Renowned Icelandic folklorist to lecture at UPEI about ‘Getting Islanders Back Home’

Dr. Gisli Sigurdsson, professor of folklore at the University of Iceland, will give a public lecture called “Getting Islanders Back Home” on Thursday, May 8, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., in the Main Building Faculty Lounge at the University of Prince Edward Island.

There is no charge to attend the lecture, and light refreshments will be served with compliments of the Dean of Arts.

“We know all too well about Islanders leaving home--for work, education or adventure. But what about Islanders coming back, not for short visits or for retirement but to work, raise families and add value to the island of their birth?” says Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at UPEI.

“There is one particular island which manages to bring back most of its own: this is Iceland. How does it do it, luring so many of its Islanders back 'from away'? What are the lessons to other population-losing jurisdictions like Prince Edward Island?”

Dr. Sigurdsson is an accomplished and noted research professor at the prestigious Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland, where he has worked since 1990. He also teaches in the Department of Folklore at the University of Iceland. He has studied at universities in Iceland, Ireland, and at the University of Manitoba where he served as visiting associate professor.

A well-known and prodigious authority on Icelandic Sagas and related oral traditions, Dr. Sigurdsson has lectured at Georgetown University, University of Maryland, the Smithsonian Institute, the University of Manitoba, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He has also lectured at University of Prince Edward Island.

He has written several books and articles focusing on the Eddas, Sagas, and Icelandic folklore in Iceland and in Canada. He has also taught adult education courses about Icelandic emigration to North America and the Gaelic influence in Iceland.

Dr. Sigurdsson is also visiting P.E.I. for the occasion of the launching of the Vinland Society on the Island.

For more information, please contact Dr. Baldacchino at (902) 566-0909 or gbaldacchino@upei.ca.