Almost 400 participants at the International Saga Conference in Iceland

The 17th International Saga Conference will be held in Reykjavík and Reykholt this week (13 - 17 August). The central theme is Íslendinga sögur, and a subsidiary theme will be law and legal writing to mark the 900th anniversary of Iceland's first written law code. Numerous research scholars and students from all over the world attend the conference; the expected number of participants this year is 385.

Opening ceremony

The opening of the conference takes place on Monday 13 August at 9 A.M. at the University Cinema (Háskólabíó) Hall A. Lilja Alfreðsdóttir Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Jón Atli Benediktsson, rector of the University of Iceland, and Guðrún Nordal, director of the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies address the participants before the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, opens the conference.

Programme

Over 200 lectures will be held at the conference on a wide range of subjects connected to Saga origin and media; ideas and worldview, and artistry of the Icelandic Sagas. Furthermore, almost 40 academics will discuss law and legal and political culture in the fourth theme "Með lögum skal land byggja." Click here for the conference programme.

Lectures open to the public

The conference programme includes three plenary lectures. They will all be held at the University Cinema (Háskólabíó) and are open to the general public.

Monday 13 August at 9:30:

• Proving facts in Njáls saga. Carol Clover, professor emeritus at the University of California Berkeley.

Wednesday 15 August at 9:

• Canon and Archive: Icelandic Legal Manuscripts, Premodern Textuality and Concepts of the Law. Lena Rohrbach, professor at the Universities of Zürich & Basel.

Friday 17 August at 9:

• Njála in Svarfaðardalur, c. 1773.  Andrew Wawn, professor emeritus at the University of Leeds.

About the International Saga Conferences

The International Saga Conference was first held in Edinburgh 1971 and was organised by Hermann Pálsson, who was a professor there. The next one was held in Reykjavík in 1973 and has consequently been held every three years all over the world, last time in Switzerland.

The 17th International Saga Conference is organised by the University of Iceland, Snorrastofa, and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. The 17 member organizing committee was led by Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir. Besides the above-mentioned institutions the Icelandic Government, Althingi and Reykjavík - UNESCO City of literature have sponsored the conference, as well as Icelandic companies and Nordic funds.

Click here for the conference website.