People say they can't be bothered to have books in their homes

“Book sales are always shrinking, and the prerequisite for a literary culture to thrive is that people buy books,” says author Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir, who burst onto the scene in 2023 with her debut novel, Blóðmjólk (Blood Milk), for which she received the Blackbird crime novel award. Before Christmas, she published her second book, Svikaslóð (Path of Betrayal), which was very well received. Ragnheiður joined Kristjóna Guðbrandsdóttir for a chat on Iðunn's podcast, Bókaást (Book Love), where she described what it's like to be a newcomer in the writing profession and how she managed to stay afloat during the Christmas book flood.

“I so often hear that people can't be bothered to buy books. Their homes fill up with books. I'm encouraging people to rethink this,” she says. “We don't buy a pair of trousers that we intend to own for the rest of our lives,” she says as an example, adding that she encourages people to support Icelandic literature by buying books and simply passing them on if they don't want to keep them for long.