Eliza Reid
Eliza Reid is an author, advocate, and former First Lady of Iceland who champions gender equality, civic leadership, and the power of seizing opportunity. As founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, she fosters creative exchange across cultures. Her work blends storytelling and public service, inspiring individuals to make the most of unexpected opportunities.
Former First Lady of Iceland
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Writers Retreat Co-Founder
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Novelist
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Former First Lady of Iceland • Writers Retreat Co-Founder • Novelist •
More about Eliza
Eliza Reid is a journalist, editor, and co-founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat. Eliza was also the First Lady of Iceland from 2016-2024. Iceland is well known for a few unique attributes: the world’s most peaceful country, the world’s most accepting country of LGBTQ+, and one of the happiest countries in the world.
Eliza grew up in the countryside near Ottawa, Canada, and moved to Iceland in 2003, five years after winning a student raffle at Oxford University for a date with a fellow grad student and the man who became her husband, Gudni Jóhannesson.
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In April 2016, Gudni, was one of the lead pundits analyzing the Panama Papers scandal on TV, and started receiving requests to run for office. He won the June election and became president of Iceland on August 1, 2016, plunging the two of them into a public life neither had anticipated. Being the spouse of the head of state was an immense privilege, full of surreal and wonderful experiences, which Eliza describes in colorful detail on stage.
Eliza’s first book, Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They are Changing the World, offers an atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward. Published to critical acclaim, Sprakkar became an instant bestseller in Iceland and Canada, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Pick, and was recommended by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Margaret Atwood. Her first novel, an Iceland-set mystery called Death of a Diplomat (Death on the Island in the US), was published in spring 2025.
Speaking Topics
Geopolitics
Culture
Watch Eliza in action
Presentations
Secrets of the Sprakkar
What do a fishing captain who does standup, women who swam the English Channel, and a small-town Canadian turned First Lady have in common? They’re all Icelandic “sprakkar”—extraordinary women. In this funny, insightful talk based on Eliza Reid’s bestselling Secrets of the Sprakkar, discover their stories and how empowering women drives equality and benefits entire communities.
Making the Most of Unexpected Opportunity
Eliza Reid grew up in small-town Canada and never imagined that a whimsical contest entry would lead to becoming Iceland’s First Lady. In this entertaining talk, she shares behind-the-scenes moments with global leaders, volcanic eruptions, and a pandemic, reflecting on navigating an undefined public role, challenging expectations, and inspiring audiences to seize unexpected opportunities and shape their own stories.
“Study after study, time after time, proves that the more gender-equal a society is, the happier, longer living, and more economically prosperous it is for all its citizens.”
– Eliza Reid