Today, the jury for the Nordic Council’s Children and Youth Literature Prize is holding its meeting to select the winner for the year 2023. The book that is chosen as the winner will be announced on October 31st!
Yesterday, the jury visited the Nordic House for a tour of the library and followed by dinner at Sónó restaurant here in the Nordic house. Below, some of the jury members share their thoughts on the process of selecting the winning book for 2023:
It’s a great honor to be part of this jury and I’m both thankful and proud to be a part of it.
Maybe it’s not really a surprise, but more of a positive fact, that the Swedish and other Nordic children’s and youth literature holds such a high standard that this job is really difficult.
It’s always a hard task, but regardless of age group we always look for high quality and artistic standard within each unique book we evaluate. – Alle Eriksson, jury member, (SE)
Jag tycker det känns väldigt intressant, spännande och hedrande att få vara med i juryn för nordiska rådets barn och ungdomslitteraturpris. Det är alltid roligt när de olika böckerna börjar droppa in i brevlådan. Det här året märkte jag att flera av böckerna handlar om barn som lever med en ensamstående förälder. Det gör förstås att barnet och föräldern får ett särskilt band men det kan vara extra tufft om föräldern tex träffar någon, eller om föräldern lider av psykisk ohälsa. Det är flera böcker som handlar om sorg och döden men även humor och livet. – Annica Andersson, jury member, (ÅL)
Når det gjelder arbeidet i den nordiske juryen, er det spennende å se på hva de andre nasjonale juryene legger vekt på i sine nominasjoner. Det er et spennende arbeid å diskutere seg frem til en vinner, siden jeg ut ifra mitt ståsted av og til kan ha problemer med å se hvorfor noen av bøkene er blitt nominert. Å være med i juryen er ikke bare for å kåre en vinner. For meg er det også en læringsprosess. – Hans Petter Laberg, jury member, (NO)
This year I was really surprised by the high quality of the books, there are several really beautiful and personal books that would deserve the prize. In many books the child and the experience and feelings of the child are in the center. We can see Nordic children as curious, vivid, deeply feeling persons who are dependent on adults but can also question the adult world. – Kaisa Laaksonen, jury member, (FIN)
It is, indeed, a challenge to choose between so many different categories: picture books, YA novels, graphic novels, baby books, children’s books, fact, and fiction etc., but that’s part of the job and, in the end, we focus on discussing the nominated works until we all agree on the one that stands out as the most qualitative, intriguing, and challenging. As to common themes this year, we did discuss in the Finnish jury group how many of this year’s nominated works focus on exploring how to deal with difficult feelings (such as envy, grief, or family issues) and how to understand oneself and others better. On the other hand, this is hardly strange since literature as an artform often deals with existential matters. – Maria Lassén-Seger, jury member, (FIN)
It´s a great honour and responsibility. You are not in the jury to fight for the books from your own country, you really want the best book to win. Every year I am fascinated by the fact that the books can be so different, the sum of them is always very rich. – Mats Berggren, jury member, (SE)
Noe av utfordringen ved å sitte i juryen er at de store landene, som Norge, Sverige, Danmark og Finland, gir ut langt flere bøker per år enn for eksempel Færøyene, Åland og Grønland. Dette gjør at det er betydelig vanskeligere å bli nasjonalt nominert hvis man (som forfatter) kommer fra et av de større landene enn fra de mindre. Og det blir også vanskeligere for de mindre landene å vinne selve hovedprisen. Prisen fremstår derfor ikke (for meg) utelukkende som en ren litteraturpris, men også som et viktig symbol på et felles-nordisk samarbeid innenfor litteratur og kultur. – Synne Sun Løes, jury member, (NO)
All of the nominated books are available at the Nordic House library!
