How to participate

It is easy, and - perhaps more importantly - free of charge, to participate in the Nordic Literature Week along with over 2000 other institutions worldwide! Here is all you need to do:

1. Decide who your institution wants to read for

The Nordic Literature Week has three main target groups: children, youth and adults for which we provide you with text extracts. (If your desired target group falls outside of this group, we always provide a list of additional literature with suggestions of other books that can be read aloud. However, we do not provide the text from these books).

Nordic Literature Week is not responsible for any claims of compensation for reading aloud for participating institutions. Nordic Literature Week recommends participating institutions to contact the relevant rights organization in their country in case of questions and concerns about compensation for reading aloud.

2. Sign up!

Based on the group (or groups, if you want to do more than one reading) you chose in step 1, check the event(s) you want to host in the sign-up sheet. The options are:

Morning dawn for children (if you are reading for children)

Evening dusk (if you are reading for adults)

All the readings usually take place on the Big Reading Aloud Day (always a Monday) in mid-November, though some organize it on a different day during the Nordic Literature Week if they, for some reason, are unable to do it on the Monday. Kura dawn, whether for children or for youth, starts at 9 AM CET in most Scandinavian institutions, while Kura dusk for adults starts around 7 PM CET. Of course this varies depending on the geographical location of the institution though. The exact date of the Big Reading Aloud Day as well as the Nordic Literature Week is usually announced in January of the same year.

You will find the link to the sign-up at the bottom of this page (or go to registration in the main menu).

After you have signed up, you will receive a confirmation mail.

3. Download the texts

Once you have signed up, you will be able to access the text extracts for all the events on the website as soon as they become available in all the Nordic and Baltic languages (and English if available). You might want to pass on the text to the person who will be doing the reading, so they can read through it beforehand. If the entire book is available in your language, s/he might even want to borrow it from the nearest library to know what the book is about.

Please note that it might take some time before the texts become available, depending on the rights, or when you signed up, as the process for choosing every year's themes and books takes time, and some of the texts needs to be translated specifically for the project. However, if you signed up before the texts became available, you will be sure to receive an e-mail from us when the texts are ready for download.

4. Market your event - and print our poster!

Now you need to start to market your event. The Nordic Literature Week has a poster designed each year, that you can print out to showcase your event. You can even write your own text on it. Again, if you signed up early, you will be notified as soon as the new poster is ready!

Participating institutions have created Facebook events, put it up on their institution's websites and spread the word orally. Libraries have invited nearby schools or day care centres to come to the library for the reading, and teachers have gathered classes across cohorts. In some cases, institutions have co-operated with organizations, thereby getting a bigger audience as the organization's members attend the event.

5. Organize activities related to the reading (optional)

We encourage you to take the opportunity to make something bigger of the event than just reading. In time, you will find a Catalogue of Ideas specially developed for each year's theme and books, with inspiration and ideas to what you might do in relation to your reading. It could be a discussion, showing an adapted film version of the book, some musical entertainment or dressing the audience (or the reader!) up as a character from the book. Of course you are also free to come up with your own ideas.

You might want to reserve some time in your calendar for step 5, as some of the activities might take a bit of additional time to organize - but so worth it!

6. Last but certainly not least: read aloud!

When the Big Reading Aloud Day arrives at last, all you have to do is to create a nice, "hygge" atmosphere, read the provided text aloud, and do the activity you had planned with it (if it applies). You might want to dim the lights and light some candles. If you are reading for children, there might be some pictures from the book (if so, they will be available from our website) that you can show on the smartboard while reading. If you are reading for youth or adults, you might want to offer some biscuits or coffee and tea.

7. Document it and SHARE it (optional)

We'd love to see what you made of the event! So make sure you snap some pictures from the event and share it with us, and the rest of the reading aloud community, on Facebook and/or Instagram using the hashtag #nordlitt21. You might also get some inspiration prior to your event as to what you might do by searching for #nordlitt.