Gísli J. Ástthórsson's drawings

The Library´s highlights in May are Gísli J. Ástthórsson's (1923-2012) drawings that have recently been handed over to the Library. Ástthórsson said in an interview with the annual review Sjómannadagsblaðið in 1988 that he started drawing when he was an editor of the newspaper Alþýðublaðið at the beginning of the Twelve Mile Cod War in 1958. Then he started drawing pictures for the paper that were often a comment on the main enemy in the Cod War, the UK. One of those drawings became the beginning of Sigga Vigga, the herring girl with the scarf. The first drawing actually became so famous that the British newspaper The London Times published it as a testimony of Iceland's tone towards the British during these fateful times. Ástthórsson said that he thought of Sigga Vigga as a good-natured and hard-working, but a rather unlucky, girl. Not that she was exactly a wreck, but that she was on the shadow side of existence. Sigga Vigga has always worked for Gvendur in Þorskur hf. (Cod Ltd) and there she got to know her best friend, Blíða, who is always in a good mood, no matter what happens. These are the three main characters in the comic series about Sigga Vigga. Ástthórsson left Alþýðublaðið in 1963, and in the following years, Sigga Vigga did not appear much in the media, but when Ástthórsson worked at the review Fálkinn in the mid-1960s, he published cartoons about strikes, summer jobs and more, where you can see Sigga Vigga and her friends in first drafts. However, Sigga Vigga's heyday did not begin until Gísli started again at the newspaper Morgunblaðið in 1973, and for over a decade Sigga Vigga appeared on the pages of Morgunblaðið three times a week. Five books about Sigga Vigga were published by Bros publishing house in the years 1978-1980 and they have now been republished: Sigga Vigga og tilveren, Fjörutíu og sjö snúðar, Sigga Vigga og þingmaðurinn, Sigga Vigga í steininum and Stattu klár Sigga Vigga. In addition, Bros published the book Plokkfiskur, a selection of drawings that Gísli drew over a long period of time in the review Sjávarfréttir. Gísli J. Ástthórsson's drawings and fragments of his other works can now be seen at an exhibition in the Library.

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Kristín Vídalín Jacobson´s book of poetry

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Hringurinn

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‘The Angry Girl’

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