Jolabokaflod

Christmas Book Flood • Reading for Pleasure


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Jolabokaflod for the ages

In 75 years of celebrating Jólabókaflóðið in Iceland, never has there been a greater need for ‘The Christmas Book Flood’ than this holiday season in 2020. As the pandemic lingers throughout the world, reading for pleasure gives all of us (Icelanders included) the opportunity to escape our social isolation, whether or not we are in lockdown where we are living.

This evening, people in Iceland have celebrated their main Christmas meal, perhaps drinking Jólabland (a traditional mix of brown ale and fizzy orangeade), exchanging presents – with books a highlight, chosen from this year’s Bókatíðindi catalogue of new titles – and snuggling down to read their new gifts over the holidays as the perfect way of leaving the stresses of life behind for a while.

Here at Jolabokaflod CIC, 2020 has been a year of preparation for the future. We had to pivot from our plans for the year when the first lockdown in the UK took hold in March. While we have not promoted Jólabókaflóðið visibly in 2020, this year of fallow times has given us the chance to prepare for a coming period of activity for everyone to see once the forthcoming vaccination program allows. We have not been idle behind the scenes.

So, let’s life a glass of Jólabland to celebrating Christmas this year in the best way we can and raise a toast for the promise of the New Year. We are exciting about starting to share our plans for 2021 very soon.


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Turning the page on Book Bulletin

Today is World Social Media Day, which marks the last day of the Winter 2019 edition of Jolabokaflod CIC’s Book Bulletin. We choose this day to close the book on our annual catalogue every year as the end of June completes the first half of the year, when all the titles in publishers’ Spring catalogues (January to June) – often promoted at the London Book Fair – have been released.

To celebrate the moment when the next edition of the Book Bulletin will start to be compiled – from 1 July 2020 onwards – we are choosing this time to launch our Summer Recommendations campaign on social media. Led by curated content on Instagram at @Jolabokaflod_cic, in two week-long series – My Top 7 Summer Recommendations and My Favourite Summer Read – we are re-engaging with digital and social media in a regular and systematic way.

We shall start to publish content on this blog and on other platforms much more regularly, as well as post daily at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Welcome to the start of the next issue of our Book Bulletin, which will be filled with your recommendations for the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, giving you plenty of great ideas for gifts to give loved ones for Christmas, summer holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and every other type of special occasion.

 

 


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Celebrating World Book Day

It’s World Book Day in the UK: a time to remind ourselves about the universal greatness of books.

I have a story to tell about the genesis of the event, which I shall reveal later today…


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And the winner is…

Drum roll, please….

Our panel of nine judges and a chairman completed a blind-jury short questionnaire about the shortlist (in which names, email addresses and locations of the entrants were not revealed), giving each of the six entries a different score from 1 to 6 (with ‘1’ being the top mark) and saying ‘why they chose their favourite entry’, ‘why reading for pleasure is a great leisure activity’ and ‘why Jolabokaflod is a terrific literary tradition’. The entry with the lowest cumulative score is declared the winner of the £500 cash prize and a bespoke crowdfunding campaign at CrowdPatch (to be launched soon) to make the idea happen in the real world.

So, lights down; envelope, please…

The winner of the 2019 Jolabokaflod ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ at 12R Prizes is….

Alison Jones, winner: ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ 2019 (photo: https://alisonjones.com)

One of our judges, Debbie Williams (Course Leader for BA and MA Publishing degrees at the University of Central Lancashire), said:

‘Personalisation is the name of the game at the moment. Although not an entirely unique or new idea, the pitcher does seem to have really thought about how this is used, where and who.’

We are excited to work with Alison to make her idea happen over the coming months, especially – as Debbie infers – the gifting of books (both to yourself and to loved ones) captures the true essence of the Jolabokaflod tradition.

Details about our crowdfunding campaign to make BookDate happen will follow very soon. Here’s hoping you will feel inspired to follow its progress and to get involved.

