A politics for readers, not for books : Current tendencies in Swedish literature policy

• Historically, literature policy measures in Sweden have fluctuated between emphasising the production or distribution of literature. During the latest decades, there has been a new direction when reading promotion and the perceived lack of readers in Sweden has become the main object of discussion in the debate. In this short paper, I describe the current state of literature policy in Sweden, with a brief historical background. Thereafter some recent tendencies of literature politics are introduced, to highlight consensus as well as contradictions between different stakeholders. It is concluded that even though the Swedish book market is deregulated in Sweden, the readers are increasingly governed. The “turn to promotion” during the latest decade needs to be assessed to instigate a relevant and grounded discussion of the future of literature policy.  

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Literatures (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Studies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

literature policy

Sweden

reading policy

literatur promotion

Library and Information Science

Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)