The Drop-In

Send us Fan Mail Kathryn Gunnarsson is the founder and CEO of Gecko, a Talent agency focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields in Iceland. There has been a great demand for experts in this field and a number of expatriates have moved to Iceland to work in these fields. We talk a lot about Future of Work, how to build diversity at work and how you build networks and...

Send us Fan Mail The host, Bala Kamallakharan talks to Thor Sigfusson, the founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster. Thor is a visionary, and one of the pioneers in the 100% utilisation of fish – or zero waste – in Iceland. They talk about the circular economy, food waste, innovation in the seafood industry, how to utilise the network to help founders, funding, and how the next generation is taking on new...

Send us Fan Mail The 4th episode of #FutureCast is a conversation with David Gunnarsson, the CEO of Dohop. David and Bala Kamallakharan, the host of FutureCast, have known each other for over a decade and Bala has been following the Dohop journey from the very early days. They talk about doing the impossible, i.e. raising funding for a travel company during a pandemic when almost all travel is pro...

Send us Fan Mail Kjartan has been part of the gaming industry in Iceland for as long as I can remember. He spoke in the first ever Startup Iceland in 2012 about CCP Games. Kjartan and 6 other co-founders, veteran developers from Iceland and Finland came together to form Mainframe games. They are creating a cloud-native Massive Multiplayer Online game, a vibrant world with new ways to engage and co...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak to Hjalmar Gislason, the Co-Founder and CEO of Grid. We talk about what Hjalli and his team are building with Grid, what inspired him to take on this massive project. Hjalli shares his journey of being a 5 time founder and how he has progressively learnt to build great teams and how Reykjavik is not such a bad place to start a technology company.

Send us Fan Mail Conversation about how to build the future starting from Iceland. Startup Iceland started as a way to get all founders in Iceland to meet one another and to learn from each other and to learn from other founders and influencers from other startup communities. Innovation is all about tinkering. We are having our first conversation with Kevin Laws, the CEO of AngelList. AngelList is...

Send us Fan Mail We're back at last! In this episode, Andie Sophia and her wife Ada talk about being a trans lesbian, or "transbian" (to some). They talk about media representation, stereotypes, triumphs, and much more!

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over the today's Icelandic news concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. deCODEGenetics published the latest findings from their analysis of COVID-19 screening data today. In other news, a woman was arrested for impersonating a nurse and possibly a lawyer. Join us a we dive into this strange story and more.  Note: The Covid-Cast crew are going on...

Send us Fan Mail There was a breakthrough today when the government announced that they are going to ease the restriction because of the COVID-19. Also, the numbers of infected haven’t been this low for more than a month.

Send us Fan Mail The numbers of new COVID-19 cases have dropped significantly in Iceland today, but the situation is worsening in the country’s hospitals. The prospects of the tourism sector are also deteriorating as 26 cruises have now cancelled their trips to Iceland this summer. Violence is also in the news as threats have been made against the Chief of Police, the Surgeon General and the Head...

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over Iceland’s latest COVID-19 news including travel advice, an outbreak of the virus in a Westfjords nursing home and discussions about PPE supplies in Iceland. As we start the week during which Iceland’s outbreak is predicted to peak, over 1500 Icelanders are infected and six people have died from the virus.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of COVID-Cast, Valur Grettisson and Sam O’Donnell discuss the current number of patients in Iceland, a four-month-old boy who got infected with the virus, and also dive into the current situation in the United States, where Sam is from. 

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over Iceland’s latest COVID-19 news and Poppy talks about the current situation in her home country, the UK.  The rise in Iceland’s number of confirmed cases is apparently slowing. This might change, but it could be a sign for hope. More about this in the COVID-Cast.

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson and Hannah Jane Cohen go through the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland. Currently, the numbers of patients are up but the virus is spreading slower in Iceland than in other parts of Europe. Also on the roster: Iceland recently uncovered about 26,000 desperately needed testing swabs. The Blue Lagoon has been hit hard by the epidemic and laid off ov...

Send us Fan Mail Icelanders are now close to 1,000 individuals with COVID-19, and the government is preparing for a back up hospital. Valur Grettisson, editor-in-chief at the Reykjavík Grapevine and Sveinbjörn Pálsson, our art director, go through the news and updates about the virus in Iceland as well as answering questions from our readers.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we discuss the recent spike in COVID-19 transmissions. Iceland is currently headed towards higher numbers than initial predictions told. We also recently experienced the first death of an Icelander from COVID-19. As well, we talk about the almost 10,000 people in quarantine in the country. Support Grapevine - The High Five Club

Send us Fan Mail The start of a new week in Iceland comes with a whole host of new measures in the fight against COVID-19. Travel restrictions, a new 20 person gathering ban and the closure of swimming pools, sports centres, libraries and entertainment venues have all recently been announced. Today to discuss these changes, plus reports of infections in Parliament and redundancies at Icelandair, a...

Send us Fan Mail About 400 people have the Covid-19 virus in Iceland now, the first Covid-19-related death has been confirmed, and a crew on a trawler has the virus. Also, Iceland have agreed to participate in the EU travel ban. This information is not in the Covid-Cast, because it was announced just moments after we finished recording. So, the borders are closed to every country outside the Schen...

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson and Hannah Jane Cohen of The Reykjavík Grapevine give you the updates on the status of COVID-19 in Iceland. More are getting sick while tests are running out. As well, Icelanders returning from abroad are being quarantined, while tourists coming from the same countries are not. We also discuss the response Icelanders have had to the Australian widow on the Faceboo...

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson, editor-in-chief, and Hannah Jane Cohen, listings director and culture editor at the Reykjavík Grapevine, discuss the later developments of COVID-19 in Iceland. On the roster for this episode: One tourist died in Iceland yesterday. While he tested positive for COVID-19, it’s unclear if that was the cause of death. We also discuss the recent EU travel ban, as well...

Send us Fan Mail Valur Grettisson, Editor-in-chief and Andie Sophia Fontaine, news editor at The Reykjavík Grapevine go over the newest developments in the Covid-19 crisis in Iceland. More people are affected, as health workers take more samples. The Icelandic economy is in dire straits but hey, the swimming pools are open again! The Icelandic government objects to the EU’s proposed Schengen area...

Send us Fan Mail What’s happening in Iceland in the time of the novel coronavirus? Valur Grettisson, the editor-in-Chief of Reykjavík Grapevine and Andie Sophia Fontaine, news editor, go over the situation in CovidCast. In this episode, we talk about the public gatherings ban, high-risk areas, what to expect if you travel to Iceland from those countries and the result of the deCODE Genetic screeni...

Send us Fan Mail The Reykjavik Grapevine Covid-Cast is a daily news podcast about the Coronavirus situation in Iceland. In this first episode, Andie Sophia Fontaine and Valur Grettisson talk about the gathering-ban and answer questions about how things stand now in Iceland. If you want to support Grapevine's journalists, here is our High Five Club

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Grapevine news editor Andie Sophia Fontaine talks with witch and impressario Alda Villiljós about the concept of being nonbinary—what it means, what it doesn't mean, and why nonbinary people are not some recent Tumblr-based trend, but have existed for as long as people have existed. Enjoy!

Send us Fan Mail Kimi goes on a date with comedian þorgerður María. They exchange gifts, discuss the intricacies of ice cream etiquette and make plans to meet Mumma T. How will it end- there’s only one way to find out...