 


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Reading for Pleasure Prize shortlist announced

All of the 20 eligible entries received for our Reading for Pleasure Prize were of an exceptionally high standard. It was rewarding and gratifying to tap into the creativity and talent of the ‘wisdom of crowds’.

Of the entries received, 75% of them met the four criteria for the competition and were serious contenders for making the shortlist:

  • Originality
  • Impact
  • Feasibility
  • Public interest

Six entries were shortlisted on 1 January 2020 for consideration by a international panel of nine judges and one chairman (from the UK, USA and Iceland) representing a range of different perspectives of the book trade, including award-winning authors, literary agents, sales and marketing publishing executives, literary charity trustees, social entrepreneurs, publishing academics and postgraduate students. All the entries we received are displayed at IdeasNest, showing the numbers of likes and views each one received. The list below comprises the shortlisted suggestions in the order they are displayed on the ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ page (starting from the top row and reading from left to right) and provides links to each idea pitch:

The judging process takes place over the first week in January, with a decision reached for announcement on Twelfth Night, 6 January 2020, the day when the last of the Yule Lads leaves Icelandic homes for another year to travel back to their lair in the mountains.


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‘Reading for Pleasure’ cash prize competition announced

Here is our press release about a new competition to promote Jolabokaflod (Christmas book flood), the 75-year-old Icelandic literary tradition: Jolabokaflod launches ‘Reading for Pleasure’ competition at 12R Prizes.

Jolabokaflod CIC’s £500 cash prize contest opened on 26 October 2019 (First Day of Winter in Iceland) for entries in less than 500 words to be submitted until Christmas Eve (the culmination of Jolabokaflod in Iceland). The competition is open to everyone in the book trade and in the general public beyond (as long as they not involved with the judging process): the application for the ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ is hosted on the 12R Prizes platform: Reading for Pleasure Prize.

We are looking for entries that have the following characteristics:

  • ORIGINALITY: Innovative solutions that have the power to capture people’s imaginations.
  • IMPACT: Disruptive ideas that have the potential to break through into the book trade and the public sphere via the press and media.
  • FEASIBILITY: Practical ideas that can be implemented with reasonable allocation of time, money and other resources and that have the potential to be replicated easily elsewhere.
  • PUBLIC INTEREST: Compelling ideas that can re-engage people with the idea that reading for pleasure is an enjoyable and valuable entertainment choice at any time of year.

An international panel of book-trade experts will judge the eligible entries. A shortlist of potential winners will be announced on New Year’s Day with the winner revealed on 6 January 2020 (Twelfth Night).

From 7 January to 14 February 2020 (International Book Giving Day), Jolabokaflod CIC will run a crowdfunding campaign at CrowdPatch to put the winning entry into action by raising money, awareness and engagement.

We invite everyone reading this announcement to submit your entries for the ‘Reading for Pleasure Prize’ competition. Good luck!


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Happy Fyrsti Vetrardagur

Iceland celebrates the First Day of Winter every year (Fyrsti Vetrardagur), marking the beginning of Gor, the first winter month in the Old Norse calendar. Viking culture recognised two seasons – summer and winter – that matched changing daylight hours giving a rhythm to farming. In the Arctic Circle, the cycle of the seasons leads to long summer days and long winter nights.

The First Day of Winter always falls on the first Saturday after the 26th week of summer: this year the date is today, 26 October 2019.

In Reykjavík, the occasion is marked by restaurants on one of the main shopping streets, Skólavörðustígur, offering around 1500 litres of free meat soup (kjötsúpa) to the public. The traditional broth is a soup-cum-stew made with mutton and seasonal winter vegetables, like potatoes, parsnips and swedes. By tradition, the restaurants started the afternoon ritual by first feeding prisoners at a reception jail on the street, but the 19th-century stone building was decommissioned in 2016. City residents then queue in long lines to get their share of the soup.

