Alda Sigmundsdóttir on Iceland, narcissism, and being known

Alda Sigmundsdóttir is a force of nature when it comes to educating the world about Iceland, its
history, and culture. She has written and published seven top-rated books in her Little Books
on Icelanders series, covering such topics as the Icelandic language, tourists to Iceland, high days
and holidays, Yule, the legend of the hidden people, Iceland’s history, and of course, the
Icelandic people themselves. She also has an Instagram account full of fun and educational
nuggets about Iceland.

Alda has written books on Icelandic folk legends and the Icelandic economic collapse of 2008.
During the financial crash, Alda was a news correspondent for foreign news bureaus, wrote
regular columns in foreign media, gave talks on the Icelandic situation at conferences overseas,
and was a frequent media commentator on Iceland and its plight.

Her latest book, Daughter, is a memoir focusing on the effects on growing up with a narcissistic
parent.

Alda has lived in Canada, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and now lives in
Reykjavik, Iceland, with her family. She also happens to be the mother of Black Sands star Aldis
Amah Hamilton, whom I recently had the pleasure of interviewing.

Hello Alda, and thank you for taking the time for this interview. You are best known for your highly successful Little Books on Iceland series. Can you tell me what inspired you to write those books?

They grew quite organically out of a blog I wrote many years ago, called The Iceland Weather Report, which was basically about the day-to-day life of living on this island, as someone who
was both an outsider and an insider in Icelandic society—outsider because I had not grown up
here; insider because I spoke the language, had an Icelandic name, and an Icelandic passport. I
enjoyed sharing my observations, almost as though I was an anthropologist. Later I went and
completed a degree at the University of Iceland, where I took a minor in Ethnology and
Folkloristics, and I became fascinated by Iceland’s history and its folklore tradition. In later years
I also see that, in writing about Icelandic society and interpreting it for non-Icelanders, I was also
trying to combine those two parts within myself—the Icelandic part, and the “foreign” part.

Can we expect more books in the Little Book of Icelanders series?

I think I may have one more book in me, but at this time it is not a priority.

Your new book, Daughter, is autobiographical and is very different from other books you have written. Can you tell my readers a little bit about that book?

It is easily the toughest and most intensely personal thing I have ever written. It had been a life
goal to tell that story, and in Covid I finally got the time to sit down and write. I was conscious of the fact that I had an online persona and many people had the idea that I’d lived a very
privileged and easy life. They had no idea what my background had been like, or how hard I had
to fight to get to the place where I am today. I needed to show up in my life having owned my
story, as a fully-rounded person and not this flat 2D version of myself. I had no expectations for
the reception of the book—mostly it was just something I had to do for myself—and I have been
overwhelmed by the responses I have had to it. I was inundated with messages, emails and
phone calls from people thanking me for opening up the subject of parental narcissism and its
effects, and giving them language to talk about their own experiences.

What is coming next from you? Can you reveal or at least tease new projects?

I never say what I’m working on, but I can tell you that I have not exhausted the subject of
narcissism. Does that count as a teaser?

Your daughter Aldís Amah captivated the audience with her forceful performance in Black Sands. How do you see her career evolving?

My daughter’s career has amazed me from the very beginning. She had her first acting job at
the age of ten, when she acted in a commercial for the US network Showtime that was being
shot here in Iceland. I accompanied her on location, which was at Hjörleifshöfði, in the south,
and hung around the periphery as they got her ready with hair, makeup … the whole deal. Then
everyone got into position and the director yelled “Action!” … and I was absolutely blown away. I
saw my child transform before my eyes. She clearly had something that she switched on for the
camera, and it was completely separate from me or anything I had taught or imparted in her. It
was the first time I saw, fully, that she had her own destiny, and this special talent. The producer
on the show urged me that, if she showed any interest in acting, to definitely encourage her.
Which of course I have tried to do. But mostly it’s just been me getting out of the way of her
evolution, and everything she has done has been on her own initiative and own terms. So I have
no idea how her career will continue to evolve, I just know that it will, and I’m here for it.

What Icelandic writers, musicians, or artists would you want to recommend to my readers?

I’m notoriously bad with these kinds of questions because there are so many amazingly talented
people in Iceland, and each person will have their own preferred field of the arts and genres
within that field, and so on. I would just urge people to check out Icelandic artists in general, and
keep in mind that the population of Iceland is only 360,000, so they can marvel at the
incredible talent that emanates from this tiny country.

What are your favorite places and activities and Iceland?

I have so many favourite places that I can’t possibly choose one or even ten. My favourite town
is Seyðisfjörður, but as for other places, there are just too many. The West Fjords, Snæfellsnes,
the East Fjords, the highlands, Stórurð, Svarfaðardalur, Lake Mývatn, Fimmvörðuháls,
Þórsmörk. I could go on. I have been lucky enough to go on many hiking tours in this country
and to have seen some exquisitely beautiful locations. I love to hike and possibly the most
memorable hiking tour I have been on was when I hiked the Laugavegur hiking trail for the first time
last summer. It passes through the uninhabited highlands and ends in Þórsmörk, and it is so
otherwordly and magical.

What advice would you give those visiting Iceland for the first time?

Bring layers, and leave your itinerary with safetravel.is if you are going off-grid. Oh, and read my
Little Book of Tourists in Iceland before you go.