Iceland's relationship with books is not easily explained by conventional cultural economics. A nation of 370,000 people that publishes between 1,500 and 2,000 new titles annually, reads more books per capita than any other country, and has produced Nobel laureates and internationally celebrated authors at a rate that defies its population size — these are facts that invite explanation rather than simply admiration.

The explanation most frequently offered is the Jólabókaflóð: the tradition, dating to wartime paper rationing in the 1940s, of gifting books on Christmas Eve. Books are cheap to import as paper even when other goods are scarce, and the tradition that grew up around this practicality has proven more durable than the scarcity that created it. Today, roughly half of all books sold in Iceland annually are purchased in the last two months of the year.

What is new is the internationalisation of the phenomenon. The Icelandic Publishers Association launched a coordinated international marketing campaign in 2022, partnering with cultural ministries and independent booksellers in 20 countries to promote Christmas Eve book-gifting as a cultural practice. The campaign reached an estimated 800 million people through social media in 2024, and the publishers association reports that participating bookshops in Germany, Canada, and Japan recorded measurable increases in Christmas Eve sales.

The secondary effect has been a surge of interest in Icelandic literature itself. Translated Icelandic fiction sales increased 67 percent in international markets in 2024, with crime fiction and contemporary literary novels leading the growth.

"We did not invent reading," said Publishers Association director Heiðrún Sigurðardóttir. "We just never stopped doing it. Perhaps that is worth sharing."