Anna Nordenstam

What led you to pursue research in children’s and youth literature?

"I’m a curious person. I took undergraduate classes in children’s and youth literature at the University of Gothenburg, and later, as an instructor for those classes and in the teacher education program, I started to dig deeper into the subject and found I really enjoyed it. It’s an exciting and international field of research. So I got stuck, and I’m very glad I did."

Can you tell us about some of the research you’ve done?

"One fun project was writing a history of children’s and youth literature published in Swedish, including books in translation. I got to read a lot of older books as well as more recent literature, and I had to make a lot of hard choices as part of the research process. I’ve also studied recent Swedish picture books and youth literature of various kinds. Last but not least, I’ve done work on comic books and graphic novels for both young adults and adults."

Do you have a favorite reading memory from when you were a child?

"Oh, that’s hard, because I have so many. I really loved the Pelle Svanslös books by Gösta Knutsson, especially the one where Pelle the cat goes to America and winds up at Niagara Falls. I also have strong memories of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Zilverpijl comic books, Klatremus og de andre dyrene i Hakkebakkeskogen by Thorbjørn Egner, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (especially the comic books with illustrator Ingrid Vang Nyman), and Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne."