It's a Saga Thing!

It's a Saga Thing!

From Vikingology Podcast by The Art and Science of the Viking Age

November 7, 2025 · 1h 8m

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with John Sexton and Andy Pfrenger about the Icelandic sagas and their podcasting journey.

Four podcast hosts geeking out on the Viking Age. What could be better, right? We finally got our chance to sit down with John Sexton and Andy Pfrenger, Medieval Studies scholars who found they shared a love of the Icelandic sagas and started a podcast about it. They’ve been at it for over a decade now, bringing in-depth readings and discussion of the sagas — those tales about people living on a harsh little island in the North Atlantic during the Viking Age — which are chock full of utterly human situations and emotions that are still relatable all these centuries later. And sometimes they even put them on trial. But oddly enough, we started the conversation by talking about Beowulf and what it means to be killed in the Vikingverse. Go figure. John and Andy are leading a saga tour of Iceland in April 2026. If you are interested in tagging along, check out their website Saga Thing Tours . Space is limited so sign up early! And don’t forget to listen to their podcast . You’ll get a deep dive into the saga literature and occasionally hear an interview with top scholars and general viking enthusiasts as well. All great stuff. Thanks John and Andy! We hope we get to do it again…

People in this episode

Guests: John Sexton, Andy Pfrenger

Topics covered

  • Viking Age
  • Icelandic sagas
  • Medieval Studies
  • literature
  • podcasting

Keywords

  • Viking Age
  • Icelandic sagas
  • Beowulf
  • podcast
  • Medieval Studies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Saga Thing Tours

Books & works: Beowulf

Places: Iceland

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