As a young man, Davíð Oddsson authored or co-authored several stage and TV plays. During his days as political leader, he also pursued his literary interests, and in 1997 he published a collection of short stories, "Nokkrir góðir dagar án Guðnýjar", which became a best-seller in Iceland. Davíð celebrated his 50th birthday at a huge reception in Perlan, paid for by the Independence Party, and his friends published a "Festschrift" of more than 500 pages to which many Icelandic writers, scholars and politicians contributed papers. In the 1999 parliamentary elections, Davíð's Independence Party retained strong support, despite an attempt by a former government minister of the party, Sverrir Hermannsson, to establish a splinter party: the minister had been appointed director of the National Bank of Iceland and had had to resign because of financial irregularities. In 2002, Davíð published another collection of short stories, "Stolið frá höfundi stafrófsins", which was also well received.