Personal

Born in Moscow, former Soviet Union. Moved to Sweden in 1981. Swedish citizen. From 2008 permanent resident in the UK.
 

Education

• MA (approx) in English Language and Literature, Moscow Linguistic University, 1974
• PhD (ABD) in Film Studies, Film Research Institute, Moscow, 1979
• PhD in Comparative Literature, Stockholm University, Sweden, 1989

• Summer School of Semiotics, University of Lund, 1992
• NorFA (Nordic Academy for Advanced Studies) Summer School, University of Copenhagen, 1994

Employment

• Assistant Researcher, Film Research Institute, Moscow 1975-1981
• Part-time teacher, Department of Literature, Stockholm University, Sweden, 1985-1994
• Teaching Assistant, upper-division seminar 1987-88
• Part-time teacher, School of Education, Eskilstuna (Sweden) 1990
• Full-time researcher, Department of Literature, Stockholm University, 1991-94
• Visiting Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1993
• Senior Lecturer, Department of Literature, Stockholm University, 1994
• Associate Professor, Department of Literature, Stockholm University, 1995-1999
• Associate Professor, Department of Literature, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, 1997-
• Visiting Chair, Department of Literature, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, 1998-99
• Full Professor, Department of Literature, Stockholm University, 1999-2008
• Visiting Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University, San Diego, 1999-2001
• Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK 2008-

Academic Honors, Awards, Scholarships

• Centre for Childhood Culture Doctoral Research Grant, 1986-89 (4-year full-time grant)
• Karl and Betty Warburg Memorial Foundation Scholarship, 1988
• Stina & Erik Lundberg Foundation Scholarship (Swedish Academy), 1989
• Swedish Writers’ Foundation Scholarship, 1989, 1991, 1994 and 2000
• Swedish Institute for Cultural Relations Grant, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002
• British Council Scholarship for British-Swedish Academic Cooperation, 1991
• Magnus Bergvall Foundation Scholarship, 1991
• National Council for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences Grant, 1991
• Wallenberg Memorial Foundation Scholarship, 1991 and 1995
• Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation Grant, 1991-94 (3-year full-time postdoctoral research grant)
• Nordic Ministers’ Council Scholarship, 1992
• Ingmar Prize (for outstanding work on Selma Lagerlöf), 1992
• Fulbright Grant/Hildeman Award in Scandinavian Studies, 1992
• National Council for Higher Education Grant, 1996
• Research Fellowship, International Youth Library, Munich, Germany,1997
• Donner Visiting Chair, Åbo Academi University, Finland, 1998-99
• STINT (Swedish Foundation for Internationalization of Education and Research) Scholarship for Teaching Excellence, 1998
• Nordic Scholar Award, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1998
• Phi Beta Delta Honor Society, SDSU, 1999
• Swedish Texbook Writers' Union Scholarship, 2000 and 2003
• Nominated for the Teacher of the Year Award at Stockholm University 2003 
• International Brothers Grimm Award 2005
• Honorary Professor, University of Worcester, UK 2006
• Distinguished  Scholar, International Acossiation for the Fantastic in the Arts, 2009

Areas of Academic Specialization

• Children's and Juvenile Literature
• Literary Theory (especially structuralism, narratology, feminist criticism, carnival theory)
• Semiotics and Interaction of Cultures
• Translation Studies
• Selma Lagerlöf
• Myths, Folktales, Fairy Tales
• Contemporary Swedish Novel
• 19th and 20th Century Russian Literature

• Children’s Literature (different levels, undergraduate and graduate)
• Adolescent Literature
• Young People's Reading
• Poetics of Children's Literature
• Children's Literature (Åbo Akademi)
• The Aesthetics of Picturebooks (Åbo Akademi)
• The Origins of Harry Potter (Åbo Akademi)
• Fantasy Literature
• Fantasy and Horror
• Sweden Through Literature and Film (Swedish 291, University of Massachusetts)
• Swedish Children’s Literature (Swedish 491, University of Massachusetts)
• Theory and Method in Children’s Literature Research (undergraduate and graduate, Stockholm University and Åbo Akademi)
• 19^th Century Russian Literature
• 20^th Century Russian Literature
• Theory, Method and Text Analysis
• Introduction to Literary Studies
• Feminist Literary Criticism
• Selma Lagerlöf
• Astrid Lindgren
• Contemporary Swedish Novel
• Literature from Immigrant Countries
• Two Centuries of European Children’s Literature (graduate English 626, SDSU)
• Children’s Literature (English 306, SDSU)
• Literature for Children (English 501, SDSU)
• Adolescence in Literature (English 502, SDSU)
• Children’s Literature Online, Åbo Akademi
• Children's Literature Online, Finland's Virtual University
• Children's Literature Online, Stockholm University/Swedish Web University
• Upper-division undergraduate seminar
• Graduate seminar
• Postdoctoral seminars and colloquia

