Report on Rímur 2026

A University of Iceland Centre for Medieval Studies Symposium.

Friday, January 23, 2026, at 14.00-16.30

Edda auditorium (E-103)

Programme

• 14.00–14.30 Lena Rohrbach (University of Basel/University of Zürich): Kveða eins og fellur í buccam: Critical Approaches to Rímur in the Eighteenth Century
• 14.30–15.00 Natalie M. Van Deusen (University of Alberta): From Saga to Rímur: The Case of St. Agnes of Rome
• 15.00–15.30 Coffee break
• 15.30–16.00 Teresa Dröfn Freysdóttir Njarðvík (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar): The Neverending Story: Kaleidoscopic Narrative Elements and Cultural Memory in Rímur and Rímur-Derived Prose
• 16.00–16.30 Katelin Marit Parsons (University of Iceland/Stofnun Árna Magnússonar): Riches to Rag Paper: Rímur in Manuscript Culture After 1550

Programme with abstracts: http://midaldastofa.hi.is/

Chair: Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir

The symposium will be held in English and is open to all.

In 1955, Stefán Einarsson published the first “Report on Rímur” in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology (JEGP). Twenty-five years later came Shaun Hughes’ “Report on Rímur 1980,” which covered developments in the field after 1955. Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in rímur, with new studies, editions and translations opening up the field to a wider range of students and researchers than ever before. Our “Report on Rímur 2026” showcases recent work on rímur and rímur traditions in their material, medial and academic context. 

The University of Iceland Centre for Medieval Studies.