I wrote this while the book fair was still in full swing. It is over now, but the impressions last.

The annual book fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany is well under way.

There are lots of readings in the whole town connected with the book fair, and as this year Iceland is in the focus and declared Guest of Honour, there was a reading by an Icelandic author at my friend's place (they have a small company, and their relatives made contact with somebody to arrange the reading).

My friends hosted a reading by the Icelandic author Þórarinn Eldjárn. I have to admit that I had never heard of him before, but that's never kept me from attending a reading, so I went there tonight.

And boy, I'm glad I went. The author read a bit from one of his books (which is called Die glücklichste Nation unter der Sonne (The happiest nation under the sun)) and is a collection of short stories and novellas from other books (and previously unpublished material) by him. Now, I don't understand Icelandic, but that was where the translator, Arthúr Bollason¹, came in. He read a part of the translated book, and told us about the author, Iceland, and the elves that live there. He told us a bit about other stories Þórarinn Eldjárn had written. One is about the reason why the Icelanders are so happy: it is because per capita they are the most successful nation in the world. It was all very funny and immensely interesting.

The organiser (responsible for the author and the readings) hadn't done a lot of organising, so my friend only found out yesterday that the reading was actually happening tonight. That left her with no time to organise attendees. The publication in the newspapers left a lot to be desired, too.

There were only very few people: my friend and her husband, a friend of theirs, me, two friends of the 'organiser', the 'organiser', the author, the translator/presenter, and the author's wife.

Admittedly, 6pm isn't the best of times to attract an audience: it's dinner time, or some people work until six, so they'd never make it even if they knew about it.

However, the people who had come were very interested, and it is entirely possible, that per capita he sold the highest amount of books this evening.

I really hope his future readings are organised a lot better, but I've seen he'll do a reading with the Arte channel (TV) on Sunday, 16.10. at 1.00pm, Hall 3.1W – in case you're near and interested. The fair is open to the public on weekends. I'm seriously considering going again to buy another signed copy to give to my dad for Christmas.

Then again, I may just buy an unsigned copy at my local book store, and try to buy a copy of Halldór Laxness'²Fischkonzert (The Fish Can Sing) for my mum. We both have fond memories of the film, and she told me she doesn't have the book.

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¹Unfortunately I couldn't find any website in English, or with at least a translation.² Halldór Laxness got the Nobel prize for literature in 1955. He is so far the only Icelandic author awarded with this prize. However, per capita, the USA for instance would need 1,000 Nobel laureates to get even – that's roughly ten times the number the Nobel prize has ever been awarded.