You know the rules. Name that sheep. Tell us the name of this specific sheep. Email us at sheep@grapevine.is. If you get the right name, and you’re in Iceland, you win a hot dog, made in part with sheep. One guess per email address please. Not in I...

We weren’t secretive about it. Coming into this spring, our paper was in rough shape. We lost our staff writers. We reached out for donations. We did some handwringing. Then, having lost our crossword writer, we turned to sheep. It turns out those ...

Economy in the dumps The so-called gúrkutíð, or silly season, is over and now we can start focusing on the truly depressing stuff: the economy. Recently Iceland has been bombarded with a flurry of grim economic news, and the Central Bank says ther...

Hidden in the basement of a historic building in downtown Reykjavík, Japanese cocktail bar ĒN is dark, intimate and seductive, a neon-lit meeting of Japanese cocktail craft and Icelandic imagination.

For archaeologists, Iceland has one enormous advantage over many other parts of the world: its volcanoes have left timestamps in the ground. Dig into Icelandic soil, or extract a core through it, and you will encounter bands of dark volcanic material...

If you are a regular reader of this magazine — or if you’ve read this issue’s editorial by Bart Cameron, you know that this publication has been struggling financially all year, and that since spring, this magazine has been run by almost no sta...

The second episode of the Northern Rising, season 2, is out now! This time, the guest is Akureyri-based multidisciplinary artist Egill Jónasson, aka Drengurinn Fengurinn. Egill is quite possibly Iceland's most prolific artist. Drengurinn Fengurinn r...

A Twitch Star Disrupts Idyllic Reykjavík Some dude from New York, a 25-year-old called Kai Cenat, who apparently has millions of followers on something called Twitch, disrupted life in downtown Reykjavík this weekend when he was livestreaming his v...

Iceland, known worldwide for its green energy, is set to miss its emission-reduction targets for 2035, and it won’t even be close. Under the Paris Agreement, we’ve committed to cutting emissions by 50–55 percent from 2005 levels. Current projec...

For six years, VÁ, an NGO born from the opposition to open-net salmon farming in Seyðisfjörður, has fought to stop these licences from being issued. In 2023, a municipal survey found that 75 percent of residents opposed the plans. We have protest...

For most of its history, Iceland’s food delivery system was a pizza place and a cousin with a car. Then, in May 2023, a Finnish company in a very particular shade of blue arrived and announced that KFC could come to your door, and I have been part ...

On Wednesday, 23 September, the Icelandic Aircraft Mechanics Association (FVFÍ) began a strike, which disrupted Icelandair’s flight schedule significantly, affecting 26 flights and 5,500 passengers. During the morning of the same day Eyjólfur Ár...

For one night in August, a glittering combination of fame, politics, and academics filled Háskólabíó. Executives from National Geographic, a subsidiary of Walt Disney, looked impressed. The president, Halla Tómasdóttir, brought an official air ...

As an editor, I frequent Reykjavík Record Shop, and I have repeatedly interviewed Jóhann Ágúst Jóhannsson, but never successfully. Instead, we get distracted. This week, we spent half an hour talking about Arnar Eggert’s writing, for example. ...

In this episode of The Drop-In, hosts Bart Cameron and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson sit down with Montreal-based photojournalist, artist, and multimedia storyteller G. Scott MacLeod. They discuss Scott's career capturing iconic rock musicians and politi...

Ninety years after the famous French scientist and explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot sailed out of Reykjavík harbour for the last time, his great-granddaughter returns to Iceland.

I have lived in Iceland for years and never seen a glíma match. Glíma is the oldest sport in the country, we’re told, practised since settlement. There’s a national championship that has run since 1906 and has a special code of honour. It is on...

Update: As noted in the Icelandic Stock Exchange, at 11:08 the Icelandic Aircraft Mechanics Association (FVFÍ) ended their strike. Icelandair flights are expected to resume.  The government met this morning to pass a law to require the Icelandic Ai...

A boy was injured by a used syringe at Laugarnesskóli elementary school in central Reykjavík on Monday. Principal Björn Gunnlaugsson notified parents on September 22, 2026, by email, stating: “A syringe needle was found on school grounds and unf...

Summer in Iceland used to be work 24/7. Before modernity, this was the time of year to make hay, to gather provisions for the cold, long winter. Our ancestors could squeeze in long hours in that season because the latitude provides ample sunlight, an...

I am dressed in an old hoodie and cargo trousers, a reflective vest, and tall rubber boots. Clothed in the same attire are Jóhann, Davíð, and Arianne. We are in a small white car heading south on Route 1, the Ring Road, approaching Pétursey at 50...

It’s nearly RIFF o’clock once again in this great city, so we hope you’re ready to trade the little screen for the big one. Most of the Reykjavík International Film Festival’s screenings will take place at Háskolabíó, although you can cat...

In the silence of Fljótsdalur, where green summer meadows stretch towards Lake Lagarfljót and mountains close the horizon like theatrical scenery, the remains of a monastery lie almost level with the earth. A few outlines of old walls, paths and si...

Today, whenever a large enough scandal breaks, there will inevitably follow calls for it to be investigated, and not just investigated but properly investigated. “Þetta þarf að rannsaka!” people say, “This must be investigated!” The verb r...

