It was on Wednesday that we met the author Iðunn Steinsdóttir.   The reason was to ask her about her first book for adults because this book takes place at the time of the  vikings. We went to her house about 4.30pm and she gave us some refreshments and then we started asking the questions.

Who is Iðunn Steinsdóttir? She said that she was about 60 years old, an ex-teacher and a of course a housewife, mother and a  grandmother of six grandchildren. She started to write when she was teaching, but she liked it so much that she quit teaching and now she has been a writer for 13 years.

What made you write a book for adults? She said that she had found a tiny story, this story was a little bit dramatic and this same story was used in another story that happens on Austfirðir. Iðunn was brought up in Austfirðir and she liked the story so much that she started to write. She started to write for teenagers but after two years work when  it was almost ready to be published, somebody read the story and asked her why she’s writing this for teenagers, why not for adults. She found this and exciting idea so she rewtore the story as a novel for grown-ups.

Where did you find the information? She said it had been very hard and lot of work. She had to read or browse though  more than 30 books to find everything that she needed, and it was very difficult to imagine the world like it was for over 1100 years ago. But the idea of vikings came only  from this little story.

Tell us little more about the story.   She told us that normally a viking story has a principal character who is  male, but she decided to write the book from the view of a woman. The name of the book is Haustgríma (Autumn Night). So we just have to wait for the book so we will know how it is.

Then we thanked Iðunn for the conversation and went home.
 

                                 Elín Margrét, Eyrún og Guðrún Hjörleifsdóttir