Pascal Engman, Liza Alexandrova-Zorina, Anders Roslund and Ann Jäderlund are some of the over 80 authors participating in Rinkeby's book festival this year. The festival has grown, says Fardosa Omar, whose Folkets hus in the area was awarded Årets Eldsjäl by ABF Stockholm last year. She thinks the book festival is a fun and inspiring way to create meetings between people.
We work a lot with social problems and felt three years ago "what can we do that's fun". It's so rare that people from outside visit Rinkeby and see what a rich and fantastic place it is, she says.
This year's theme "poetry and crime fiction" is in a way a picture of the unexpected meeting. The idea is that readers, established and unknown authors from all over the world, should meet. There is also a strong poetry tradition in Rinkeby, according to Fardosa Omar.
Rinkeby has a lot of background when it comes to poetry. There are a lot of people living here who have a strong storytelling culture and we wanted to include that.
The festival, which takes place on May 23-24, is also the culmination of the important reading promotion work carried out by Rinkeby Folkets hus, emphasizes Fardosa Omar, including reading circles and language support.
It's not the first thing you think of, literature unites us.
