Iceland – A Christmas Story

Each holiday season, there's only one thing on Icelanders' wish lists: a stack of new books. Jenn Morson explores the country's festive tradition of giving the gift of the written word.

- By Jenn Morson

In Iceland's Heiðmörk Nature Reserve, just outside Reykjavík, I sat in front of a small fire and waited for the reading to begin. It was raining steadily, but Icelanders do not cancel for bad weather. After a small crowd had gathered, Sunna Dís Másdóttir read an excerpt from Olía, a book she co-authored with five members of her writing group, who call themselves the Svikaskáld, or "Impostor Poets." "Each of us wrote one character's voice," Másdóttir told me later, "and we wrote intensely in a cabin, away from distractions."

Literature is central to Iceland's identity the storytelling tradition stretches back at least as far as the sagas that were recorded in the 13th century. These novel-like accounts, which describe the conflicts between the Norse and Celtic families who lived on the island from the ninth to 11th centuries, have inspired several modern works, including The Lord of the Rings. Today, one in 10 Icelanders will become a published writer, and 1,500 new books are typically released each year. Since 2011, Reykjavík has been designated a UNESCO City of Literature, for both its long literary history and its contemporary writing festivals and conferences.