March 2nd
7pm
7pm
McNally Jackson Seaport
RSVP Required - see below
Nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize, Quake: A Novel is a haunting novel-in-translation about Saga, a woman who comes to after an epileptic seizure on a sidewalk along busy Miklabraut Street. Her three-year-old son is gone. The last thing she remembers is a double-decker bus that no one else can confirm seeing. Over the following days, Saga's mind is beset by memories and doubts. What happened before her seizure? Who can she trust? And how can she make any sense of her emotions when her memory is so fragmented?
Hailed as Audur Jonsdottir's best-written novel so far, Quake is a shocking and revelatory exploration of the blurred lines between fact and fiction, reality and imagination, and where mother ends and child begins.
Auður Jónsdóttir is one of the most accomplished authors writing in Icelandic today. She won the Icelandic Literary Prize for The People in the Basement and the Icelandic Women's Literature Prize for Secretaries to the Spirits. Both of these novels were nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize. Auður is the granddaughter of Halldór Laxness, winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature and a major figure in reviving the Icelandic literary tradition.
Meg Matich is a poet and translator in Reykjavík. She earned her MFA from Columbia University and has received support for her work from the Banff Centre, PEN America, and the Fulbright Commission, and she is a frequent collaborator with Reykjavík UNESCO. Among other projects, Meg has collaborated with poet Magnús Sigurðsson on an anthology of Icelandic poetry, translated a book of essays in honor of former President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, and translated the 2021 novel Magma. Meg is one of a few immigrants in the Icelandic Writers’ Union and considers that membership quintessential to her life in Iceland.
Hailed as Audur Jonsdottir's best-written novel so far, Quake is a shocking and revelatory exploration of the blurred lines between fact and fiction, reality and imagination, and where mother ends and child begins.
We ask that all guests show proof of vaccination and wear masks on the night.
RSVP Below
In order to keep our events program running in uncertain times, we're asking attendees to hold their place with a $5 voucher, redeemable on the night of the event on any product in store or in our bar & café. You can alternatively reserve a spot by pre-purchasing the event book. If you have a change of heart or plans, write to events@mcnallyjackson.com and we'll gladly refund you and release your spot, up to 24 hours before the event. Thanks for understanding, and for supporting your local bookstore.
