Iceland’s thriller-loving PM pens first crime novel
If her predecessor produced a novel, so can Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.
Daily TribuneIf her predecessor produced a novel, so can Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — Like many around the world, Iceland's prime minister delved into her hobby during the pandemic. Now, the crime novel she co-wrote with one of Iceland's most popular authors has just been published.
"Obviously, this is not something that I thought I would have any time to do," 46-year-old Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir told AFP at an event this week for the book's launch.
But it was "quite liberating to be working on this project during Covid," she said. "I don't have any other interests, this is my interest", she added with a laugh.
Entitled "Reykjavik," the thriller is written with Ragnar Jonasson, bestselling author of the "Dark Iceland" series, and is set in 1986, an important year in Iceland's modern history.
The idea that a head of government would have enough spare time to write a novel may sound absurd in most countries, but not in Iceland.
The nation of 375,000 people has a strong tradition of reading and writing literature, with one in 10 Icelanders publishing a book in their lifetime, according to statistics.
And it's not a first for a serving prime minister either: Jakobsdottir's predecessor David Oddsson published a novel in 1997 while he was in office.
A 'therapeutic genre'
"I think every politician needs to have something to take his or her mind from the daily business of politics," Jakobsdottir said.
She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Iceland in Icelandic literature. Her final thesis was on the work of popular Icelandic crime writer Arnaldur Indridason.
"I have been reading crime fiction all my life, so it is kind of in my DNA," she said. "I read fiction every day."
