Iceland’s "Christmas Book Flood" is a Force of Nature



Book lovers the world over cherish the legend of Iceland’s “Christmas Book Flood.” As the story goes, each and every citizen of the remote, ultra-literary nation gives and receives books at Christmas. After they unwrap presents with family and friends on Christmas Eve, they curl up with steaming cups of hot chocolate and read long into the sub-arctic night. Since the 12th century, a healthy writing habit led to a culture of readers. During the Middle Ages, Icelanders practiced something called the kvoldvaka — “night vigil” — when farmers huddled together in a single room of their houses to stay warm. The kvoldvaka was the time between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., when people would do their indoor work during the winter. They would knit, make tools, and work with wool, and during this session there would be one person appointed to read to everyone else. In those evening hours, children learned to tell, recite and read stories. During the Christmas seasons of World War II, paper was one of the few things that was not in short supply. Books quickly became a wartime hit and remained popular in the decades to come. Today, publishers and booksellers reduce costs to meet the seasonal demand, which actually enables them to maximize royalties and turnover and to avoid the risk of surplus inventory.