Reykjavik

The Polish city of Krakow has just been granted the status of UNESCO City of Literature – only the second non-Anglophone city to receive the honor, and the first in continental Europe. This puts Poland’s southern metropolis and historic capital into the same bracket as Edinburgh, Norwich, Dublin, Reykjavik and the somewhat more curious choice [...]

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It is hard to avoid writers in Reykjavik. There is a phrase in Icelandic, "ad ganga med bok I maganum", everyone gives birth to a book. Literally, everyone "has a book in their stomach". One in 10 Icelanders will publish one.

"Does it get rather competitive?" I ask the young novelist, Kristin Eirikskdottir. "Yes. Especially as I live with my mother and partner, who are also full-time writers. But we try to publish in alternate years so we do not compete too much."