Where Books Burn – with Ida Ölmedal

Why do some people want to ban books? Which books are allowed to exist, and what does it mean to burn a book? Ida Ölmedal, culture editor at Svenska Dagbladet, presents her essay collection Där man bränner böcker (Where Books Are Burned) ahead of Banned Books Week.

The book raises questions such as what it means to burn a Quran, why parents want to purge children's books from shelves, when Sweden allows despots to strangle our freedom of expression, and whether it is true that censorship is good PR. Ida Ölmedal writes about a number of high-profile cases in which the written word has sparked debate, tracing the threads back through history. It is an exploration of banned books, hatred, sex, fear, war, and the forces shaping the new boundaries of the free word.

Banned Books Week Sverige is organised by the Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö and Svenska PEN. It is a way of keeping the conversation about freedom of expression alive and a powerful defence of everyone's right to read.

Organiser: Söderköping läser, a collaboration between Söderköping Library and Söderköpings Bokhandel & Antikvariat, with support from the Swedish Arts Council.