Dr. Alexandra Borg is an associate professor at the Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University. Her research concerns modern publishing business and the future of the book, particularly the connections between new forms of production and the aesthetic of bookishness. She teaches publishing studies, book history, and literary theory. Her latest book is Strindbergs lilla röda. Boken om boken och typerna (together with Nina Ulmaja). The book was nominated to The August Prize in the category ”Best Swedish Non-Fiction Book of the Year” 2019.
Riitta Hanifi
Riitta Hanifi works as a researcher at Statistics Finland on leisure and time use surveys. She has a Master of Social Sciences from the University of Jyväskylä. Her key interests include leisure time and changes in its research, social relationships and changes in civil society, as well as the effects of new technology on the changes in reading habits in different population groups.
Trude Hoel
Trude Hoel is a professor of reading science at the National Centre for Reading Education and Research at the University of Stavanger. Her research interests include young children's narratives, facilitation of language and reading activities in early childhood education and reading and implications of digitization. Hoel has collaborated with early childhood institutions and libraries in several development and research projects. She collaborates with researchers both nationally and internationally, e.g., in the innovation project VEBB and in the competence and collaboration project SPrELL, which she leads. Hoel is in the management team of FILIORUM - Centre for Research in Early Education and Care.
Silvia Hosseini
Photo: Jarkko Mikkonen
Silvia Hosseini is an author and critic based in Tampere, Finland. She teaches creative essay writing in Critical Academy, Helsinki, and has more than ten years of experience in teaching Finnish and literature in upper secondary school.
Juha Itkonen
Juha Itkonen is a renowned Finnish author. He has published several novels and other books. Itkonen has also been active in literacy work in Finland. His books have been translated into Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German.
Photo: Laura Malmivaara
Päivi Jokitalo
Päivi Jokitalo, moderator of the conference, is an educator, facilitator/moderator and writer with over 30 years of experience in the field of libraries. She was part of the team that started to develop the national public library website in 1996 and has worked in regional state administration, the National Library of Finland and several public libraries around the country. Up until February 2022, an independent library professional providing and facilitating workshops and coaching library staff, she now teaches future library workers fulltime.
Jonna Nummela, Nihkee akka
Nihkee Akka (Finnish for “Grumpy Bitch”) is the award-winning feminist spoken word alter-ego of poet Jonna Nummela. Nihkee Akka is the ruling Poetry Slam Champion of Nordic Countries and of Finland in 2018. They perform in Finnish and English, actively gigging both in Finland and abroad. With a background in applied theatre, stand-up comedy and clowning, Nihkee Akka is a spoken word hybrid pushing the boundaries of poetry through humour and personal politics. Jonna Nummela is also the vice-chair of Helsinki Poetry Connection, the creative facilitator at the experiment expert hub Koala and the founder and co-editor of feminist publishing house PESÄ.
Aleksis Salusjärvi is Helsinki-based literary professional who teaches reading as a skill of survival.
Lisbet Vestergaard
Lisbet Vestergaard is project manager at the Danish think tank Libraries of the Future. She has studied Comparative Literature and Modern Culture & Cultural Dissemination at Copenhagen University and from 2007–2015 she was an advisor at the The Agency for Culture and Palaces i Denmark. Lisbet has for the last decade focused on the development of public libraries, early literacy, cooperation between schools and libraries, and different joy of reading campaigns and programmes.
