The 2018 Iceland Writers Retreat

Writing Life: 3

In 2018, I was lucky enough to be invited to join the faculty of the Iceland Writers Retreat (IWR) for their annual April gathering. What an honour. Visiting Iceland, one of the most diverse and beautiful countries on the planet, had been on my bucket list for a while. Leading workshops at the retreat, and getting to know other writers from around the world made my trip to Iceland all the more special.

The IWR is a very well organized and popular writers conference cofounded by Eliza Reid and Erica Jacobs Green. A fellow Canadian, Eliza Reid moved to Iceland many years ago when she married Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who has been the country’s President since 2016. Countless wonderful writers have been part of the faculty over the years including Barbara Kingsolver, Chris Cleave, Susan Shreve, Lauren Groff, Louis de Bernières, Meg Wolitzer, Paula McLean, Susan Orlean, and Adam Gopnik. Given Eliza’s roots, there has always been a strong Canadian contingent among the faculty including Alison Pick, Craig Davidson, David Chariandy, Elizabeth Renzetti, Esi Edugyan, Joseph Boyden, Madelaine Thien, Miriam Toews, Vincent Lam and Will Ferguson, to name just a few.

This sampling of writers who have taught at the IWR over the years may help explain why I was so thrilled to be invited into this select—and a little intimidating—club.

My wife, Nancy Naylor, and I flew out of Toronto on April 10 for five days in Iceland and the IWR.

Even the water on our Icelandair was from the mother country.

When we landed, we were driven into Reykjavik. On the way, we passed this historical landmark. It’s the former French consulate where, in 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for what has come to be known as the Reykjavik Summit, where the two leaders came very close to an agreement on banning all ballistic missiles.

The site of the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit. I took this shot from the car on the drive in to Reykjavik from the airport.

Some of the other faculty members in 2018 were Lauren Groff, Susan Shreve, Craig Davidson, New York Time Book Review editor (and podcast host) Pamela Paul, and several wonderful Icelandic writers. The first evening there was a dinner and most of the writers spoke and read from their works.

While I was at the podium and tried to stay calm as I talked about, and then read from, my first novel, The Best Laid Plans, I noticed a woman in the audience who looked an awful lot like Eleanor Wachtel, famed host of CBC Radio’s Writers & Company. That didn’t make me any more nervous than I already was—um, not at all. Turned out, it was Eleanor Wachtel, famed host of CBC Radio’s Writers & Company, and it was very cool to meet her.

A less than flattering shot of me (like most shots of me), but it was so nice to meet Eleanor. She sounds taller, even larger than life, on the radio.

Over the course of the next few days, I led two workshops: The Power of a Plan: Outlining Your Novel, and Make Them Laugh: Writing Humour. The aspiring writers in my sessions, from all around the globe, were wonderful, dedicated, and creative people. I really enjoyed our time together in the workshops and have stayed in touch with some of them.

We also had great excursions to see some of the raw beauty of Iceland.

A geothermal site where the water was bubbling and boiling at the Earth’s surface. Fascinating. And that water was very, very hot.

We then visited the home of Iceland’s only winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Halldór Laxness. He won it in 1955, the year after Ernest Hemingway’s win.

Here’s where Halldór Laxness wrote and where I may have touched his typewriter, but maybe not. The chair looks a tad uncomfortable, to me.

We also of course explored Reykjavik including the architectural wonder of a church that dominates the city’s skyline.

One afternoon we actually attended a reception hosted by Iceland’s President and First Lady at their residence. I’ve met a few Canadian Prime Ministers during my years in politics, but this was the first time I’d ever met another country’s head of state—and likely the only time.

First Lady Eliza Reid and her husband (also Iceland’s President), Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson.

All good things come to a close. The IWR ended with a panel discussion. When we left Iceland, I was inspired and eager to get back to the novel I was writing at the time. That’s what communing with writers does for me. Inspiring and motivating.

Spring ahead a few years, just this past spring, Eliza Reid released her first book, Secrets of the Sprakkar. It’s a compelling look at how Iceland has led the world in gender equality. It’s brilliant.

Eliza kindly asked if I’d provide a blurb for the book. It was a privilege.

The blurbs for her book are amazing. In the Canadian edition, the “praise pages” start with a blurb from Hillary Rodham Clinton(!) and somehow end with mine. How surreal is that?

During Eliza’s book tour to launch the book, I had the pleasure of interviewing her via Zoom for an event organized by the wonderful McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg. We had a great conversation. If you're interested in Eliza’s enlightening book, feel free to dip into our conversation. She is very easy to talk to.

I suspect that trip in 2018 will not be my last visit to Iceland. I continue to feel very fortunate that writing novels has offered me such interesting opportunities.

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I’m not sure what’s coming up next, but in a week, we’ll both know!