Thirty Icelandic writers have German publishers

10.10.2009

Iceland's role as guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011 has had a warm reception from German publishers. During 2009 the Sagenhaftes Island/Fabulous Iceland project, which is preparing for the Book Fair in 2011, has been promoting Icelandic literature to German publishing houses, in collaboration with Icelandic writers and publishers. The response has far exceeded expectations, and now thirty Icelandic writers have publishing contracts in Germany, and that figure is expected to rise.

Publication of Icelandic literature on the German market, which reaches a hundred million readers, has been growing in the last decade. Around the turn of the century about ten Icelandic books were translated each year into German, while in recent years this has risen to twenty a year. In 2011 the number of translations is expected to be about 100.

It has already been decided that a complete edition of the Sagas of Icelanders will be published in new German translations in 2011,  and now it is clear that many contemporary Icelandic authors will be published in German in that year. The German book market also opens doors into other language areas, and hence this development could yield even greater benefits in due course.

Sagenhaftes Island/Fabulous Iceland is also seeking collaboration with German galleries on exhibitions of Icelandic art at the time of the Book Fair in 2011; here too the response has been excellent – interest in Icelandic culture and arts is sincere, and growing.