Writer, playwright, theatre-maker Sigurdsson Birnir

Drops

The book Drops (Dropar in Icelandic) is a novel of the climate fiction genre. It revolves around a lineage of Icelandic/Australian people from the winter of 1918 iceland until a wildfire season in Australia in the present. The book currently includes 8 characters that represent different influences and mindsets that affect climate change. There within is a matriarchal pilot, a hard fighting scientist, stubborn oil CEO, an arsonist and a young climate activist. Each person will be the protagonist of their own chapter and their stories will intertwine and affect each other. Work methods During the last year I have been creating a process around this specific work. I have been reading climate science, making glossary and figuring out how ideas presented in the articles would be able to fit the narrative. I have been looking into which ideas and mindsets are important to implement for the creation of hope and action in our society. I have also been selected by the association of young climate activists to, during three months in the summer of 2021, create an information manual of climate change and activism for young people in collaboration with Tinna Hallgrímsdóttir, which will also contribute to the process of writing the book. Timetable I began writing the book in the spring of 2020 and have been writing and reading around the subject intermittently between theatre projects since then. In 2020 I received three months grant from the Icelandic artist salary fund and did a residency in Stykkishólmur. I will be able to focus on writing for at least three further months in 2021 and I intend to use the Saari residence to finish the first draft of the book. Artistic vision The book is based in activism, specifically around the ideas of creating narratives and stories that can help in guiding in the combat against climate change. The question I ask regarding the stories is "what does the story do?" and "how can it change or expand existing ideas about climate change?"