Hur kan bilderböcker hjälpa barn att förstå mångfalden i världen, i det egna landet och samhället?

Vid detta seminarium utforskar illustratören Maria Sann, Master of Arts och vinnare av 2021 års Rudolf Koivu-pris, sin personliga historia som emigrant från Ryssland 1993 och sin strävan efter nya uttryck utan stereotypa visuella effekter. Förläggaren Jenni Erkintalo, grundare av Etana Editions, berättar hur en mångfacetterad bilderbok blir till – en bok som talar till läsaren, väcker känslor, frågor och minnen, men som också kan skapa minnen, humanism och en större förståelse för världen omkring.

Seminariet följs av en vernissage med finalisterna och finalistbidragen i Nordisk kulturkontakts illustratörstävling, som i höstas efterlyste en frontfigur för det läsfrämjande projektet Den nordiska bokslukaren.

Seminariets språk är engelska.

Program

15:00 Nordic Culture Point, welcoming words.

15:05 Maria Sann, illustrator: Multiculturalism can be something invisible.

The winner of the Rudolf Koivu prize of 2021, Maria Sann, explorers her personal history as an emigrant from Russia in 1993. As a Swedish speaking Finn born in The Soviet Union, her personal history shines a light on the experience of being a minority within a minority. Maria tackles the lack of an obvious visible difference in appearance, underlying the experience of being an immigrant. Her talk suggests ways of transcribing the invisible psychological experience of being different through illustration, without the use of stereotypical visual effects of ethnicity and material objects of national identity.

15:50 Jenni Erkintalo, publisher: The special applied art form of children’s picture books.

Etana Editions is an award-winning independent picture book publisher. In the past seven years, Etana Editions has published over 60 books and held dozens of design and storytelling workshops for children. They work with talented illustrators, authors, and visual storytellers. They believe in books where illustration and text, hand in hand are creating an engaging reading experience. Such books are created through a work process where the authors, editors, designers work together with the reader in mind upfront. Picture books are an applied art form. Their goal is to talk to the reader, evoke feelings, questions, and memories, while also creating memories. As publishers Etana Editions believe that their task is to create the bridge between the artist and the reader, to help authors crystallise their ideas and how their message can reach the reader. It is a beautiful and complex journey.

16:35 Questions and discussion – moderator: Jaana Pesonen

16:50 End of the seminar

17:00 Opening of exhibition at the library