Course Coordination

Culture for Children and Young People, interdisciplinary 20-credit program, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
 

Research Project Leadership

• Theory and Method in Children’s Literature Research, interdisciplinary project funded by the Centre for the Study of Childhood Culture, Stockholm University, 1990-91
• The Function of Food in Children’s Fiction, bilateral project funded by the Centre for the Study of Childhood Culture, Stockholm University, 1996-97
• Children’s Literature: Pure and Applied, interdisciplinary project funded by Finland’s Ministry of Education, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, 1998-2000 (co-leader)
• Children’s Literature and Narrative Theory, Department of Comparative Literature, Stockholm University, 1998-2002

Guest lectures

• Comparative Literature & Russian Studies, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, October 1986
• Comparative Literature, Umeå University, Sweden, September 1988
• Russian Studies, Umeå University, Sweden, November 1990
• English, University of Reading, England, February 1991
• English & French, University of Cadiz, Spain, April 1992
• Comparative Literature, Åbo Akademi University, November 1992
• Scandinavian Studies, Columbia University, New York, March 1993
• English & Women’s Studies, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, April 1993
• Scandinavian Studies, University of Minnesota, May 1993
• English, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, August 1993
• English, University of South Australia, Adelaide, August 1993
• School of Education, Kalmar, Sweden, May 1993
• Philology, School of Education & Scandinavian Studies, Vilnius University, Lithuania, October 1993
• Slavic Studies, Stockholm University, March 1994
• School of Education, Falun, Sweden, April 1994
• Childhood Studies, Linköping University, Sweden, October 1994
• Philology, School of Education, Film Studies & Scandinavian Studies, Tallinn University, Estonia, October 1994
• School of Library and Information Studies, Oslo, Norway, November 1994
• School of Education, Falun, April 1995
• English, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, June 1995
• Slavic Studies, Stockholm University, September 1995
• Scandinavian Studies, University of Gdansk, Poland, October 1995
• English, University of Wales, Cardiff, November 1996
• English, University of Reading, England, November 1996
• English & Comparative Literature, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, December 1996
• Comparative Literature & Germanic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, March 1997
• Comparative Literature, Lund University, Sweden, April 1997
• Scandinavian Studies, University College London, April 1998
• Comparative Literature, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October 1998
• English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University, November 1998
• Comparative Literature, Murmansk University, Russia, December 1998
• Scandinavian Studies, University of Edinburg, Scotland, February 1999
• School of Education, Kristianstad, Sweden, March 1999
• English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University, April 1999
• Academy of Culture, St Petersburg, Russia, May 1999
• English, Illinois State University, April 2000
• Chinese, Peking Normal University, China, May 2000
• English, University of Turku, Finland, March 2001
• Children's Literature Research Center, Danish Pedagogical University, Copenhagen, March 2001
• German, Stockholm University, September 2001
• Children's Literature Research Center, Danish Pedagogical University, Copenhagen, November 2001
• English, University of Turku, Finland, November 2001
• School of Education, Umeå University, April 2002
• Roehampton Institute, London, March 2003
• Department of Literature, Department of Education, Karlstad University, September 2003
• Children's books Center, Copenhagen, March 2006 and March 2007
• University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2007
• University of Worcester ,UK, May 2007 (inaugural professorial lecture)
• Department of Modern Languages, University of Castilla-La Mancha, May 2008
• Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2008

