There is more to Iceland than stunning landscape, rich culture, volcanoes, elves and sagas. Iceland is the bastion of written words. No way, many would challenge! Nonetheless, Iceland has more readers, writers and published books per capita than the rest of the world. However, because of its small population which incidentally hovers at 320,000 citizens, this country gets disqualified from the said statistic.
Chances are every tenth individual in this nation will publish a book some day. There is so much competition that writers keep track of upcoming publications and make sure they do not publish around the same time. This is simply to avoid clash of interest. Icelandic writers’ pen down almost all popular genres and subjects based on medieval Icelandic literature such as –
Edda – Prose and poetry based on mythology.
Sagas – Stories based on history and historical events.
Skaldic Poetry – Written and narrated to honour royalty.
Today, Icelandic creative writing has spread its horizons – to children’s books, literary fiction and even modern genres such as crime, erotica and fantasy. Literature is like a religion in this country, and gifting books before and during Christmas a way of life.
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