Gerdur Kristny has long been one of Iceland’s most popular poets, with a unique feeling of her own for the nuance of the language. Her poetry volumes Bloodhoof, Drápa – A Reykjavik Murder Mystery and Reykjavik Requiem were received with admiration and interest, not least for their compelling subject matter and innovative presentation, and a new volume of Gerdur Kristny’s verse never fails to be the best kind of news.

Here she tells the story of her great-great-grandmother, Sigridur Jonsdottir, a mother of 19 children and a midwife, who was born in 1845. Sigridur lost her husband and several of her children, and she also lost one of her legs. Cow Seal relates the hard battle to stay alive at the edge of the world, in a few formidable words.

• The Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize 2023
• Nominated for the May Star Poetry Prize 2023
• The Icelandic Booksellers‘ Prize for Best Poetry Book of 2022 

R E V I E W S

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (five stars)
“According to poets like T.S. Eliot and André Breton, who, in the early 20th century, launched influential theories about poetry, great poetry is characterized by its ability to bring together normally separate ideas in an eye-opening way. This is evident in the work of Iceland’s leading lyricist, Gerdur Kristny, where there is a fusion of classical Edda and skaldic poetry with a modern feminist perspective on life. This is seen in Kristny’s collection Drapa – A Reykjavik Murder Mystery from 2014, where the poet describes assaults on women in modern Reykjavik through a series of concentrated short poems. It is also strikingly evident in this year’s poetry collection Cow Seal.

In Kristny’s work, we encounter a perspective rarely seen before in poetic works …a unique sensuality, intensity, and beauty in the experience of the interaction between nature and humans … nature, mythology, and human life come together in a fascinating synthesis … the book ends with a beautiful and mystically tinged scene, which gives the poetry collection its title, where the narrator, as a midwife, helps a distressed seal, called “urta” in Icelandic, give birth to her pup. Cow Seal is a collection of concentrated, beautiful, refined, and moving poems.”
PETER STEIN LARSEN, KRISTELIGT DAGBLAD, DENMARK

“A powerful book.”
EGILL HELGASON, KILJAN/NATIONAL TV

“…an original book, the reader is spellbound, and this critic found it difficult to stop reading.”
INGIBJORG I. AUDUNARDOTTIR, MORGUNBLADID DAILY

★ ★ ★ ★
“Gerdur‘s greatest strength and power is poetry, she forges her poetic path out of the fortress of Icelandic classical lyricism, the language is often used in a magical way, displaying empathy and elegance. The subjects refer to our contemporary society, while re-assessing legends and myths with an acute and critical mind. … Everything here bears witness to a mastery of the written word, clear and simple pictures are drawn with a few words, opening vistas. Gerdur is a remarkable poet, weaving her poetry with discipline and an unwavering acuteness.”
PALL BALDVIN BALDVINSSON, STUNDIN

“The narrator of Cow Seal by Gerdur Kristny is a woman who lives by the northernmost sea. The struggle for life is hard, winters attack with sea ice and cold. The husband dies, a child dies, and other calamities follow, but the woman and her children never give up. They endure. The woman helps a seal give birth, the boundaries between man and animal, culture and nature disappear in this magical book. The text is chiselled, the poems traditional in form with alliteration and internal rhyme reminiscent of ancient meters. This also underscores the timelessness and relevance of the work to the constant struggle for life that is the lot of both humans and animals.”
ICELANDIC WOMEN’S LITERATURE PRIZE 2023,
JURY REVIEW

“Grabbing this book and reading it is sheer pleasure.
Every word is in its place, each one so strong, and everyone exactly where it should be.”
STEINGERDUR.BLOG.IS

“This is a story of loss and hardship but also a story of resilience, endurance, and hope. The poems form a coherent narrative, but each one also stands as an independent image. … The story follows the seasons; we watch the woman prepare for winter, the sea ice closing in, and winter locking the countryside in its grip, and finally, the arrival of spring … Gerdur Kristny does not use many words, but the ones she uses are carefully chosen, and the reader experiences the shocks and emotions that follow with full force. … A carefully crafted and heartfelt story in incredibly beautiful language that brings forth a rarely seen perspective from earlier times.”
GRETA S EINARSDOTTIR, VIDSJA/ICELAND NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE

“In a way, the poetry collection Cow Seal can be read as an ode of gratitude to the foremothers, those who were here before us; despite endless catastrophe, loss, cold, and treacherous summers, they trudged onward, not giving up, they kept going so that we, the Icelandic readers of this work, could be born here and live here.
Let us keep that in mind when yet another yellow, red or pink weather warning hovers over our island during winter, and we keep ourselves warm under our cosy duvets, watching Netflix.”
VERA KNUTSDOTTIR, BOKMENNTIR.IS

“… a thoroughly considered and magnificent poem about a woman and her struggle for survival in harsh nature. The form is reminiscent of Eddaic poetry … Cow Seal is a fascinating poetry collection about a strong woman in a merciless environment. The poetic form is highly professional, the poet disciplined, and the heroine admirable.”
KRISTJAN JOHANN JONSSON, FRETTABLADID

“… sharp and well written poems …”
MARTIN M JENSEN, DBC, DENMARK