Malin Klingenberg and Maria Sann: Gamlingarna, picture book, S&S, 2025. Nominated for the 2026 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize.
“We only go to the park while it’s still light outside. Because when it gets dark, the oldies come.” And so begins Malin Klingenberg and Maria Sann’s gripping picture-book thriller Gamlingarna (“The Oldies”, not translated into English), about a trio of children who do not dare to visit the playground because of a group they dislike and fear. But who are “the oldies” really – and what right do they have to decide who may or may not be in the park? 
With a deeply compassionate perspective of children, Klingenberg and Sann portray an everyday conflict of great magnitude for the young protagonists, who feel unjustly excluded from a place that ought to be theirs. The seriousness of this struggle for power is nuanced with both comic and emancipatory elements, as it builds towards the moment when the children, hearts pounding, finally come face to face with their opponents. 
Together, Klingenberg and Sann narrate with remarkable fluency in the picture-book form. Despite its simple premise, the subtext is charged with meaning. The book’s condensed atmosphere and dramatic progression are skilfully constructed through the use of heavily reduced text, a sombre colour palette, elusive shadows, enigmatic silhouettes, bold shifts in perspective, and expressive glances and facial expressions. Readers encounter a child’s world where dangers and fears are felt viscerally, fuelled and magnified by imagination, yet also confronted with heroic courage and a strong sense of justice. 
Malin Klingenberg (b. 1979) is a multi award-winning Finnish-Swedish author. Since her debut in 2010, she has mainly written books for children in their in-between years, as well as picture books in collaboration with various illustrators. She has published around 30 books, translated into a total of 15 languages.
Maria Sann (b. 1982) is a Finnish illustrator who, since her debut in 2019, has illustrated almost ten novels and picture books. In 2021, she was awarded the Rudolf Koivu prize for the picture book Bokstavsvärldar (with text by Henrika Andersson). Gamlingarna (2025) is Klingenberg and Sann’s fourth picture-book collaboration and a standalone continuation of Främlingarna (2021) and Rymlingarna (2024), in which the same trio of children explore relationships and power structures in their own distinctive ways. 
Rudolf Koivu prize nomination

I am proud to announce that my illustrations are nominated for the prestigious Rudolf Koivu -prize for my illustrations in the picture book Gamlingarna, with the text written by Malin Klingenberg. All in all the nominees for the prize that is given to illustrators every second year by Grafia r.y. are: 
Mirkka Eskonen: Talvipuutarhurit (Teos, 2024)
Aino Havukainen ja Sami Toivonen: Tatun ja Patun 14 outoa ongelmaa (Otava, 2025) 
Jussi Kaakinen: Maailman pahimmat paikat (Into Kustannus, 2024)
Ilja Karsikas: Sateenkaarikiitäjä (Kustantamo S&S, 2024)
Tuomas Kärkkäinen: Terveisiä Kalevalasta (Tammi, 2025)
Netta Lehtola: Mölymyrsky (WSOY, 2025)
Sanna Pelliccioni: Suomen Supernaisia, Kaija! (Teos, 2025)
Mikko Saarainen: Barbaari-Ari (Otava, 2025)
Maria Sann: Gamlingarna / Vanhukset (Schildts & Söderströms / Kustantamo S&S, 2025)
Maria Vilja: Kesän ainoa kaunis päivä (WSOY, 2024)
The Collective
(Kollektivet (SWE), Kollektiivi (FIN)
26.4.2025 - Spring-summer 2026

26.4-1.6.2025 Valve Cultural Centre in Oulu (FIN)
15.8-14.9.2025 Kunsthalle Helsinki (FIN) (Opening 14.8.2025)
Autumn 2025: Nordiska Akvarellmuseet (SWE)
Winter 2025-2026: Örnsköldsvik Art Museum (SWE)
Spring-summer 2026: EKA, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia (EST)

The COLLECTIVE will focus on illustration as an art form. It also invites an exciting theme about the self and the group.
The exhibition can be scalable and work in smaller and larger halls. Educational material for children in daycare, primary and secondary schools, high school, and vocational schools will be created in parallel with the exhibition. ​​​​​​​
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Building
1.4.2023 – 6.5.2023
The exhibition is presented in the text below by the curator Veera Pekkinen. For further information, please visit The Association of Illustrators in Finland: Kuvittajat ry
"Maria Sann (b. 1982) plays with the possibilities and limits of picture books. The style of the new exhibit follows Sann’s previous work known for toying with simplistic shapes, but its subject matter is particularly personal: To Moscow with a Broken Heart picture book for adults is based on the Finland Swedish illustrator’s trip that she took last autumn to Moscow where she was born. It is also a journey into the child within. On her journey, Sann met relatives that she had not seen in decades and visited places that make up her childhood landscape.  
Sann began planning the art project on Russia and Russianism already in the autumn of 2021, but as the work progressed the subject garnered additional meanings to which nobody has any answers. With her exhibit, Sann participates in the discussion on Russia primarily from the perspective of multiculturalism – as an illustrator."
Building
Building
The profts from the sales were directed to Doctors without borders Finland.
The profts from the sales were directed to Doctors without borders Finland.
The exhibition represented some process illustrations as well as an artist book
The exhibition represented some process illustrations as well as an artist book
A view of the exhibition wall.
A view of the exhibition wall.
Galleria Kuvitus, Hämeentie 28
Galleria Kuvitus, Hämeentie 28
The video below depicts the construct of the book To Moscow With A Broken Heart.
Videographer: Ville Vappula
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