Swedish Picture Book of the Year / The Wound

The Wound is a book about getting hurt, sustaining a wound and suddenly finding yourself the centre of attention. The blood is scary, but at the same time, the attention is a bit wonderful. But what happens afterwards, when the wound has healed? Who cares about a little scar?   
 
The book has been named the best Swedish picture book of 2022 and awarded the national Snöbollen (Snowball) prize. Emma AdBåge, who created both the pictures and the text, received the prize during Littfest, Umeå International Literature Festival, in spring 2023. The exhibition at Bildmuseet presents original drawings and sketches for the book, and you can hear Emma AdBåge talk about how t it came about. 
 
The Wound draws the reader into an everyday drama with an existential background. Facial expressions and poses confirm the drama of the moment, and examples of image creation as a form of processing are given here. Emma AdBåge allows the visual aspect to reinforce the theme through the red accent colour as a contrast to the institutionally pale environment.  
 
Emma AdBåge (b. 1982, Linköping) is one of Sweden’s most acclaimed creators of picture books. She made her debut in 2001 and has since written and illustrated several books of her own, as well as illustrated more than thirty texts by other authors. AdBåge has received a number of prizes and awards, such as the 2013 Elsa Beskow Plaque, the 2018 August Prize, the 2020 Premio Andersen Award, the 2022 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, the 2022 Heffaklumpen Children’s Culture Prize, and Snöbollen – Picture Book of the Year 2022.