REYKJAVIK: In the land of the Sagas, it isn´t Christmas if there isn´t a deluge of books under the tree — literally.
The Jolabokaflod, or Christmas Book Flood, is a much-loved tradition that has been celebrated in Iceland since 1945. It´s a bit like Britain´s “Super Thursday”, when hundreds of hardbacks hit the shelves on the first Thursday of October, but much bigger: two-thirds of books in Iceland are published in November and December. Hundreds of new titles go on sale in bookshops and supermarkets at reduced prices, a yuletide custom that has also become vital for the publishing industry´s survival.
On Christmas Eve, Icelanders traditionally exchange books and spend the evening reading — perhaps curling up by the fireside with the latest crime novel by Arnaldur Indridason, who´s topped bestseller lists for the past two decades in his native country of 360,000 people. “Literature is very important in Iceland and it is, I guess, the art form that is something the whole public can relate to,” artist and mother-of-two Sigrun Hrolfsdottir, who lives in Seltjarnarnes, a small district in the Reykjavik area, told AFP. Her daughter and son, Duna and Gudmundur, have already picked the books they want out of the “Bokatidindi”, an 80-page catalogue of novels, poetry and children´s books distributed free of charge to all households. The 2019 catalogue features 842 new titles. Almost seven out of 10 Icelanders buy at least one book as a Christmas gift, according to the Icelandic Publishers Association.
Iceland´s literary tradition was born about 900 years ago with the Sagas, widely seen as a gem in world literature and still studied in school by Icelandic children today. The Icelandic Sagas describe events among inhabitants of Iceland in the 10th and 11th centuries.