New Exhibition at Bildmuseet – Swedish Picture Book of the Year

Kom dagen, kom natten [Come Day, Come Night] is named the best Swedish picture book in 2020 and honoured with the national award Snöbollen. In conjunction with the prize ceremony at Umeå International Literature Festival, Bildmuseet inaugurates an exhibition presenting the awarded book.

Journalists are welcome to book a private preview of the exhibition on Thursday 18 March 13:00 – 16:00 and Friday 19 March 9:00–16:00. We are happy to arrange contact for telephone interviews with the illustrator Emma Virke and the author Åsa Lind. Also, warmly welcome online to the live-streamed opening on Saturday at 14:00, when they will talk about their book and collaboration in a conversation with museum curator Brita Täljedal.

Kom dagen, kom natten is a story about a late summer day in the countryside, about letting go and longing for next summer. The book opens up like an accordion. On one side is day, on the other night.

The summer is drawing to a close and it is cold and damp in the grass, but the sun still warms. All of the older children go swimming while the book’s protagonist, who cannot swim, remains alone among the reeds. A dragonfly lands on her hand. Then darkness falls, and day turns into the magical world of dreams where anything is possible. The child flies through the air, drops like a stone and sinks beneath the water, where her arms become wings and she can swim without arm floats.

The exhibition at Bildmuseet presents all of the illustrations from the book and an audio recording of Åsa Lind and Emma Virke relating how the book came about. At this time, Swedish Picture Book of the Year / Come day, Come Night is open for online visits where a museum host welcomes the visitor to give a digital tour. We look forward to an improved covid situation in our region and hope that we can soon invite to visits on site again. Read about Bildmuseet’s digital hours and tours.

Kom dagen, kom natten (Lilla Piratförlaget) was nominated to the August Prize 2020 and is honoured with the national award Snöbollen during the Umeå International Literature festival.

Emma Virke (b. 1974) is an illustrator, visual artist, author and graphic designer working in Stockholm. She debuted as a picture book illustrator in 2009, winning Natur & Kultur’s competition for picture book illustrators for her illustrations for Mops, written by Eva Lindström. Since then, she has published several books of her own, as well as illustrating the work of other authors. In 2017, Emma Virke was awarded the Elsa Beskow Plaque for the picture book Klä på Herr H [Dress Mr H] (2016).

Åsa Lind (b. 1958) is the Stockholm-based author of over 30 books for children and young adults, both fact and fiction. She is best known for her books about Zackarina and her friend the Sand Wolf. The Sand Wolf won the Nils Holgersson Plaque in 2003 and has been translated into 20 languages, becoming a modern classic. In 2014, Åsa Lind was awarded the Kulla-Gulla Prize. In 2020, she and Emma Virke were nominated for the August Prize for Kom dagen, kom natten and named the best Swedish picture book of 2020.

Press images…

For further information, please contact

Brita Täljedal, museum curator at Bildmuseet 

and member of the Snöbollen award jury.

brita.taljedal@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 90 7867714