Faroese Literature

On my trip to the Faroe Islands in 2013, I had the joy of visiting Heðin Brú's home town of Skálavík, on the island of Sandoy. The bus driver on the route between Dalur and Sandur discussed Faroese politics and literature with me, and was pleased to mention that he was a descendant of the great Faroese poet, J.H.O Djurhuus. Many Faroese have the privilage of such a lineage. The population of the islands is under 50,000 and many Faroese are authors, poets, musicians or artists.

While the bookshelves are teaming with recent Faroese publications and translations of foreign works, finding some of the great classic works, such as those from J.H.O Djurhuus, is difficult; most are long out of publication, and a few may be long forgotten. Some of the classics can be found on abebooks and ebay, but these choices are often costly. A collection of Djurhuus's poems retailed for over 100 CAD, including shipping; not a bad price for a serious collector, but far out of range for the average student seeking to explore Faroese poetry. Current Faroese publications, often from the Faroe's largest publisher, Sprotin, are still moderately expensive when compared to books available on this side of the Atlantic.

During my 2013 trip to the Faroe Islands, I was fortunate enough to find a recently published, beautiful, hardback edition of Heðin Brú's Stuttsøgur (short stories) from Rit og Rak in Tórshavn. At about 50 CAD (and weighing a hefty 1.5 kilograms), the price was worth it, and I didn't mind carrying the weight as I hiked from bygd to bygd. I also found the Faroese language Fedgar á Ferð (The Old Man and His Sons) in both paperback and compact disc, only to later discover that both were available online as an e-book and downloadable mp3 for much cheaper.

Sprotin's e-books are often more than half the price of their printed versions. Pól F's collection of poetry, Heilsan Pól F., for example, retails at 249 DKK (about 50 CAD) for the printed version, while the e-book retails for 129 DKK (25 CAD). Join the bookclub and save an additional 20 percent on Sprotin's electronic and printed publications.