Bjarni M. Gíslason (1908–1980) was born at Stekkjarbakki in Tálknafjörður, where he was at sea from the time he was commissioned until he was in his early twenties. Bjarni was 25 when his poem "Sigling" was recorded on an album, which is the National Library's June selection. In the same year, 1933, his first book of poetry was published, I push my lips away.:

Therefore I should cowardly wander on the shore
even if a crow wants to forbid movement?
No one digs pearls from the grave,
who keeps a knife in his hand.
"—Up with the sails!" I said.

Bjarni sailed to Denmark the same year that his poetry collection Jeg ýti úr vör was published and lived there until his death. He published poetry collections, novels and non-fiction in Danish and taught at the Folk High School in Ry, Jutland. He was interested in manuscripts and gave many lectures on them in the Nordic countries and wrote articles in newspapers and magazines. The Icelandic state honored Bjarni with an annual honorary contribution from the time the Danes began sending the manuscripts home.

Here you can hear Erling Ólafsson's performance of Bjarni's poem "Sigling" with music by Ernesto De Curtis. The recording was made in 1933 and was released on a 78 rpm record that is preserved in the National Library of Iceland's music and video collection and is the museum's featured item of the month for June: http://landsbokasafn.is/index.php/news/529/15/Sigling