2023 Wooden Boat Festival

Margaret Willson talks about her new book, the story of a remarkable 19th century Icelandic woman who became the most acclaimed fishing caption of her time, who, through many adventures, fished unforgiving Arctic waters for fifty years in small open oared boats—and never lost a single crewmember. On land and sea, she stood independent in the face of oppression and inequality. Known for her intelligence and perception, she was blackmailed by the authorities into helping them solve one of Iceland’s most notorious crimes of that century—which she promptly did. Her life, until now almost completely erased, subverts our notions of the lives of historical women, on both land and sea