Sweden’s libraries caught in a political row about drag story hour

By Lisa Magdalena Engström, Senior lecturer in Library and information science, Lund University
Fredrik Hanell, Senior Lecturer in Library and Information Science, Linnaeus University
Hanna Carlsson, Associate professor in Library and Information Science, Linnaeus University

Drag story hour is “nothing other than indoctrination and sexualisation of children”, claimed Sweden Democrats politician Jonathan Sager during a session of the local parliament in Kalmar, southern Sweden, in 2022. He was reacting to plans to organise a drag story hour event at the local library, where drag queens would read to children, challenging norms of gender and sexuality. He called (unsuccessfully) for the event to be cancelled.

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