Program SmåBUS 2025

Tuesday 1 July 2025

Evening: Arrival participants SmåBUS 2025

Wednesday 2 July 2025

Morning:
- 07.30 - 08.00 morning yoga with Emma Fager Malmström
  
  Welcome to wake up your body and mind with a nice morning yoga session. Soft movements and gentle stretching for a harmonious start to the day. You are welcome just as you are! Feel free to wear soft clothes and bring a blanket or a bath towel to sit on.
- 08.00 - 09.00 Breakfast
- 09.30 Welcome
- 10.00 - 11.30 Opening lecture: Stina Wirsén (Sweden)
- 12.00 Lunch
Afternoon:
- 13.30 - 17.00 (with fika 15.00 - 15.30)
  As a participant you choose one workshop out of three.
  We do what we can to grant your first choice.
  
  Workshop 1: Kristof Devos (Belgium): An Illustration Podcast: talking about the magic of our profession to an audience that doesn’t necessarily care
  
  In the beginning of 2024, Illustrator Kristof Devos started Podlood, an illustration podcast with nothing more than a vague idea: in this podcast he wanted to talk about illustration with non-illustrators. To broaden the horizon, to gain new insights. Six months later everything widely exceeded his expectations. He had unexpected talks with a wide range of people, including Bart Moeyaert, winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2019.
  
  In this workshop Kristof wants to hear what you have to say about your beloved subject, because SmåBUS is the perfect opportunity to record a new and very special episode of Podlood, with all of you as guests. The goal is to listen to each other, to talk about illustration with only your voice as a tool. That’s why everybody starts the workshop blindfolded.
  
  (for writers, illustrators and other people working with children's literature)
  
  Workshop 2: Yorick Goldewijk (The Netherlands): writers workshop: Writing between the cracks of reality
  This workshop is full.
  Writers can still indicate their desire to be on the reserve list when they register.
  
  You know those places that go unnoticed by the eyes of thousand passers-by? Places that are seemingly invisible while being right there in the real world? They could be a house in your street that you have never before been aware of, with a facade that is so ordinary that everything else around it gets all the attention. It could be a door in an alleyway that hasn't been used for years, with thousands of people passing it without ever seeing it. Or even a kid from school that was always there, everyday, every year – but nobody noticed. The world is full of these things and places and living beings. They appear so commonplace or bland that they endure an existence without ever being noticed. But are they really commonplace or bland?
  
  During this workshop you are going to challenge yourself to actually see these places, things, beings.
  You are going to discover a world hidden in plain sight. Nobody ever witnesses it, so anything is possible, right? Those commonplace things will have stories in them, big and magical, or sinister and weird, or sad and deeply moving. They will blow our minds when we are done with them.
  
  Workshop 3: Tania Filatova (Ukraine): Illustrations for classic children's literature (writing and illustrating)
  
  The workshop "Illustrations for classic children's literature" or "Classics of the genre" will help you delve into the fundamental principles of illustrating text. You will learn to see a book as a cohesive whole, where text, illustrations, font, cover, and other elements blend harmoniously. Additionally, you will explore the delicate balance between visual storytelling and literary narrative, discovering techniques to effectively translate written words into captivating visuals.
  (for writers and illustrators)
Evening:
- 18.00 - 19.00 dinner
- 19.00 - 20.00 Lecture Emma Virke (Sweden)
  Hiding stories and breaking borders

For Children:
09.00-12.00: Illustration workshop with Lo Granqvist (Denmark)

Thursday 3 July 2025

Morning:
- 08.00 Breakfast
- 08.45 Buss travel to Astrid Lindgrens Näs
- 10.15 - 11.15 Vernissage exhibition Mio all over the world
- 11.30 -12.30 Lecture Pia Eriksson (Sweden)
  The art of carrying all emotions
Afternoon:
- 13.00 - 14.00 Lunch
- 14.00 - 16.30 Visit gardens and permanent exhibition at Astrid Lindgrens Näs
  
  Evening:
- 18.00 - ...
  Informal Portfolio evening: participants get the chance to show their work and connect with other participants.
- Somewhere between 21.00 and 22.00: Goodnight Yoga with Emma Fager Malmström
  
  Join us for an enjoyable yoga session to end the day softly. Before bedtime, we take a moment to unwind and prepare to enter the world of dreams. With the help of gentle movements and quiet yin yoga positions, we get a really nice and restful yoga session.

Friday 4 July 2025

Morning:
- 07.00 - 07.30 Morning Yoga with Emma Fager Malmström
  
  Welcome to wake up your body and mind with a nice morning yoga session. Soft movements and gentle stretching for a harmonious start to the day. You are welcome just as you are! Feel free to wear soft clothes and bring a blanket or a bath towel to sit on.
- 08.00 - 09.00 Breakfast
- 09.00-12.00 Workshop (with a fika break between 10.30 and 11.00)
  As a participant you choose one workshop out of three.
  We do what we can to grant your first choice.
  
  Workshop 1:
  Åsa Rosén: Find your Spirits and Monsters in Tornedalian folk belief (Writing and illustration workshop)
  
  In this workshop we will create our own creatures.
  After a short introduction to folklore and the creatures that live in the forests of northern Sweden, we'll warm up with writing and drawing exercises to get the creative juices flowing.
  Magical stories have their roots in world building. We will experiment with text and images, build worlds, draw maps and characters.
  
  Workshop 2:
  Els Beerten: Into the White (Writing workshop)
  This workshop is full.
  Writers can still indicate their desire to be on the reserve list when they register.
  
  In real life, we often say 'never mind' when a conflict threatens to arise. For the sake of peace, we remain silent. We insert a blank line in the conversation, a silence. So that afterwards we can just continue as usual.
  
  What if we let that blank line resonate?
  
  What if we put into words what happens in that white space?
  
  In a story, that's possible. In a story we never have to say 'never mind' to ourselves. There, we can fully unleash all possibilities. In this workshop, I want to let you discover through small exercises what becomes possible then.
  
  Workshop 3:
  Stina Wirsén: Learn to draw like a child! (Illustration workshop)
  
  In this workshop, participants will draw and paint emotions, draw each other and make self-portraits, among other things.
Noon: 12.00 Lunch
Afternoon:
- 14.00-15.00 Lecture Anna Woltz (The Netherlands)
  How to save the world one story at a time
- 15.00- 16.00 Fika
- 16.00-17.00 Lecture Anete Melece (Lettland)
  Our imperfect lives - a perfect source for inspiration!
Evening: Buffet with live music

Participants travel back home after their breakfast on 5 July 2025.

Extra:
- Exhibition Mio all over the world
- Illustrators are invited to submit an illustration (1 original work, 1 print) to SmåBUS. This illustration is to be based on the stories about Mio, min Mio, also known as Mio in the Land of Faraway in the English books. The original work will exhibited at Astrid Lindgrens Näs during the summer.
  There is a possibility that the exhibition will travel.
- Extra:
  - During the festival, there are meet and greets to discover the work and life of colleagues from different countries.
- Extra:
  - Have you met colleagues that thruly inspire you during the festival? Do you feel like working together? Then take the opportunity to submit a request to become artists in residence (2 weeks in 2026).