Pragya Agarwal is the City of Literature's guest author

Reykjavík, a UNESCO City of Literature, runs a cultural center located in the center of Reykjavík named after the poet Benedikt Gröndal (1826-1907) who once lived there. The house is at the corner of Fishersund and Mjóstræti, having been relocated from its original location at Vesturgata 16a, where it initially stood at the water's edge. Each year, authors from other UNESCO Cities of Literature can apply for a one-month residency at Gröndal's House. This year, 261 applications were received from 173 cities in 66 countries.

Pragya Agarwal is a behavioral and data scientist who founded a research lab studying global gender inequality. Pragya has held professorships and positions at various academic centers worldwide, including Oxford and the British Library.

Agarwal is the author of four acclaimed non-fiction books, including 'Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias' (a Guardian 'Book of the Week'), 'Hysterical: Exploding the myth of gendered emotions' and '(M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman'. Her writing has also appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, Wired, Scientific American, Times Literary Supplement, Literary Hub, among others. Pragya has received the Transmission Prize for 'making complex scientific ideas accessible' and the Crucible NESTA Prize for 'innovative work across disciplines', as well as grants from the Royal Society, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, Society of Authors and Royal Society of Literature.

She has worked as a counselor and lecturer for the United Nations, UNESCO, the Environment Agency, the World Health Organization, the British Police Force, British Academy and others. Pragya has also hosted two podcasts: Outside the Boxes and Wish We Knew What to Say. She has appeared at many international literary festivals, including the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Book Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Northern Ireland Science Festival, Bradford Literary Festival and Emirates Literature Festival. In 2023, she was invited to be the keynote speaker at the M/OTHER festival at The Wheeler Centre (Melbourne) and speak at the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House.

During her stay, Agarwal will examine diaries and reports of women who traveled to Iceland, especially to Reykjavík in the 18th and 19th centuries, using archives and memoirs in national libraries.