Chill seeker

For a country with a remarkably low crime rate, Iceland seems to foster the type of literature that can chill you to the bone. Crime writing is something of a forte of this northern nation: the genre is consistently popular in Iceland and sales double those of its Nordic neighbours. And Yrsa Sigurðardóttir would know: she has been the bestselling female author in her homeland for almost 20 years.   

Sigurðardóttir was working as a civil engineer when she began writing as a hobby, and she released her debut, a children’s book, in 1998. She published four more children’s stories in four years, scooping the Icelandic Children’s Book Prize in 2003. “And then I just thought, ‘That’s fine, that’s it,’” she says. “I’m tired of this. I’m just going to go back to work.” But her hiatus from writing only lasted a year. Sigurðardóttir has since gone on to write 20 crime-fiction books. Her novels The Prey and I Remember You, as well as the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series, are international bestsellers that have been translated into 30 languages. Two of her books have been adapted for the screen.

Sigurðardóttir was born in Reykjavík but now lives with her husband in the small suburb of Seltjarnarnes, a 10-minute drive from Iceland’s capital. Her novels are all set in her home country. No gangsters nor serial killers make it into her tales. “In Iceland, a serial killer would need to kill everybody in a week,” she says. “No one could get away with it year after year.”

The lack of criminals in Iceland might do little to inspire gruesome plots but the country’s relatively small population and dramatic landscape lend authors the conditions to create the perfect imagined crime. “The degrees of separation are quite low, so your reputation is more valuable and you will have more desperation from characters trying to hide something bad,” says Sigurðardóttir. The scenes she loves to write most are the ones where characters have no safety net. “They’re in a situation where they are isolated from everything that could help them in whatever horrible situation they’re in,” she says.

Sigurðardóttir claims to have never faced writer’s block, not because she always has an idea but rather because she never feels the pressure to have one. “Well, what will happen? Nothing – I’ll just go back to full-time work. If there’s not a book in me this year, it’s OK.”

If she ever did pause her writing, she would be busy enough organising Iceland Noir, a literary festival she co-founded with fellow Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson in 2013. Its 11th edition took place in November 2024, with guests including US writer Harlan Coben and British authors Anthony Horowitz and Ann Cleeves. “It has gone from strength to strength,” says Sigurðardóttir. “We don’t have a problem attracting big names.” On the festival’s first day, the Sundhnjúkagígur volcano erupted, much to the delight of Horowitz, who says a volcano will appear in the next outing of his popular Alex Rider spy-thriller series.

As for Sigurðardóttir, her 20th consecutive crime novel, Can’t Run, Can’t Hide – a tense tale set on a secluded fjord – was published in the same month as the festival. There’s still no sign of writer’s block, in this genre at least. “I like crime and horror so that’s what I write. I would write a really bad love story.” — L