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YOU MAY HAVE seen some posts on social media recently about a lovely-sounding annual tradition: Jólabókaflóð, Iceland’s “Yule Book Flood”.
Every year on Christmas Eve, we are told, Icelanders turn off their tellies and their Xboxes, put their pesky mobile phones away, and give each other books as gifts.
Then they cuddle up with big mugs of hot chocolate and read together, with no sounds to be heard except the roaring of a fireplace, the occasional sensible chuckle, and the contented turning of pages. Could such a tradition ever be introduced in Ireland, they ask?
Jolabokaflod is a relatively recent tradition in Iceland, originating in World War II when importing toys (or the materials to make toys) was out of the question, and children had to make do with books instead. Responding to this trend, the publishing industry in Iceland created an annual Bókatíðindi (the “book bulletin” a bit like the Christmas edition of the RTÉ Guide) to make it easier for readers to decide what they wanted to give and to receive.
Native language
The Book Flood was also helped by Iceland’s policy of supporting its native language, and it is no accident that the first Bókatíðindi was released in 1944, the same year that Iceland became a republic.
The journal promotes books in Icelandic, published in Iceland, for Icelanders. Icelandic publishers can claim 25% of the production costs of books in the native tongue back from the Department of Culture and Commerce there. The Icelandic national book sector has another secret weapon: Amazon does not currently ship there.
It would be hard to replicate these circumstances in Ireland, and there is a strong argument that we shouldn’t even bother. Jolabokaflod may be a victim of its own success. Just as the Irish new car market before 2013 used to be artificially busy in January and relatively quiet for the rest of the year, the Icelandic publishing calendar leans heavily into December.
An Irish version?
This makes promotion a nightmare for less-established authors – there are only so many radio slots for interviews or column inches for reviews – and large amounts of unsold books getting pulped in the new year as storage of stock becomes a serious logistical problem.
This is especially frustrating for publishers who have incurred the extra printing costs of making their product “gift standard” as books are marketed to the giver rather than the end-reader.
The truth is that you can turn off your telly and curl up with a book any night of the year, and thankfully, lots of Irish people will be giving and getting books for Christmas even without an organised fun campaign. But it does sound very indulgent and tranquil (Icelanders, as former subjects of the Kingdom of Denmark, would probably not appreciate it being described as hygge), so is there a way that we can replicate this without creating unpleasant side effects in the bookselling sector?
One thing you could do is start a new tradition of a December visit to the library, especially if you have not been there for a while. A library card just might be the perfect Christmas gift to yourself – and it’s free.
As well as being one of the only places where you can sit down without someone asking you to pay over some money, libraries support the sector by buying lots of books (and pay authors when their books are borrowed) and the inter-library loan service means that the range of choices is almost limitless.
And while your local library might be closed during the quiet days in between Christmas and New Year, the online services for library cardholders will be available – Borrowbox, Libby, the Newspaper Archives (which are great fun to check during State Papers Week) and much more.
Nollag shona daoibh, or as they say in Icelandic, gleðileg jól!
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All the lads slapping each other on the back last week while this girl died from a preventable death. God forgive those in charge for the years of mismanagement. Sincere condolences to her family and friends. And the staff at UHL, can’t have been easy for them. May she rest in peace.
I’m sure if she was taken care of in a timely manner she wouldn’t have died. Closing hospitals has consequences.
The downgrading of Ennis, St John’s and Nenagh has serious consequences. The dogs on the street know that. The ED department at UHL can be an absolute nightmare. I genuinely don’t know if the management are at fault or is it purely demand is way too high and the system is beyond repair at this stage. Either way, something drastic needs to be done. Rest in peace Aoife. Thoughts and prayers to your family and to the nurse that was trying to look after you
@Luke Ronan: Unfortunately the dogs on the street will go in and vote FF and FG every election
@Mogh Roith: And the choice is what
@Una Ni Mhathuna: The choice is to give other parties who are not FG/FF a decent go and put all their promises into real action. Sure, if they’re no use, we get the brilliant FF/FG back in, all be grand then. The “what is the choice” lot will no doubt continue to blindly vote the same lot back into power, and there lies a big part of the problem.
I spent 14hours on a chair in the UHL A&E in the SUMMER of 2017 so I can’t even imagine the state of it out there right now. People from Limerick/Clare/Tipp have a genuine fear of going to UHL because of how bad it is. But if you’re truly sick there is nowhere else to go, and that is beyond frightening!!!! It’s not the fault of the nurses and doctors. It lies at the feet of senior management and the government!! I’ve attended numerous protests in Limerick over the years re UHL and no one listens and this is now the result of inaction. No one should spend 13+hrs to be seen in a functioning system. Thinking of Aoife, her family and friends. X
some are working hard, while others are hardly working. I think we all know who.
Ministers were told repeatly prior to this that there was issues and they did nothing about it.
I can only imagine leaving someone with a time critical illness for 16 hours on a trolley without antibiotics can result in loss of life as in this case, my heart goes out to Aoife’s family on the loss of their child , we will be treated to more ‘lessons learned’ when this investigation is done… that’s until the next time.
Timely reminder that your man over the Mid-West HSE has been PROMOTED! I hope the family get some justice.
August 1981, i was 9 and rushed to Limerick regional (now UHL) with meningitis. I remember it vividly and the brilliant work they did to save my life. Something went wing with this poor girl RIP
This Hospital is an absolute disgrace, the government know it and they still do nothing. The Hospitals closed in the arez over the Years and then no investment in health Fighting fires ever year throws billions at hse while the management get big pensions
May Aoife Rest in peace.
They have had years to sort this out. Country run by clowns.
I hope the UL management will reflect on the magnitude of their incompetence with they sit down to pull there Christmas crackers. One girl won’t!
Trying.to give impression that hospita crisis only started over covid its ongoing for many many yrs check it out public hospital beds nurses population 4000000 mil today 5000000mil check out difference please
My poor cousin YES her death absolutely could have been avoided!!! that hospital is an absolute joke! I myself have suffered so much from the lack of care I have received there, I hope my family get justice for aoife
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