Abridged Bible a Best Seller in Iceland

An Icelandic version of The 100-Minute Bible reached number one in the country's non-fiction bestseller list within two weeks of its launch last November.

The Icelandic version was quickly followed by the publication of The 100-Minute Bible in Norwegian. It is being distributed to bookshops, kiosks, supermarkets and petrol stations and has been accepted by all the Norwegian book clubs.

Said Kari Tavendale, spokeswoman for the publishers, said, "There is great enthusiasm for this abridgement of the Bible and we have had massive coverage on radio stations, newspapers, NRK breakfast television and TV2."

Senior publisher Jannicke Apelgren said The 100-Minute Bible was "ideal" for Norwegians. "We are pleased that it has been received so well and are sure that it will be a best-seller. We even managed to get one of Norway's best-known actors to read the audio version of the book."

The two translations follow the traditional Chinese version which was published last summer.

"It is pleasing to see how well they have been received," said Len Budd of The 100-Minute Press, publisher of the English version. '"It shows that there is still a great interest in the Bible and Christianity even though church attendance remains low. We are awaiting the imminent publication of translations in Japanese and Slovakian and next year versions in Dutch, Czech and German will be published."