At Jolabokaflod CIC, the First Day of Winter also marks the launch of our Book Bulletin 2019 campaign at CrowdPatch. This crowdfunding project rewards people with entries in the online catalogue for books of their choice plus classified ads to promote the contributors, their work and their personal projects and enthusiasms. The Book Bulletin is hosted on this website, to give you great ideas for Christmas presents – and for any other special occasion – for your friends and family.

Why not browse the catalogue to find ideas for early seasonal gifts?


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Books of the Day: one recommendation per time zone

The Spring Bank Holiday Monday is drawing to a close in the UK, traditionally a time when people first venture to the seaside in the knowledge that summer is just around the corner. National days leave in Britain are so called due to the tradition that banks are closed for business on these days, a custom harking back to the late 19th century when clerks needed branch closure time to update accounts and tally bookkeeping. Nowadays bank holidays are retained to give tired workers a decent break to relax and recover from the stress of life over long weekends and the opportunity to enjoy extra leisure time.

In the holiday spirit of today’s day off work, we are drawing attention to Jolabokaflod’s Book of the Day feature.

Every day of our campaign to celebrate the Sumarbokaflod season (from 25 April to 8 September 2019), we are publishing one recommendation suggestion from either an A-list celebrity reader or a crowdfunding contributor who has purchased a GBP £50.00 reward from our live Book Bulletin project.

Today, at a rate of one per hour, we are tweeting the first 12 books in the Book of the Day sequence, one title per time zone. From tomorrow onwards, we shall reveal each Book of the Day title on the day in which it features.

We hope you get inspired to read some of the Book of the Day titles recommended for you in the coming weeks and months, especially when you take a relaxing evening, a lazy weekend mini-break or a chilled-out vacation in order to read for pleasure.


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There’s 4.19 books born every minute

Never one to miss an opportunity to make analogies, today – 5 May – is International Day of the Midwife. Whilst the medical world of baby sherpas have their awareness day in the sunshine – this year the emphasis is on defending women’s rights – here at Jolabokaflod Towers we can extend the metaphor to include authors giving birth to their work (all 2,200,000 per year around the world). Once you suspend disbelief to compare and contrast the process, there are similarities:

  • The decision to write a book can be years in the making
  • Aspiring authors can attend ante-natal classes to learn about the publishing process
  • Research is a key factor in planning for a new arrival
  • The act of consummation involves love, foreplay, mind games and active imagination
  • The foetus moves through many evolutionary drafts
  • Authors often don’t know how their work will turn out until it is completed
  • Gestation of a manuscript in an author’s room often takes around nine months
  • The birthing process is often painful and may need to be induced with coffee and/or alcohol, depending on the time of day and the severity of the discomfort
  • There is often a room in the house that needs painting, even if this is only a displacement activity
  • Delivery of a manuscript via an agent is usually a joyous occasion
  • Finding a place for a moulding the future of a manuscript, taught by publishing tutors, can involve moving house
  • Some authors prefer their offspring to be home-schooled
  • The growth of a book is part nature, part nurture
  • In the genetic make up of successful books, X marks the spot and Y gets an answer
  • The First Day at School is celebrated in the company of friends and colleagues with free-flowing, warm white wine, liberal helpings of cake, copious tears of pride and a few congratulatory speeches

So, please be up-standing – and raise your glass of flat Prosecco with us – to toast the author-parents of the world and their publisher-midwives, as well as – obvs – the unsung heroines (and heroes) that help to bring our real-world babies into the universe.


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The reading of business (and vice versa)

According to Ananthanarayanan V (Founder and CEO: Techdivine Creative Services) in Entrepreneur India magazine ‘books are a great source of learning for entrepreneurs’. Why would this be so? The article argues that this comes as a result of ‘wisdom from industry leaders who have brought forth their decades of rich valuable experiences and learnings in the form of a book.’

The article identifies nine sub-genres of business that benefit from the slow release of information over the chapters of a book. The links provide recommendations for great books on each subject:

Entrepreneurs will always seek out the wisdom in books – and will seek to impact their own wisdom by writing books of their own. This is a never-ending positive spiral of creativity, flair and the opportunity to start businesses and make money.