'Norra Latin' author visits SIS

One of the highlights of Celebrate Reading Week at SIS was the appearance of renowned writer, scriptwriter, and playwright Sara Bergmark Elfgren who visited the our campuses to talk to students. In Primary School, she talked about 'Julstjärnan' ('The Christmas Star') created with illustrator Johan Egerkrans - a wonderful Christmas themed children’s book which instantly reached the hearts of readers across the world, old and young alike, and certainly held the attention of SIS students.

The following day at our secondary campus, there was a somewhat different emphasis, because Sara has a particular connection with SIS. One of her early novels, which was the winner of the Nordic Council’s Prize for Children and Young People’s Literature in 2018, is entitled 'Norra Latin' and set in – you guessed it – our very own Norra Latin building.

She spoke of how the building had inspired her, her research into Norra Latin's history, and how she used that as a springboard for her novel's setting. And she could not help but reflect on the happy coincidence that she was now in that very setting which was once again a school and a realisation of what she had previously just imagined.

If it's age-appropriate it might be one to pick up and read. The award described it as: 'Norra Latin is a profound work in which Sara Bergmark Elfgren weaves history, myth, and magic into day-to-day realism. In engaging narrative, she gives flesh and blood to the anxiety and dreams of today’s teenagers and their struggle to stand on their own two feet instead of in the shadows of others.'

The book is not published in English at the moment, but is available in Swedish and some other European languages.