Swedish Picture Book of the Year © Aron Landahl
Swedish Picture Book of the Year © Aron Landahl
In nature, no one is safe.
Everyone wants food.
Who eats whom?
A blood-filled mosquito is swallowed by a dragonfly, which is eaten by a toad, which is eaten by a snake, which is swallowed by a gull, which is taken by a seal...
Alla äter alla [Everybody Eats Everybody] has been named the best Swedish picture book of 2023 and honoured with the national award Snöbollen [The Snowball]. Aron Landahl, who created both images and text, received the award in March 2024 during Littfest, Umeå international literature festival.
The exhibition presents all original paintings for the award-winning book, and you can also hear Aron Landahl read it.
The exhibition is produced by Bildmuseet.
The Jury’s motivation
To be eaten or not to be eaten, that is the question – but in Alla äter alla, the answer also lies. Aron Landahl’s picture book presents a world where animals consume each other in a cyclical pattern; where the story’s composition circles back on itself, akin to the lizard depicted on the cover. Each striking spread offers a myriad of details, inviting the reader to observe both the fauna and the flora. Threads intertwine with medieval bestiaries, vintage posters, and artists such as Merian, Rousseau, and Hans Arnold. This picture book, situated at the intersection of fact, fiction and fantasy, is not only hauntingly beautiful but also cruel.
More about Aron Landahl
Aron Landahl (b. 1984, Visby) resides in Uppsala. He is an illustrator, musician, writer, and nurse. Landahl made his debut as a picture book creator with the cozy thriller Dropp dropp (2019) and has subsequently illustrated several books featuring texts by Barbro Lindgren. In 2023, his second own picture book Alla äter alla, was released, which has since been awarded the Snöbollen prize and also nominated for the August Prize 2023.
The Snöbollen award is instituted by Krumelur – the association for young words in the north, the Pilgatan Cultural Association, County Library of Västerbotten, Littfest – Umeå International Literature Festival, the Association of Swedish Illustrators and Graphic Designers, Umeå Municipality, and Bildmuseet.
