Birnir Jón Sigurðsson

The Bird Cliff of Nowhere is a children’s book telling the story of a remote island off the East coast of Iceland and its inhabitants, various species of birds, over the course of a whole year. The birds build their nests, raise their young and interact with each other and their environment. Some of them migrate south in the winter, others stay to face the harsh Icelandic conditions. All of them provide a unique perspective on life and their surroundings.

The storyteller, a chick of an undetermined species called Hnoðri, is a curious cloud-like character that hops around the island, looking at the other birds and learning about life itself. During his journey the bird gets to know dramatic gannets, mischievous kittiwakes, common gossiping eiders, nervous-billed murres, clumsy puffins, laughing little auks, a cranky cormorant, the mysterious raven and of course: the weather. 

Text and visuals

The text of the book is written in a playful and poetic way, where the character of each bird has a special manner of speaking, connected to the bird's history or biology. Some sing, some talk amongst themselves, some chatter and others recite. The prose jumps between styles accordingly; rhyming or versing or flowing. 

The book was nominated for Reykjavík Children’s Book of the Year for its illustrations. Hallveig Kristín’s illustrations are a lively mix of watercolours and digital drawings, and are based on the spectrum of muted colours found on the island Skrúður itself. We see the island portrayed in every season, and follow our storybird Hnoðri who jumps between rocks and leads us to the different species of birds living together on the island. 

The Bird Cliff of Nowhere, the children’s opera

The Bird Cliff of Nowhere premiered as an opera for children in January 2021 at the Reykjavík City Theatre. The piece received rave reviews and was mentioned as the best work for children in a year's review by Fréttablaðið newspaper as well as being touted for becoming “a classic” by the National Radio of Iceland. The libretto for the opera was adapted from the text of the book by Birnir Jón Sigurðsson and it was directed by Hallveig Kristín Eiríksdóttir.

The authors researched the birds that reside on the island of Skrúður and used their findings to create a storyline that follows just over a year in the life of the island. The music was composed by celebrated young composers Ingibjörg Ýr Skarphéðinsdóttir and Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir. A live recording of the music is available on Spotify, and a code for the music comes printed in the book for readers to enjoy. Each bird is given their own character with the compositions and instruments. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐½

“Here we have an exceptionally beautiful, original and fun work of high quality which reminds us of the importance of nurturing our habitat and not to give up when times get tough, because spring always follows winter.”

-Silja Björk Huldudóttir’s review from Morgunblaðið about the opera Fuglabjargið