Iperborea was founded by Emilia Lodigiani in 1987, with the aim of making Northern European literature known in Italy. Being the first publishing house in Italy to explore this geographical area, we were able to choose from a large pool of exceptional writers, ranging from Nobel Prize winners, either unpublished or in new translations, to the most talented contemporary voices.

In addition to Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland), Iperborea publishes literature from the Baltic states, the Netherlands, Canada, Iceland (including its medieval sagas), as well as children’s fiction from the same areas of the world (in a series called I Miniborei) and the Moomin comic strips by Tove Jansson.

In 2018, Iperborea launched The Passenger, a book-magazine that collects reportages, long-form journalism and narrative essays with the aim of telling the story of the contemporary life of a place and its inhabitants. Since 2020 The Passenger is also available in English language (in a coedition with Europa Editions).

In 2021 came another book-magazine called COSE Spiegate Bene («Things Well Explained») a series of monographies by various authors on topical cultural and political topics (such as gender, drugs, justice, the book industry, etc) in collaboration with the Italian online newspaper ilPost.it.

Another book-magazine was added in 2023, L'Integrale, dedicated to food writing.

Since 2015, Iperborea has also been organising in Milan and several other Italian cities the festival I Boreali, dedicated to Nordic cultures.