Tag Archives: Guðni Th. Jóhannesson

As many people know, Canada has an intimate relationship with Iceland. Aside from that fact that we can obviously see the Land of Fire and Ice from our backyards in the Great White North, the country’s president, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, is married to a Canadian woman from Ontario, Eliza Reid.

However, did you also know that some Icelandic towns have a curfew for cats? Well, according to interestingfacts.com, there may be something else you didn’t know about those wild and crazy Icelanders: they love them some books! Per the aforementioned website:

Iceland is often called “the land of fire and ice,” a nickname describing two of the nation’s most prominent geological features — volcanoes and glaciers. But in recent years, the world’s 18th largest island has gotten a new reputation as a destination for readers and book lovers, and it’s because Iceland has more authors per capita than any other country in the world. It’s estimated that on an island with a population around 372,500 people, one in 10 will publish a book. There’s even a phrase in Icelandic that relates to the popularity of writing — “ad ganga med bok I maganum,” which roughly translates to “everyone gives birth to a book.” Many writers reside in the island’s capital city of Reykjavik, a major publishing hub that in 2011 was named a UNESCO City of Literature.