The 2022 Vigdís Prize will be awarded in the University of Iceland’s Aula in the Main Building on Wednesday 5 October at 3 pm.

The Vigdís Prize is presented annually to an individual, organisation, institute or those who have broken new ground in their work in the name of language, culture, and translations. The aim of the prize is to honour and highlight the former president of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir’s extraordinary contributions to languages and culture; . The organisers are the University of Iceland, the Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs on behalf of the Icelandic Governemnt, and the Vigdís International Centre.

The event is open to all. The ceremony takes place in English and there will be live streaming.

The 41st annual conference of the Society of Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies (SE-17), will be held in Reykjavík October 13-15, 2022. The SE-17 conference is an international venue for research on seventeenth-century French literature and culture and is organized this year in cooperation with the University of Iceland’s Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages and the University of Minnesota.

The call for papers and further information can be found on the conference website.

INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN THE ARCTIC:  INTERNATIONAL DECADE OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES

Session at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2022, organized by The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding, University of Iceland, Iceland
Time: 13 October, 18:00-18:55
Location: TBA

SPEAKERS

• Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir, Professor emerita, University of Iceland, Vigdís International Centre; Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, Iceland: Promoting Cultural Expression and Linguistic Diversity
• Tove Søvndahl Gant, Member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Greenland, Greenland Representation in Reykjavik, Greenland: Preserving and Developing Kalaallisut: Perspectives from Greenland
• Aluki Kotierk, President of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated; Co-chair of the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, Canada; Incoming member of the UNPFII (2023), Canada: We Deserve to Live with Dignity too. The Struggle for Nunavut Inuit to Receive Essential Public Services in Inuktut
• Paul Pelletier, Director-General, Indigenous Languages Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada; Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages, Canada: A Collaborative Strategy toward an Action Plan for the IDIL in Canada
• Kristin Solbjør, Deputy Director-General, Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Department of Indigenous and National Minority Affairs, Government of Norway; Member, Steering Committee for UNs International Decade of Indigenous Languages, Norway: Native Peoples’ Languages in a Digital Age
• Aili Keskitalo, Political Adviser on Indigenous peoples, Climate and Environment, Amnesty International Norway: Can the Sinews to Our Ancestors Go Digital? A Reflection on Indigenous Languages in the Arctic

Chair: Sofiya Zahova, Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding