Jolabokaflod

Christmas Book Flood • Reading for Pleasure

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Let’s celebrate Sumarbokaflod

Ever wondered why summer is the perfect time to dive into a great book?

In the heart of Iceland’s winter, the tradition of Jolabokaflod, or the Christmas Book Flood, brings warmth and joy as people gift books on Christmas Eve and spend the night reading. Imagine channeling that same spirit into summer with a new tradition: Sumarbokaflod, the Summer Book Flood. In any given year, today’s date marks the halfway point between two Christmas Eves, so 23 June is exactly the right time to be celebrating this new literary anniversary.

As summer rolls in, bookstores and publishers flood us with a tsunami of book campaigns, urging us to find the perfect reads for our vacations, and libraries find themselves busier than at any other time of year. Whether you’re lounging by the beach, hiking in the mountains, or simply enjoying a staycation, there’s no better companion than a good book.

Just like the cosy nights of Jolabokaflod, Sumarbokaflod can transform summer into a season of literary adventure. Publishers can launch special summer editions, host reading events, and offer discounts, making it easier for everyone to discover new stories.

This wave of summer reading not only promotes relaxation and pleasure but also supports authors and the book industry at large. Let’s make Sumarbokaflod a staple of our summer experience, encouraging everyone to pick up a book and lose themselves in its pages.

Are you ready to embrace the Sumarbokaflod tradition and make summer your mid-year season of reading for pleasure?


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The First Days of Summer: Sumarbokaflod campaign launch

Today – 1 May – is May Day, a celebration of the seasons changing, especially in Celtic festivals like Beltane as well in modern times as International Workers’ Day, an occasion to celebrate workers’ rights, and International Day of the Icelandic Horse.

In Iceland, this seasonal tradition is slightly earlier: the First Day of Summer (sumardagurinn fyrsti) is an annual public holiday held on the first Thursday after 18 April. This year, the First Day of Summer was marked on 25 April 2019. The occasion is marked around the country with parades, outdoor entertainment (including sporting events and children’s games) and free access to museums and exhibitions. This custom derives from the nation’s former use of the Old Norse calendar, which divided the year into two seasons: winter and summer. Years were considered less important than seasons: people saw their age in terms of the number of winters they had lived.

Here at Jolabokaflod CIC, we are celebrating these First Days of Summer by promoting our current Book Bulletin catalogue, full of book recommendation ideas for taking on holiday over the next few months, and to highlight our crowdfunding campaign for you to get your book title suggestions into the Book Bulletin – along with information about you and any project or issue you would like to promote – at a starting contribution of £10.00.

We shall be active online over the summer publicising all things book-related of interest to readers and book-trade professions. We call this campaign Sumarbokaflod (Sumarbókaflóðið, the summer book flood) to both name-check the long-standing Jólabókaflóðið Christmas tradition and to remind everyone that books make for great gifts at any time of year, especially for taking on vacation during our summer breaks.