‘Twas the night before Christmas, in each Icelandic home,
When families gathered, not a soul felt alone;
Kleinur and laufabrauð were arranged with great care,
As the magic of Christmas filled the crisp evening air.
The children were nestled all snug with a book in their hands,
Sailing through sagas and tales from faraway lands;
And mamma with her mystery, and I with my book,
Had just settled our brains in our cozy nook.
During the Christmas festive season, the Icelandic word Jólabókaflóð makes the rounds on social media platforms.
Image Credit: sketchplanations
In Iceland, the tradition of exchanging gifts occurs on Christmas Eve. Often romanticized, the Jólabókaflóð tradition is popularly but mistakenly understood as the practice of gifting books for Christmas, followed by an evening spent reading them, ideally with a cup of hot chocolate or a similar festive beverage.
Demystifying Jólabókaflóð
In reality, Jólabókaflóð, which translates roughly into English as ‘the Christmas book flood,’ is the phenomenon of book publishers releasing most new books in the months preceding Christmas, capitalizing on the increased likelihood of Icelandic people buying books as gifts.
Word War II brought restrictions on Icelandic commodities. Paper was one of the few items not rationed. As other gift options were in short supply, publishers realized that a book made an excellent present, as paper was not very expensive. With its small population, Iceland has historically had limited resources in its publishing industry. This constraint made publishing and distributing new books throughout the year difficult. And so, publishers started to flood the market with new book titles just in time for Christmas.
A screenshot from timarit.is digital library webpage. The first recorded instance of Jólabókaflóð in Icelandic media is from 1949. It roughly translates as “the flood of Christmas books was greater than ever before, and therefore there were no dams beyond Markarfljót (a river in Iceland)”.
Another factor that helps understand Jólabókaflóð is the Bókatiðindi catalog. In mid-November, the annual free book catalog Bókatiðindi from the Association of Icelandic Book Publishers is sent to all Icelandic homes so that people can plan their holiday reading and gift-giving. It is a time for anticipation and excitement as young children and avid adult readers flip through the pages. For example, consider these online PDF catalogs from the past fourteen years.
Schools, libraries, bookstores, cafés, bars, and workplaces are also heavily involved. Authors often take on roles as bookstore assistants, adding a unique touch to the book-buying experience. Media extensively covers book reviews, discussions, interviews, and even debates on book covers. Post-Christmas, book discussions remain popular, with people sharing their opinions on their recent reads and comparing them to previous works by the same authors.
The tradition of sending a free book catalog to all Icelandic homes dates back to 1890, and the 1890 catalog is also available online.
The conversation turned upon scientific matters, and M. Fridriksson asked my uncle what he thought of the public library.
“Library, sir?” cried my uncle; “it appears to me a collection of useless odd volumes, and a beggarly amount of empty shelves.”
“What!” cried M. Fridriksson; “why, we have eight thousand volumes of most rare and valuable works—some in the Scandinavian language, besides all the new publications from Copenhagen.”
“Eight thousand volumes, my dear sir—why, where are they?” cried my uncle.
“Scattered over the country, Professor Hardwigg. We are very studious, my dear sir, though we do live in Iceland. Every farmer, every laborer, every fisherman can both read and write—and we think that books instead of being locked up in cupboards, far from the sight of students, should be distributed as widely as possible. The books of our library are therefore passed from hand to hand without returning to the library shelves perhaps for years.”
“Then when foreigners visit you, there is nothing for them to see?”
“Well, sir, foreigners have their own libraries, and our first consideration is, that our humbler classes should be highly educated. Fortunately, the love of study is innate in the Icelandic people. In 1816 we founded a Literary Society and Mechanics’ Institute; many foreign scholars of eminence are honorary members; we publish books destined to educate our people, and these books have rendered valuable services to our country.
Jules Verne – A Journey to the Center of the Earth, published in 1864
From Hardship to Heritage
Iceland has always valued literature as a critical part of its national identity. The Icelandic Sagas and Eddas, written around the Middle Ages, especially, have been a source of pride. The Golden Middle Ages period was quickly replaced by centuries of hardships. Occupation, infertile soil, volcanic eruptions, or disease systematically brought famines. The country faced severe poverty and lacked firewood due to massive deforestation.
