Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir and Núria Bendicho Giró

When a language disappears, so does a way of thinking and understanding the world. According to research carried out by Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir, this happens every other Friday. The Islandic author, translated into over thirty languages, seeks inspiration in her experience as a speaker and writer of a minority language, which is isolated yet enriched by the insular landscape of her native land, to explore in her work the close relationship among environment, language, and identity.

In her latest novel, Eden (published in Catalan by Club Editor, 2024), Ólafsdóttir warns of the danger of extinction that both minority languages and the environment face, and asks herself what ordinary people can do. At a time when globalisation is accelerating cultural homogenisation and the massive consumption of resources, in this dialogue with writer Núria Bendicho Giró, author of the acclaimed novel Dead Lands (in Catalan Terres mortes, Anagrama, 2021; Sajalín Editores 2022), Ólafsdóttir emphasises how important it is to think in terms of repair and care.