Prata Bok: Ten children’s and youths’ author interviews in Swedish at the Helsinki Book Fair

In the Finnish Reading Center’s project Prata Bok, school groups interview current authors and illustrators at the Helsinki Book Fair. Prata bok offers Swedish-speaking pupils a unique opportunity to meet with authors. The school groups get practice in reading a book in depth, organising a literature discussion and performing on a stage.

Prata Bok is aimed at Swedish-language schools from all over Finland. The schools participating in Prata Bok signed up in March and chose their books and authors to interview at the same time. Ten groups were selected from Ostrobothnia, Southwest Finland and Uusimaa regions. The youngest groups are from grades 5-6 and the oldest are high school seniors.

To give the young people stage experience and confidence to perform, they also got to take part in a training day, where they received tips on how to conduct a good interview. The authors’ books were distributed to the school groups so that the students had plenty of time to familiarise themselves with the material before the book fair.

Some students who took part in Prata Bok this year said they learned how to talk on stage, to pay attention and improvise, and that it is okay to make mistakes. Students also said they enjoyed hearing different interpretations of the books.

One author commented that the Prata Bok concept is great, both for the students and for the authors: ‘Talking directly to the readers on stage is rewarding, and I think the experience is also very good for the students, especially because they are usually very well prepared. 10 points!’

The aim of Prata Bok is to inspire children and young people to read and to talk about their reading experiences. It is also important for the students to get to know Finland-Swedish authors and their work.

Finnish Literature in Swedish

Swedish is an official language in Finland, next to Finnish. There are a little less than 300 000 Finland-Swedes in Finland, who speak Finland Swedish as their first language. Free education in Swedish is available from early childhood education to universities.

The Swedish-speaking population of Finland has a rich literary culture. The Finnish Reading Center is a bilingual organisation operating in both Finnish and Swedish, and Prata Bok is one of the ways to promote reading and literature within the Swedish-speaking community.

Prata Bok is organised by the Finnish Reading Center in cooperation with Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland. The project is financed by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and Stiftelsen Brita Maria Renlunds minne.