Further Information

No matter what anyone says, there has never been any shortage of homosexuals in Iceland. Not in the era of vikings, where heroes conquered each other and the Island, nor in the dark times after the religion changeover to Christianity, not when priests and officials traveled the countryside gathering old folklore and sagas, and CERTAINLY NOT when the British and American soldiers came to occupy Iceland in WW II.

In this book, all these eras are reviewed and investigated, reading between the lines of old stories, diary fragments, folklore and sagas, press articles and last but not least - oral recollections from the years of Occupancy during WW II, where a few closet doors were opened and some took apeek outside or even ventured all the way out there, at least for a while.

This book is meant to shine, be noticeable and beautiful, designed to be on display and out of the closet. To capture that essence, enlisted the talent of Ingibjörg Soffía Oddsdóttir, graphic designer and absolute genius to design the book in the most beautiful fashion and the magical talent of artist Íris Auður Jónsdóttir, who creates the beautifulexpressive pictures to compliment the essence of the book.

I have been working on this book for many years, ever sinceI finished my Master thesis in Ethnology/Folklore in 2014 which was based onthis material. I discovered that a lot of Icelandic men discovered their homosexuality during the WW II occupancy period but those stories had been kept hidden and were hushed down, like most things related to homosexuality. This investigation led me on a journey all the way to the days of the old Icelandic sagas and back to the years post WWII.

Those men in the old sagas had no chance of acceptance. They carried throughout their lives the heavy burden of their sexual preference and emotions, which they themselves could not even properly understand or express -the only stories that were told of such men, described them as the lowest scum, losers and even pedophiles. All throughout history these men were humiliated and never belonged - their nature did not fit into the accepted norm of society and were even illegal for a long time. Wherever you looked into the sagas, folklore and historical records, these mens existence was not to be acknowledged.

With this book I seek to restore honor to the gays of the past by shedding a light on their existence - both in the heroes of the old Icelandic sagas, as the innocent shepherd boys and WW II occupancy curious males.

The book will also be published in English

Hér fyrir neðan eru frumdrög að útliti blaðsíðna