The origins of Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas Book Flood

Before Halldór Laxness was the first Icelander to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955, Icelandic contemporary literature was not on the world map. Laxness can be said to have encouraged generations of Icelanders to write their own stories and to instill a sense of national identity.

Consider that in the 13th Century, the Icelandic sagas, which tell the stories of the country's Norse settlers who began arriving on the island in the late 9th Century, were written on scraps of vellum and household items. Consider the storytelling that took place over the long, dark winter seasons. Consider that the country has a literacy rate of 100%. Consider the inspiration foreign writers gained from the Sagas, such as Jorge Luis Borges, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Seamus Heaney, to name a few. Consider that in 2011, Reykjavík was designated a UNESCO City of Literature.

During World War II in Iceland, paper was one of the few commodities not rationed. Icelanders, therefore, congregated to receive books, since other supplies were scarce.

Iceland’s population was not large enough to support a year-round publishing industry, so publishers flooded the market with new titles just as the year was coming to an end. As Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944, in the midst of the war, this instilled even further a sense of national identity bound up with communing over a love and appreciation of books.

Every year since 1944, the Icelandic book trade has published a catalog, Bókatíðindi, that is sent to every household in mid-November during the Reykjavik Book Fair. People use the catalog to order books for friends and family over the Holidays. Jólabókaflóð ("the Christmas Book Flood") refers to this retail cycle that begins with the launch of new books and ends with their reading.

The annual Reykjavik Book Fair has been an event in the City of Literature since Reykjavík became a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2011. The fair, hosted by the Icelandic Publishers Association and the Reykjavik UNESCO City of Literature office, is open to all and entrance is free of charge. The fair is the nexus of the Jólabókaflóð, with a diverse literary program featuring readings, discussions, and story hours, all connected to books published in Iceland over the past year.

While the tradition of gifting books is popular worldwide, the one that is becoming a cultural phenomenon in Iceland is the exchange of books on Christmas Eve, followed by spending the rest of the evening (and often the next day) reading the new book.