Intense planning for the Swedish participation in Bologna

Sweden will be guest of honor at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March. As guest of honour, Sweden will present a major exhibition on contemporary Swedish illustration, among many other things. We caught project manager at the Swedish Arts Council, Eva Ottosson, between two meetings.

Hi Eva, tell us about the program in Bologna!

We will make Bologna boil with Swedish activities, both at the Fair and in Bologna town. Under our theme Children’s right to Culture, we will present authors, illustrators and other artists.

At the Fair we will present a large exhibition with Swedish contemporary illustrators, it will be impossible to miss, placed just at the entrance of the Fair at the Illustrators café.
The 31 illustrators are selected by a jury and range from debutants to world famous illustrators. In connection to the exhibition a catalogue will be presented. We also arrange the Swedish collective stand with publishers and other exhibitors and present vast program at all the scenes: illustrators café, authors café, digital café and translators café.

In Bologna town a number of local organizations do workshops, exhibitions, readings with a Swedish theme. You can see the full program on our website from mid February.
This program will be great!

Children’s right to culture, what does that mean?

That every child has the right to take part of culture in his or her own way. That culture is a thing of lust – it should never be a must. The artists we present in Bologna all have one thing in common – that they work from a child’s point of view.

What are your expectations?

To give Swedish literature and illustration a great big boost internationally. Me personally – I expect some hard work but also plenty of fun and interesting meetings.

More reading about the exhibition here.
More reading about Children’s right to culture here.

Eva Ottosson, Project Manager at the Swedish Arts Council.

Tags: Astrid Lindgren, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Bologna children's book fair, eva ottosson, Swedish Arts Council