Solo travelers to a foreign land often ponder their future, or escape a relationship. Sometimes horny Gen-Zers and Millennials revel in online dating’s anonymity to indulge in one-night stand/s.  Anorgasmia: All the Things We Do to Survive opens w...

You know the rules. Name that sheep. Tell us the name of this specific sheep. Email us at sheep@grapevine.is. If you get the right name, and you’re in Iceland, you win a hot dog, made in part with sheep. One guess per email address please. Not in I...

Every creator, publisher, writer and musician over 30 seemed present at a packed Háskólabíó to watch composer, keyboardist, jazz musician, classicist, beat maker, film scorer, and master producer Magnús Jóhann celebrate his 30th birthday. This ...

In 1995 I was turning 17 and had plans to attend Þjóðhátíð í Eyjum – a notoriously boozy outdoor festival in Vestmannaeyjar – with two of my friends. Plans which my mother disapproved of. However, at the time, people turned legally compete...

Reykjavík locals love to complain about how tourism has taken over downtown, with puffin shops replacing stores of actual utility, but the truth is, it isn’t all bad. The tourism industry has brought us a thriving restaurant scene, and some of the...

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin editor Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and cont...

Driving through a deliberately out-of-focus countryside, an old man in a wool sweater tells his adult son that “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” The implication being that the son, who is pondering voting for EU talks, would regr...

Produced and recorded entirely from the bedroom, Una Mist released her debut album KUÐUNGUR on September 1. Glitchy electronics, introspective lyrics and a DIY attitude. More and more young artists mix and produce on their laptop at home, instead of...

On September 10, 2026, RÚV reported that Bjarni Benediktsson received a telephone call from President Elect Donald Trump stating an intent to make Iceland a 51st US state. We have reported that here. For contact, here is a detailed history of Bjarni...

The EU referendum is over; now it’s time for the hangover. And this nastiest of campaigns has exposed critical financial regulation oversight that the government failed to address. On August 12th, less than three weeks before the vote, Minister of ...

“What does ‘vonandi’ mean?” I ask my five-year-old son, pausing reading our Icelandic bedtime story. His head is on my shoulder, as he and his younger brother nuzzle into me. “Vonandi? That means like…” He trails off, which means that h...

Jón Gnarr served as Mayor of Reykjavík from 2010 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Althing for Viðreisn. In addition to his political career, Jón Gnarr is a profoundly influential comedian, actor, and author. His most recent TV show is Fel...

September 7 was another busy day for U.S. President Trump. The leader of the free world capped off a 100-post weekend on his social media platform by creating an international incident with Iceland. Among posts that included one claiming that the moo...

To me, Icelandic designer Sævar Markús Óskarsson has always borne a striking resemblance to a young Yves Saint Laurent. There is the floppy ’60s mop of hair, the immaculate tailoring on his tall frame, the black turtleneck and, invariably, a pai...

If you listen to Icelandic music, you listen to Magnús Jóhann Ragnarsson, stage name Magnús Jóhann. This goes for any genre. The greatest, most revered rapper in the country, Birnir, his key lick is a Magnús Jóhann lick. Looking for swaggering ...

World-renowned Polish tango group Bandonegro comes to Gamla Bió Sunday night, September 13, for the first time at the invitation of Tangófélagið, the local tango club that meets twice a week on Mondays at IÐNÓ and Fridays at Kramhús. Check det...

Recently a video went viral of Maggie Gyllenhaal during the inaugural press conference of the Venice Film Festival. Prompted by the question why there were only two women directors out of 20 selected for competition, Gyllenhaal, as the president of t...

When I read the song titles on Þórir Georg’s new release, Cheer Up, I worried he was having an emotional crisis. “Hell or High Water,” “The Devils,” “The Blood,” “The Dark,” — these all seemed daunting. First, rest assured, thes...

The Shakespeare of our age, Dav Pilkey, who writes Dog Man and Captain Underpants, created another indelible character, The Fair Fairy. Set on an imagined television show, the Fair Fairy attempts to regulate children’s arguments by finding what chi...

On November 26, four days before Iceland's 2024 parliamentary elections, then-Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson was greeted by a phone call when he entered his home. It was President-elect Donald Trump. This unusual phone call came with an unusual s...

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Grapevine journalist Elías Þórsson, and Grapevine friend and contrib...

Gerard Butler, Bubbi, Michael Brook & Infinite Guitar, Björk's infamous TV appearance in the 80's and so on. Director Jón Einarsson Gústafsson's latest movie Anorgasmia: All the Things We Do To Survive opens in Bíó Paradís on September 1...

Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir publicly chided the actions of President Trump today. Speaking today to the local press regarding an AI map President Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday, September 7, 2026, she stated: "It is an insult to Ic...

On September 7, 2026, at 22:00, Northern Lights were clearly visible from the heart of Reykjavík. The Icelandic Meteorological Service Aurora Forecast states the current likelihood is four on a scale of 0 to 9. Tomorrow night promises a higher likel...

“Gird up now thy loins like a man,” said God to Job. Of all the Biblical phrases, few are as mysterious and bewitching, and above all, fun to say. What meaning does “loin” hold? If you gird them for more than four hours, should you consult a ...

You know the rules. Name that sheep. Tell us the name of this specific sheep. Email us at sheep@grapevine.is. If you get the right name, and you’re in Iceland, you win a hot dog, made in part with sheep. One guess per email address please. Not in I...