Annantalo's Children's Book Café
Both the décor and functions of Annantalo Café will be transformed into Finland’s first Book Café designed by children.
The Children’s Book Café and adjoining Studio Anna are places for reading books, and will also serve as the venue of events such as illustration exhibitions, book launches, author and illustrator interviews, workshops, poetry panels, small-scale concerts and sales.
The patron of the Book Café is the academician, children’s writer, poet and translator Kirsi Kunnas. Storytelling grannies and grandpas from the Kamppi Service Centre will come in to read stories to children, and godparents, selected for six months at a time, will draw in the public to various events. The actress Seela Sella, rap artist, author Paleface and illustrator, author and film director Antonia Ringbom have agreed to serve as the first godparents. The first reading ambassadors for the Book Café are the author Annina Holmberg and actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman. They will take stories to places like hospitals, to children and teenagers who would otherwise be unable to enjoy the Book Café’s offerings. During the events, the entrance to Studio Anna will be through a Narnian wardrobe.
The leisure time instruction groups at Annantalo will focus on designing and making dishes and light fittings for the café. An important feature of the project is that the children themselves are able to influence the development of their environment by taking part in designing the café.
Annantalo Children’s Book Café is one of the Taikalamppu projects supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Annantalo Arts Centre is an art house for children and young people situated in central Helsinki. Administratively, it is a part of the City of Helsinki Cultural Office. The purpose of Annantalo is to create a favourable ambience and conditions, allowing children and young people to produce and experience art and culture in Helsinki.
More information
Liisa Paatsalo
Cultural producer
+358 9 310 37174, +358 50 529 2141
liisa.paatsalo@hel.fi
