the protagonists of the novel: the mighty Júpíter, rooster-king of Hörgárdalur in the north of Iceland.
Author Visit in Poland
The Polish translation of Lungs has been warmly received in Poland, reaching an impressive fifth place in the translated fiction category at the country’s largest bookstore chain. In March, the author was invited on a three-city tour—visiting Gdańsk, Poznań, and Warsaw—to engage with readers.
LeV Literary Festival in Portugal
In April, I took part in LeV — Literatura em Viagem — in Matosinhos, Portugal, where I presented Pulmões, the Portuguese edition of Lungu, in the language of my childhood. The festival reminds us: mais importante que o destino é a viagem — the journey is more important than the destination.
Iceland Writers Retreat 2025
This spring, I had the pleasure of joining the faculty of the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavík, where I led two workshops with a wonderful group of international participants — one on Historical Fiction and another on Magical Realism. It was a joy to explore the craft of storytelling together, exchanging ideas and inspirations with esteemed writers such as Helen Macdonald, Curtis Sittenfeld, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Danny Ramadan, Meng Jin, Kevin Chong, Jann Arden, Rick Jervis and Þórdís Elva.
New Poetry Translation
Join us on March 3rd at Skálda Bookshop in Reykjavík for the launch of Eignatal, Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia’s Icelandic translation of the latest poetry collection by Francesca Cricelli, Brazilian poet who has been living in Iceland for half a decade. The experience of migration, adaptation, and estrangement is deeply woven into the fabric of her work, where landscapes—both physical and emotional—shift and dissolve.
In Eignatal (Inventário in the Portuguese original) Francesca Cricelli crafts a poetry of movement and memory, exploring themes of displacement, belonging, and the fragile structures that hold our lives together. The poems traverse the liminal spaces between past and present, home and exile, city and sea. The rhythm of the verses mirrors the ebb and flow of identity—how it is dismantled, reconstructed, and reimagined through distance and time.
We invite you to an evening of poetry, conversation, and celebration of this powerful work. Don’t miss this chance to meet the author and translator, hear readings, and engage with the layered themes of Eignatal in an intimate setting. Musical performace by Þorgerður Ása.
📅 Date: March 3rd 2025 📍 Location: Skálda Bookshop, Vesturgata 10a.
📚 Publisher: Dimma
New Year, New Translations
Płuca – the Polish translation of Lungs – will be published on the 29th of January as part of Poznańskie’s Scandinavian series. The lovely cover by Ula Pągowska features lungs that evoke both tree branches and family trees – with little olives subtly pictured as well, referencing an anecdote early in the book that is based on a true story from the author’s family history.
The novel was brought into Polish by the skilled hand of veteran translator Jacek Godek.
Translations of the novel into Spanish will also be published this year, with French and Brazilian Portuguese following in early 2026.
Makin’ Headlines
The publication of the Portuguese translation of Lungu, Pulmões, (and the arrival of its half-Portuguese author) were met with enthusiasm by the Portuguese media, as several networks and newspapers covered the book release.
RTP 2
TVI
SIC
Jornal da Noite
Comunidade Cultura e Arte
JL – Journal de letras
Correio da Manhã
Observador
Book Launch in Lisbon
Lungu – Pulmões – was published on September 9th along with a book release event held in FNAC Chiado, as part of the store’s Book Talks series. The event was moderated by Guerra e Paz publisher Manuel S. Fonseca and featured presentations by José Maria Lopes de Araújo, the author Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia – and Henrique Garcia, the author’s father.
Reykjavík – 20 minute city
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Melbourne’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature, writers from several different cities from around the world were commissioned to do 20 minute video presentations of their own city. Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia was chosen to represent Reykjavík for this project.
Iceland Writers Retreat
Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia will be one of the faculty at the 2025 Iceland Writers Retreat, teaching workshops on two separate themes (TBA).
Pop Up Event in Berlin
About_Bookshop is a store with a twist. Every three months or so the owner, former art curator, chooses a new theme (examples: laziness, the sea, friendship) and handpicks books that suit the concept.
On September 5th 2024, Deutscher Buchpreis nominated writer Miku Sophie Kühmel moderated a reading+discussion event with Pedro, focusing on the utopian (and dystopian) aspects of the novel Lungu – in German: Unser leuchtendes Leben – as UTOPIA was the bookshop’s latest theme.
Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia 