Editing Iceland (section)

===Literature===
{{main|Icelandic literature}}In 2011, Reykjavík was designated a [[UNESCO]] City of Literature.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood|title=Literary Iceland Revels in Its Annual 'Christmas Book Flood'|work=NPR|access-date=16 November 2017|archive-date=16 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116080042/https://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:Möðruvallabók f13r.jpg|thumb|A page of [[Njáls saga]] from [[Möðruvallabók]]. The sagas are a significant part of the Icelandic heritage.]]
Iceland's best-known classical works of literature are the [[Icelanders' sagas]], prose epics set in Iceland's age of settlement. The most famous of these include ''[[Njáls saga]]'', about an epic blood feud, and ''[[Grænlendinga saga]]'' and ''[[Saga of Erik the Red|Eiríks saga]]'', describing the discovery and settlement of Greenland and Vinland (modern [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]]). ''[[Egils saga]]'', ''[[Laxdæla saga]]'', ''[[Grettis saga]]'', ''[[Gísla saga]]'' and ''[[Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu]]'' are also notable and popular Icelanders' sagas.

A translation of the [[Bible]] was published in the 16th century. Important compositions from the 15th to the 19th century include sacred verse, most famously the [[Passion Hymns]] of [[Hallgrímur Pétursson]], and ''[[rímur]]'', rhyming epic poems. Originating in the 14th century, ''rímur'' were popular into the 19th century, when the development of new literary forms was provoked by the influential [[Romantic nationalism|National-Romantic]] writer [[Jónas Hallgrímsson]]. In recent times, Iceland has produced many great writers, the best-known of whom is arguably [[Halldór Laxness]], who received the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1955 (the only Icelander to win a Nobel Prize thus far). [[Steinn Steinarr]] was an influential modernist poet during the early 20th century who remains popular.

Icelanders are avid consumers of literature, with the highest number of bookstores per capita in the world. For its size, Iceland imports and translates more international literature than any other nation.<ref name = "autogenerated60"/> Iceland also has the highest per capita publication of books and magazines,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3396.htm|title = Cultural Achievements|publisher = State.gov|date = 15 June 2012|access-date = 12 October 2012|archive-date = 21 January 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170121153148/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3396.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> and around 10% of the population will publish a book in their lifetimes.<ref>[[#Wilcox|Wilcox and Latif]], p. 61.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Most published writers per capita |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/444296-most-published-writers-per-capita#:~:text=Astonishingly,%20over%20the%20course%20of,the%20long%20dark%20Icelandic%20winters. |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250130094309/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/444296-most-published-writers-per-capita |archive-date=2025-01-30 |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Most books in Iceland are sold between late September to early November, a period known as the [[Icelandic Christmas book flood|Christmas Book Flood]] ({{Lang|pt|Jólabókaflóð}}'')''.<ref name="auto"/> The Flood begins with the Iceland Publisher's Association distributing ''Bókatíðindi'', a catalogue of all new publications, free to each Icelandic home.<ref name="auto"/>