By Yeow Kai Chai

To listen to Gerður Kristný is to revel in her unmistakable parlance, served with a dash of unintended drollness.

The Icelandic author charmed audiences here with her debut appearance at the Singapore Writers Festival in November 2016. Her talk 'Writing New Poems Using Ancient Myths', in particular, was packed to the gills with festival-goers who were won over by her comic timing and how she adroitly drew on Norse mythology for her 2010 award-winning collection, Bloodhoof. The book-length poem recasts, in a feminist light, the Eddic poem Skírnismál, which is about the attempt of fertility god Freyr to snatch the poet's namesake Gerður Gymisdottir as his bride.

Born in Reykjavík in 1970, Kristný worked in radio and journalism before turning to full-time creative writing. She is prolific, having written numerous poetry collections, novels, short-story collections, and books for children, including a biography, A Portrait of Dad – Thelma's Story, which shocked Iceland and won her the Icelandic Journalism Award in 2005. The latter is a true story about an Icelandic family in the 1960s and 1970s lorded over by a sexually abusive patriarch.

Her other awards include the Children's Choice Book Prize in 2003 for her book Smart Marta; the Halldór Laxness Literary Award in 2004 for her novel A Boat With a Sail and All; and the West-Nordic Children's Literature Prize in 2010 for the novel The Garden. Her latest novel, The Lake, published last year, was well received.

Kristný lives in the capital Reykjavík with her husband and two sons.

1) What are you reading right now?
I am reading a brilliant short-story collection called Stedsans, by Lars Saabye Christensen from Norway. All the stories begin with such lines as "I knew I should never had …," or (and this is my favourite!) "My wife and me should never had signed up for synchronised swimming."

2) If you were a famous literary character in a novel, play or poem, what would you be and why?
I would love to be Tintin the journalist in Hergé's famous comic series. He gets into all sorts of adventures without ever writing anything. I would get rid of the alcoholic Captain Archibald Haddock though. He is way too much trouble.

3) What is the greatest misconception about you?
People think I have no time to write because of all my travelling between festivals around the world. I publish a book a year so I do write. Just as fishermen go out to sea and bring back fish, I attempt not to come home without a new poem.

4) Name one living writer and one dead writer you most identify with, and tell us why.
I don't identify myself with anyone else.

5) Do you believe in writer's block? If so, how do you overcome it?
When I don't know what to write for a novel, I start working on poetry. And when I run out of ideas, I work on a manuscript for my next children's book. I am not that familiar with writer's block.

6) What qualities do you most admire in a writer?
The courage to tell the truth.

7) What is one trait you most deplore in writing or writers?
The same with everybody else – fear. It turns us into cowards and that's exactly what the world doesn't need right now.

8) Can you recite your favourite line from a literary work or a piece of advice from a writer?
Yes, but I prefer quoting Lady Gaga: "Just dance. Gonna be okay."

9) Complete this sentence: Few people know this, but...
…in the future the Northern Lights will sail away from Iceland and drop anchor over England.

10) At the movies, if you have to pick a comedy, a tragedy, or an action thriller to watch, which will you go for, and why?
A comedy is vital in this day and age when the media and politicians try to turn us against each other.

11) What is your favourite word, and what is your least favourite one?
There are many words for snow in Icelandic, depending on various factors: its texture, whether it is wet or dry, or if the snowflakes are big or small. I guess my favourite word is simply "snjór," which means "snow." My least favourite one is "slabb." That is the word for the snow when it lies wet and dirty in the streets, which is no fun for anyone.

12) Write a short-short story in three lines that include the following three items: alligator, stamp, Slap Ya Mama seasoning.
I knew I shouldn't have used the Slap Ya Mama seasoning when I cooked the alligator. The meat had arrived by mail in an envelope covered with stamps and now a big slice was waiting on my plate. When I laid my ear to the meat, I could hear it breathing.

13) What object is indispensable to you when you write?
A pencil. When writing poetry I prefer using a pencil and a piece of paper. When writing by hand I feel which words are necessary, and which are not.

14) What is the best time of the day for writing?
Definitely the morning. I love to wake up early and start writing. That is when the best ideas appear.

15) If you have a last supper, which three literary figures, real or fictional, would you invite to the soiree, and why?
Patti Smith (Just Kids is such a wonderful book and M Train so original); Toni Morrison (I am always waiting for her to be given the Nobel prize again); and Tove Jansson (she can bring some Moomins with her if she likes). The fun we would have!

16) Why does Iceland – with a population of only about 320,000 people – manage to produce such a bewildering number of acclaimed artists, ranging from musicians to writers?
We believe that art matters and that is why our government supports artists. The publishing industry in Iceland is distinct from the rest of the world in that most books in Iceland appear in the bookstores a few weeks before Christmas every year – from early October until the middle of November. Almost everyone in Iceland still gets a book for Christmas – which is very encouraging for us writers.

The tradition of giving books as Christmas presents began in World War II when the Allies occupied Iceland. While Icelanders did not suffer directly from bombing or being involved in battles, they could not lay their hands on the usual gift items as traditional supple routes were cut off because of the war. Books became the most desired objects, as paper could still be imported from America. As a result, the book production grew dramatically in just two years. By 1950, 10 per cent of all inhabitants of Reykjavík worked in printing, publishing and book-selling.

17) What would you write on your own tombstone?
One of my great aunts went to see her cardiologist recently. He said she was fit as a fiddle and told her to come back in two years – which wouldn't be unusual if not for the fact that she has already reached 102 years. My family gets very old, and if I live as long as my great aunt, I guess the following would be pretty normal:

This would be good enough. Whatever else I want to say to people is to be found in my books.

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