Iperborea was founded by Emilia Lodigiani in Milan in 1987, with the aim of spreading the knowledge of Northern European literature in Italy.

Being the first publishing house in Italy to explore this area, we had the chance to do it with a great freedom of choice and within a high-quality production, which spans from the best contemporary authors to classics, from Nobel Prize winners, either unpublished or newly translated, to the most talented voices of the new literary trends and movements.

In addition to the literature of Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, including the ancient medieval sagas) Iperborea publishes authors from the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland and, since 1998, run an series of essays offering readers new stimulating ideas. In 2010 Iperborea launched a literary crime series, called Ombre (Shadows).

Iperborea’s best-selling authors are Arto Paasilinna, with about 120,000 copies sold of “L’anno della lepre” (The Year of the Hare) and Björn Larsson, with over 100,000 copies sold of “La vera storia del pirata Long John Silver” (Long John Silver).

• Besides them, we publish some of the most significant writers of the Northern European literary tradition, such as the Swedish authors (in random order) Göran Tunström, Per Olov Enquist, Torgny Lindgren, Stig Dagerman, Mikael Niemi, Lars Gustafsson, Tomas Tranströmer, Ingmar Bergman, Sven Delblanc, Folke Fridell, Peter Fröberg Idling, Gellert Tamas, Eyvind Johnson, Pär Lagerkvist, Selma Lagerlöf, Hjalmar Söderberg, Peter Nilson, Carl-Henning Wijkmark, August Strindberg, Ulla Isaksson, Ulf Peter Hallberg, Karin Boye…
• the Danish Henrik Stangerup, Herman Bang, Jørn Riel, Aksel Sandemose, Peter Jacobsen, Ole Wivel, Hans Christian Andersen, Thorkild Hansen, Janne Teller, Dan Turèll, Olav Hergel, Anders Bodelsen, Peter Seeberg, Svend Åge Madsen…
• the Norwegian Sigrid Undset, Knut Hamsun, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Erlend Loe, Dag Solstad, Gunnar Staalesen, Johan Harstad, Thomas Enger, Tarjei Vesaas, Herbjørg Wassmo, Tove Nilsen, Bergljot Hobaek Haff, Johan Borgen, Henrik Ibsen…
• the Icelandic Halldór Laxness, Thor Vilhjálmsson, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Einar Már Gudmundsson, Hrafnhildur Hagalín…
• the Estonian Emil Tode…
• the Finnish Kari Hotakainen, Aki Kaurismäki, Bo Carpelan, Mika Waltari, Tove Jansson, Leena Lander, Matti Rönkä…
• the Dutch Cees Nooteboom, Hella Haasse, Kader Abdolah, Gerard Durlacher, Tommy Wieringa, Adriaan van Dis, Frank Westerman, Gerbrand Bakker, Jan Brokken, Multatuli…
• the Belgian Willem Elsschot and Eric De Kuyper.