The English language Icelandic newspaper, The Reykjavík Grapevine is 10 years old this week. This is not going to be an unbiased article, I totally love that paper.

Over the last ten years I have (yes, you know this) been a regular visitor to Iceland. When I think of Iceland I pretty quickly think of Grapevine. Whenever anyone asks for a bunch of recommendations for their trip to Iceland, usually the first thing I say is to pick up the latest copy of Grapevine. It immediately gives you a real and honest feel for Reykjavík, it tells you what's on, it tells you where is good and where is bad (and sometimes even where is a karaoke bar), it tells you what the issues are, what's topical – whale meat, smelter construction, strip club controversies, and it regularly makes you laugh.

It's run on a shoestring, it has interns, part-time writers and contributors and the occasional article by unpaid enthusiasts who receive nothing me than a little plug for their cute little Icelandic music blog 😉

I love their music reviews, they are witty and honest and I liked it when quality was measured in terms of how many beers you should be willing to not drink in order to afford the record.

I loved it when Hugleikur Dagsson was a regular contributor with tiny little cartoons or two page spreads showing all the beasts native to Iceland.

I loved it when they let me do the cover feature (page 20 if you're very keen!) interview with Sprengjuhöllin during Iceland Airwaves in 2008. I loved every Iceland Airwaves issue ever, it was always a joy to sping (kind of) out of bed and skip (kind of) to the nearest coffee place to grab an espresso and read what people honestly thought of what had gone on the night before. Those guys work through the night for this. 

I loved it when Haukur got angry, really angry, when someone did a wee where they really shouldn't be doing a wee.

I loved the list of their most viewed articles. Björk, volcanos, elves, horses.

I loved it when I subscribed (you can too) to the newspaper and it would arrive in all its glory through my letterbox and I'd feel really special (in a good way) reading The Reykjavík Grapevine on the London Underground. In your face Metro. And now I love it when I get the alert that a new pdf edition is ready for me to have an online browse through on some fancy device or other.

Good work guys 🙂