After a month here in Rome, the Icelandic author María Elísabeth Bragadóttir describes the time as both wonderful, inspiring and surprisingly social. What she anticipated to be a solitary period of writing and enjoying Rome on her own also became a time for new meetings and appreciated friendships.
“It has been wonderful and very inspiring - also to make friends and also being in a residency that it’s not only a writer’s residency but here you meet people from all different fields of art.”
During the time here, she has been working on her third book, following two previously published works of fiction. The new book will be set in Reykjavík, and draws on inspiration from traditional folklore – a long-standing interest of hers.
“I think everything that happens to you becomes a form of inspiration. Even if it’s not direct material, it seeps into the writing somehow. The mythology here is incredible, and even just being surrounded by ruins is overwhelming in the best way.”
Writing is something María Elísabeth has been doing since the day she learned how to, and it was never really a decision. Going away to a new city for a change in environment is important to her. She explains that being at a residence gives you a break from life. It gives you time to focus as the time you spend with all micro obligations at home disappears. Today - when writing, she likes to entertain herself, often by using humour.
“I like to be entertained while I write, and hopefully that comes through. People are funny and silly – it’s silly to be alive, really.”
She's drawing on the contradictions in people, and how serious and silly often coexist. The interest in people and the dynamics between them is often where the work starts. When reflecting on this bond with her readers, she says that, unlike music, where artists connect directly with their audience, writers are more detached from the moment of reception.
“Reading is such a private experience and it's a very intimate experience like people are usually reading under the covers. It's like very intimate and you are not a part of it as a writer”
She speaks about trusting the audience to make the connection themselves, because reading is something private and often done alone. In that solitude, the reader is doing a part of the work. Asking for this kind of participation is, in her view, what makes the book unique. The same process happens when she feels stuck in her own writing. To rekindle her creativity, she turns to books or poems to inspire herself again. The greatest source of inspiration always comes from reading. She even considers herself “first and foremost a reader”. A passionate one who easily and constantly falls in love with new books.
As she gets ready to leave Rome and return to an unusually snowy Reykjavík, she looks forward to taking part in an upcoming conference on the Icelandic saga Laxdæla. There, she will recite the same poem as heard from the choir song, composed by Eero Hämeenniemi, at Circolo´s opening of November Nordico.
“and yeah, then I’m just going to continue writing.”
Text: Ina Thordén
Photo: Sara Rynefors
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