The Creative Minds Behind the Event

Eliza Reid co-founded the Iceland Writers Retreat with Erica Jacobs Green in 2014. Her first book, Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They How Changing the World, was published to critical acclaim in Feb 2022. It was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Pick, an instant bestseller in Canada, and is forthcoming in numerous languages. She is a former editor of Icelandair’s in-flight magazine and has been published in numerous publications, including the New York Times and CNN Opinion. Originally from Canada, Eliza has lived in Iceland since 2003. She and her husband have four children, and she has an adult stepdaughter. Visit her at www.elizareid.com.
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In addition to her writing, Eliza works with Business Iceland to promote her adopted country as a destination for both tourism and investment. In 2017, she was named a United Nations Special Ambassador for Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Erica Jacobs Green has worked in book publishing for nearly twenty-five years. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a BA in English, she was most recently the Vice President, Editorial Director for Children’s Publishing at National Geographic. Highlights of Erica’s publishing career include positions as a children’s book editor at Chronicle Books, founder of Ever After Studios (a book production company), and Director of Publishing at Discovery Channel (Discovery Communications).
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Today, in addition to working on the Iceland Writers Retreat, Erica is a freelance writer, editor, and publishing consultant. Her articles and short stories have appeared in anthologies, newspapers, and online. Erica has worked with award-winning authors and illustrators as well as an array of famed brands for children and adults: from Jane Goodall to Star Wars and from Weird But True to Williams Sonoma. Originally from California, Erica’s spent many years abroad as an American expat, including two years in Iceland. She currently resides in Washington, DC with her husband, two children, and a beagle in a house full of traveler’s artifacts. www.EverAfterStudio.com
IWR Staff

Lisa Gail Shannen hails from Manchester, England, and loves creative writing and literature with a passion! Although she’s been fascinated with words from the age of seven (when all she wanted for Christmas was her very own dictionary), she didn’t fully appreciate the beauty of well-crafted text until she was introduced to Ibsen, Shakespeare, Chekov, and other great icons of literature, via her work with critically-acclaimed directors such as Terry Hands and Hilda Hellwig at the National Theatre. Apart from her adventures in travel, she is also a singer and songwriter and has co-authored (with Jean-Christophe Salaün) a number of songs, which have since been synchronized to film, including the Icelandic film ‘City State’ and ‘Des Grenouilles Sur Le Toit’—a nature documentary by Lamoureux Maxence, commissioned for French national television. Lisa currently resides in Iceland’s capital city with her husband and children and appreciates the small things in life.
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Since then, she has studied for a BA in Language and Literature at the University of Iceland, taught English, authored copy text for various publications, including the main written content for the SVEF-nominated VisitReykjavík website, in addition to writing a number of travel guides, such as the Official Reykjavik City Guide, the Frommer’s Guide to Iceland and Travel Iceland: the latter two publications were co-authored with Jane Appleton.

Elizabeth Nunberg has been involved with IWR as a volunteer since its origins. A native of Minnesota with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications, she is very active within education in Iceland as co-founder of the International School of Iceland, founder and co-chair of the English Department at Hjallastefnan schools, and an English instructor. Having lived in Iceland as an expat since 2000, Elizabeth enjoys her time being in nature, cooking, traveling, and playing with her family: Kristján, her spouse, three children, and Mark the Cat.
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Elizabeth has written an alternative English curriculum for young learners in Icelandic public schools. She continues to cultivate her interest and talents in writing for children and parents.