So far, have you found any book of special interest?

Yes, so many! The holdings are so fantastic, it really is a guldgruva. Special interest is hard, but the Swedish edition of Mary Steichen Martin’s The first picturebook from 1932 which has a few different photographs to appeal to the Swedish audience is one of my favorite findings today – so many questions, because the photographers are not mentioned, not her famous father Edward Steichen nor the Swedish for the replacements. Yesterday, I looked at a Swedish translation of a German book from 1879 illustrated with photographs. The collection has more than one copy so I was able to look at them side by side and compare them, which was very cool. And there was an endearing dedication in one of them, another came from a collection of 19th century children’s books which would be worth looking into more. Simon Springare helped me make sense of it all – a huge thank you goes to everybody in the library and at the institute for their research support and incredibly knowledge and willingness to help me in my research!

What use have you had of the institute’s collections?

The collection is absolutely amazing, and to me the material is crucial for my research. What is more, the knowledge and support in every single member of the institute is invaluable to me, that’s why coming here and being at Sbi is so rewarding: all those conversations that happen alongside the materials are equally important to the books themselves, at least to my mind. Meeting other scholars and illustrators is just so wonderful, the conversations and exchange about children’s books sparking new thoughts and ideas. Being at Sbi has furthermore allowed me to form connections to researchers at other institutions. To start a conversation with others is such a huge plus for me when coming to the institute!

How come you chose Sweden as one of the countries in your research?

My fascination with children’s books was always based on the truly wonderful Swedish books, stories and images I knew from my own childhood. When I started to deep-dive into my research project on children’s books and illustration, I realized that Sweden in particular had authors, illustrators and publishers that seemed more willing to take risks (when it comes to content and what children might be confronted with in a book) compared to Germany. While this is of course not accounting for all and every single book, I do believe that especially the long and rich tradition in children’s literature research and the scholarly discourse shaping societal debates is different in Sweden. Both are absolutely essential for my topic because the authors I am looking at have tested boundaries in their artistic work and aren’t always honored for it. So, I think of Sweden, and in particular Barnbokinstitutet with its holdings, as a “light house” helping me navigate the field of children’s literature, illustration, and the form of art that the picturebook is to me. Tusen tack för möjligheten att bedriva forskning här!

Mareike Stoll är verksam vid forskningsklustret “Matters of Activity. Image Space Material”, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin och konsthögskolan Weißensee i Berlin. Stoll disputerade vid Princeton University på en avhandling om fotobilderböcker från mellankrigstidens Tyskland och har därefter fortsatt att undersöka pedagogiska och visuella dimensioner av bilderboksmediet. 

Om Solkatten
Astrid Lindgrens Stiftelse Solkatten har sedan år 2001 delat ut ett stipendium som ger utländska barn- och ungdomslitteraturforskare möjlighet att bedriva forskning i Sverige alternativt svenska forskare möjlighet till studier i utlandet. Stipendiet utdelas årligen och administreras av Sbi.