Children’s Literature at the World Expo in Shanghai

Children’s Literature seminar a hit! reported China Daily after Chinese and Swedish children’s literature experts met in the Swedish pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai.

The seminar dubbed In the footsteps of Astrid Lindgren: Contemporary Chinese and Swedish Children’s Literature featured many speakers – researchers, teachers, authors and publishers. Among the speakers was Ms. Bu Wei, Professor of communication, who spoke about how Pippi Longstocking subverts Chinese tradition and Mr. Wang, Professor of literature, who gave examples of how the works of Astrid Lindgren has influenced literature written for children in China today.

Another highlight for the audience was when they had the opportunity to meet the authors Ms. Qin Wenjun from China and Mr. Ulf Stark from Sweden, who presented their respective work and spoke of their inspiration. What they have in common, apart from being excellent writers? They have both been nominated to the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award of course!

Astrid Lindgren was first published in the end of the 80-ies in China. In the past years, China Children Publishing Group have published just about the complete works by the author from south Sweden. And successfully so. More than 1,5 million books have been sold so far.

As a break away from the presentations, the audience had the opportunity to visit the exhibition in Swedish pavilion as well as Villa Villekulla, which you can spot on the picture above. In the afternoon, the audience was shown excerpts of the Pippi Longstocking musical currently playing in China.

The event was organized by the Award office together with the Swedish Expo Committee, CBBY and China Children Publishing Group.

And yes, the Award office agrees – it was a hit!

Tags: Astrid Lindgren, CBBY, China Children, cultural exchange, nominated candidates, Pippi Longstocking, Ulf Stark, Wenjun Qin, World Expo