People lived in cramped turf houses to stay warm during the harsh winters. These conditions led to the tradition of kvöldvaka (loosely translated as “evening wake” – but in the sense of get-togethers to stay awake, not in the funeral sense). These evening gatherings for storytelling and communal activities like spinning wool and knitting were crucial to maintaining the spirit of the Sagas.
During kvöldvaka, people would read, share stories, recite poetry, and sometimes create verses collaboratively. Children’s education was deeply integrated into the kvöldvaka. They learned to read and write and were educated in history and geography.
So then the Icelandic proverbs ‘It is better to be without shoes than without a book’ (especially considering the Icelandic weather) and ‘A man’s best friend is a book’ are unsurprising. Storytelling and books have always been cornerstones of Icelandic culture.
Another Icelandic proverb says, “ad ganga med bok I maganum” or everyone has a book in their stomach because Iceland is a nation of readers and writers.
According to a BBC article, one in ten Icelanders will publish a book. Kristin Eirikskdottir, a young novelist, was asked by the BBC reporter about the competitiveness in the literary field. She acknowledged the challenge, especially given her living situation with her mother and partner, who are also dedicated writers. To minimize direct competition, they have devised a strategy of publishing their works in alternate years “so we do not compete too much.”
“We are a nation of storytellers. When it was dark and cold we had nothing else to do,” he says. “Thanks to the poetic eddas and medieval sagas, we have always been surrounded by stories. After independence from Denmark in 1944, literature helped define our identity.”
Icelandic author Solvi Bjorn Siggurdsson
The Icelandic Literature Centre promotes Icelandic literature through translation grants for overseas publishers interested in releasing translations of Icelandic works or travel grants for Icelandic authors to travel abroad and promote their work. As a result, numerous Icelandic writers have achieved international acclaim, with their works being extensively translated. Icelandic literature gained global recognition, particularly after novelist Halldór Laxness received the Nobel Prize in 1955. Other notable Icelandic authors are Arnaldur Indriðason, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, or Jón Kalman, among others.
No wonder the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík, was the first non-native English-speaking city to receive the UNESCO City of Literature title.
Contemporary Challenges and Sustainability Concerns
The Icelandic publishing industry tends to be heavily skewed toward December, creating an imbalance in the calendar. Bookstores often have excess inventory post-holidays, leading to significant sales and discounts to clear stock.
Icelandic state television has reported challenges faced by the country’s largest publisher, Forlagið, in managing the surplus of unsold books. They sometimes struggle with storage space in their warehouses, and in some cases, unsold books are even destroyed.
With large quantities of books remaining unsold each year, there’s a growing debate over whether it’s time for Iceland to reconsider this publishing tradition.
Anna Friðríksdóttir, the manager of Mál og Menning bookstore in Iceland, believes there is room for improvement in the Icelandic book market. She suggests in a Grapevine.is article that the current practice of publishing an excessive number of books can be somewhat irresponsible. According to her, the issue partly lies in the tendency to print books in large quantities, driven by the cost-effectiveness of bulk printing. However, this approach leads to paper wastage, as not all books sell equally well.
The focus is finding more efficient and sustainable ways to distribute books, ensuring that the love for literature doesn’t lead to wasteful practices.
Traditionally, Christmas releases have featured high-quality paper and covers, as these books are intended as gifts. Publishers who once believed there wasn’t a demand for paperbacks are now reevaluating their approach.
Another trend that helps curb exaggerated printing is listening to audiobooks. A recent 2023 study conducted by the Center for Icelandic Literature, in partnership with key literary organizations, shows that the consumption of audiobooks has increased exponentially (by 145% in the last six years) and that Icelanders dedicating between 30 to 60 minutes daily to reading or listening audiobooks. Additionally, the group that has read little or nothing is growing.
Jolabokaflod started as a strategic response to historical constraints and now finds itself at a crossroads with sustainability concerns and changing reading habits. As more memes might appear in the following years about the Icelandic tradition of gifting books at Christmas (and mistakenly tagged as Jolabokaflod), we can remind ourselves that reading is a pleasure that knows no season and is bound by no marketing strategy.
We can always take our family to a bookshop, a charity shop, or the local library and have a regular delight. A good book is indeed a good friend that doesn’t need the hype of festive seasons to offer nurture. And in the quiet moments, away from the glare of screens, we can always switch off and immerse ourselves in a book, any night, without the fanfare of a promotional campaign.