The novel Járðsetning by Anna María Bogadóttir is nominated for the Nordic Council's 2024 literary prize on behalf of Iceland.
Anna María is an associate professor of architecture at the Iceland University of the Arts.
Composting goes hand in hand with Anna María's previous works, preferably her performance in the premises of Iðnaðarbankin before it was demolished and then her film about the demolition of the building, which premiered in 2021.
The premises of the Industrial Bank form the outer framework of Anna María's account of her life and development history.
The jury's reasoning states:
“ Although the trigger for the book is the demolition of one house in Iceland, Anna María is in a creative and poetic way examining and analyzing the power system, discourse and structure in a cultural and historical and international context. Grounding is an important contribution to the discussion about the fate of women, who for a long time were not drawn into the public space and until the twentieth century did not think that they had any place in the masculine world of architectural culture”
You can read the full reasoning of the jury here
The Nordic Council's literary prize is awarded for a work written in one of the Nordic languages that meets strict requirements for literary and artistic value.
The Iceland University of the Arts congratulates Anna María on her nomination.