‘Nothing is too much for a child’: the Norwegian books for kids tackling taboo topics from IVF to incest

In the Nordic country, books covering subjects such as childbirth and sex have become bestsellers among younger readers – and an export hit. Behind their success lies a unique philosophy of childhood learning

‘I wasn’t aware that I am such a brave writer and illustrator,” says Anna Fiske, a softly spoken Swedish-born author living in Norway who received death threats for a book she wrote in 2019. “I just tell things as they are.”

Fiske doesn’t write political polemics but books for children: the title of the offending book is Hvordan Lager Man en Baby?, “How Do You Make a Baby” – and, yes, there are illustrations. Distributed in English-speaking territories through Fiske’s New Zealand publisher, it triggered threats from Canada and was banned from several school libraries in the US. “They said it was pornographic.”