Ár Var Alda (abbreviated as ÁVA) is a reading circle that meets every month in Olympia, WA (ÁVA-OLY) and Portland, OR (ÁVA-PDX). All reading is performed at the meeting. All material is in English. ÁVA is completely free and all are welcome.

ÁVA is a particularly long-running reading circle. Originally held at and sponsored by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Georgia in 2014, ÁVA continues to focus on medieval and Roman era material, particularly texts in Old Norse, Old English, and related, with an emphasis on folklore topics like what we today call Norse mythology.

Casual and friendly, meetings typically last around an hour followed by an hour of socializing.

Ár Var Alda is an Old Norse phrase that can be rendered as ‘once upon a time’. It famously appears in the eddic poem Völuspá. For more information about the reading group’s history and for some recommended translations of the core texts that we frequently read or refer to, check out this article on Mimisbrunnr.info.