| 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. Icelanders' love of reading is culturally ingrained in a country that has a nearly 100% literacy rate. It's likely that storytelling became a tradition thanks to the family sagas passed from generation to generation; these stories described how the first Icelanders found and adapted to the land from around 930 to 1030 CE. Poetry and story recitation became a popular way for Icelanders to keep the stories alive, and provided an important form of socializing on long, winter nights. Today, sharing stories has spawned a more modern tradition, in which Icelanders give books to friends and family on Christmas Eve. The holiday season strain on publishers is so great, and so many books are gifted, that the tradition has its own name: Jolabokaflod, aka the Christmas Book Flood. | 
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