On Saturday, March 8, 2014, an exhibition about the poet, sculptor and actress Melitta Urbancic (1902-1984) was opened at the National Library. A symposium on Melitta's life and work was held at the opening of the exhibition. On the same day, Melitta's book of poems, Frá hjara veraldar / Vom Rand der Welt, was published in a bilingual edition by the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute and the University Press. The poems are translated into Icelandic by Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson and the afterword is written by Gauti Kristmannsson. Melitta wrote the poems between 1939–1943 about her experiences as an exile in Iceland, but the poems are now being published for the first time. The project is being supported by the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute for Foreign Languages, the National Library of Iceland and Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature in collaboration with Melitta's descendants. The exhibition is supported by the Austrian Embassy in Copenhagen.
Melitta and Victor Urbancic, circa 1930.
Melitta Urbancic. Photo/Photo Trude Fleischmann.