Setanarrøða hjá Sirið Stenberg, landsstýriskvinnu í uttanríkis- og mentamálum, til Faroe Islands Literature Festival 2026 á Býarbókasavninum 25. februar 2026

Dear festival guests, writers, readers, organisers – dear book lovers,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you all as we celebrate the second Literature Festival here in the Faroe Islands.

This festival was initiated by Kim Simonsen, himself a poet and writer, and it carries an ambitious and meaningful vision: to spotlight Faroese literature and culture, to foster international connections, and to inspire new ways of thinking about our shared future. Indeed, this is both a timely and relevant mission.

Over the next four days, we will gather for readings, conversations, and exchanges - here in the capital, Tórshavn, and in the municipality of Runavík – which you can reach through the subsea tunnel with its now-famous roundabout.

It is wonderful that the festival brings together poets, novelists, translators, and thinkers from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, China, the United States – and, of course, from the Faroe Islands. I warmly welcome you all and hope that your time here will be filled with inspiring experiences.

The programme over the coming days is rich and thought-provoking. It explores poetry and fiction, geopoetics and translation, sexuality in literature, and the evolving role of authorship. These themes remind us that literature is not static. It moves with society. It questions, reflects, challenges, and sometimes unsettles us. And that is precisely why it matters.

There is a Faroese saying: “Blindur er bókleysur maður” – a bookless person is a blind person.

This saying captures something essential. Without literature, we risk losing perspective. We risk narrowing our understanding of one another and of the world we share.

Writing allows us to give form to our thoughts, our doubts, our dreams. Reading allows us to step into someone else’s life, even if only for a while. It allows us to recognise ourselves in others — or to better understand experiences very different from our own. Through literature, we expand our horizons.

Some of my strongest childhood memories are of reading a book and simply disappearing into it – completely absorbed, transported into another universe. That experience is a gift literature continues to offer us, at any age.

Here in the Faroe Islands, we often say that we are a nation of poets and storytellers. Our medieval ballads and folk tales form a literary foundation built over centuries. Though many have been written down, they still live through our oral tradition. When we gather for the traditional chain dance, we recite the old ballads together, led by the skipari, the ballad leader, doing our best to remember the verses — or at least the refrains.

This living tradition reminds us that storytelling has always been a shared act. Stories connect us across generations. They carry memory, identity, and imagination.

And just as in the past, we continue to tell stories today — about love and loss, about nature and society, about belonging and change. Literature is not an island. It is part of a wider world. It evolves with new voices, new concerns, and new forms of expression.

This festival invites us to reflect on pressing questions of our time — including our relationship with nature and the need for new narratives about the future. In a world that often feels fragmented and fast-moving, literature offers space for reflection. It invites depth rather than speed.

A recent example of the power of literature is Black Orchid by Vónbjørt Vang, who welcomed us here today. Her work explores a mother’s grief and anxiety as her child grows up and chooses its own path. It captures the vulnerability and complexity of human relationships in a way that resonates deeply. As you know, she was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2025 for this remarkable work — a recognition that also shines a light on Faroese literature internationally.

Literature speaks not only to our intellect, but also to our imagination, our senses, and our emotions. And thanks to skilled translators, literary works know no borders. Translation is not merely technical work — it is an art of building bridges.

It is a very special honour to open this festival here at the City Library — a place dedicated to knowledge, imagination, and community.

May the coming days be filled with inspiration, meaningful conversations, new ideas, and memorable encounters.

With these words, I declare the second Literature Festival in the Faroe Islands officially open.

Thank you and enjoy the festival!