Conference papers

• "The Child in Early Russian Fantasy," Portrayal of the Child in Children's Literature, 6th conference of the IRSCL, Bordeaux , France, September 1983
• "How Fantasy is Made: Patterns and Structures in The Neverending Story ,"Aspects of Fantasy and Fantastic Literature, 7th conference of the IRSCL, Montreal, Canada, September 1985
• "Children’s Books by Two Major Russian Authors," Literature for Children - Literature for Adults, 8th conference of the IRSCL, Cologne, Germany, September 1987
• "The Marvelous Within the Everyday: Veniamin Kaverin," Dimensions of the Marvelous, Oslo, Norway, July 1986
• "Women of Wonder – Fantasy Authors," International Feminist Book Fair, Oslo, July 1986 (invited speaker)
• "Russian Children’s Literature of the 1920s," 11^th Convention of Nordic Slavic Scholars, Oslo, Norway, July 1987
• "Children’s Literature as a Cultural Code: A Semiotic Approach to History," Aspects and Issues in the History of Children's Literature, 9th conference of the IRSCL, Salamanca, Spain, October 1989
• "The Reception of Swedish Turn-of-the-Century Writers in Russia," Stockholm - StPetersburg, Leningrad, Russia, October 1989 (invited speaker)
• "Trusting the Reader," Children's and Youth Literature and Our Time, Moscow, Russia, December 1989 (invited speaker)
• "Is Children’s Literature Coming of Age?" The Neverending Adventure of Reading, Umeå, Sweden, May 1990 (invited speaker)
• "Swedish Children’s Literature After 1945," World Convention of the International Reading Association, Stockholm, June 1990 (invited speaker)
• "From Fairy Tale to Fantasy," Once Upon a Time, Gothenburg, October 1990 (invited speaker)
• "The Door into the Wonderful," Children’s Literature and Reading Skills, Annual Convention of the Swedish Association for Applied Linguistics, Stockholm, November 1990 (invited speaker)
• "Toward the Notion of Kenotype," Modern Literary Theory and Children's Literature Research, 10th conference of the IRSCL, Paris, September 1991
• "Cultural Context and Translatability of Literature," Children's Literature Around the Baltic Sea: Relations and Translations, St Petersburg, Russia, October 1991 (invited speaker)
• "A Semiotic Approach to the History of Literature," Semiotics of Art and Culture. 2^nd Congress of Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, Lund, Sweden, July 1992
• "The Interaction of Cultures," Annual meeting of the Swedish Semiotic Society, Stockholm, January 1993
• "Carnival and Polyphony in Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem," 83rd annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies, Austin, Texas, April 1993
• "The Rejected Literature: A Study of Cultural Interaction," 20th annual meeting of the Children's Literature Association, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, June 1993
• "The Importance of Astrid Lindgren," Crossing the Boundaries: Multiculturalism in Children's Literature, 11th conference of the IRSCL, Geelong, Australia, August 1993
• "Folklore Elements in Realistic Children's Novels," 2nd Baltic Forum: Folklore and Children's Literature, Klaipeda, Lithuania, September 1993 (invited speaker)
• "Strindberg Through the Eyes of Russian Critics," 12th International Strindberg Congress, Moscow, Russia, June 1994
• "Toward the Genre Definition of Moomin Stories," The Works of Tove Jansson, Tampere, Finland, August 1994 (invited speaker)
• "The Dichotomy Alive/Dead in the Works of Selma Lagerlöf," Recurrent Patterns in the Works of Selma Lagerlöf, Stockholm, August 1994 (invited speaker)
• "International Children’s Literature Research," Focus on Research of Literature for Children and the Young, Oslo, Norway, November 1994 (invited speaker)
• "Tormod Haugen – Postmodernist," The Works of Tormod Haugen: Postmodern Juvenile Literature for Adults? Hamar, Norway, March 1995 (invited speaker)
• Children’s Literature - A Story of Growth," Storytelling for Children, Stockholm, May 1995 (invited speaker)
• "The Swedishness of Swedish Literature," Other Worlds, Other Lives. Pretoria, South Africa, April 1995
• "Reflections of Change in Children's Book Titles," Reflections of Change: The Last 50 Years of Children's Literature, 12^th conference of IRSCL, Stockholm, September 1995
• "How National Literature Defines Itself," What Happened Next? A Survey of Finno-Swedish Children’s Culture, Åbo, Finland, September 1995 (invited speaker)
• "National Identity in Minority Literature for Children," Nationhood in Children's Literature, Hull, UK, April 1996 (invited speaker)
• "The Child as Self-Deceiver. Postmodern Narrative Techniques in Katherine Paterson and Patricia MacLachlan's Novels," Now and then. Children's Literature Association, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 1996
• "The Reception of the Swedish Working-Class Novel in Russia," Swedish Working-Class Novel from International Perspective, Hedemora, Sweden, August 1996 (invited speaker)
• "Exit Children's Literature?" Languages, Literature and the Young. XX International Congress of FILLM (International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures), Regensburg, Germany, August 1996 (keynote address)
• "The Role of the Narrator in Astrid Lindgren's Novels," Astrid Lindgren - Colours of Children’s World, Gdansk, Poland, November 1996 (invited speaker)
• "Children’s Literature as a National Myth," Finno-Swedish Identity in History and the Present, Åbo, Finland, December 1996 (invited speaker)
• "What Are Pictures For? On Swedish Picturebooks," Children's Literature around the Baltic Sea, Moscow, March 1997 (invited speaker)
• "Significant Meals," Moments of Significance, San Diego, California, April 1997 (invited speaker)
• "In Search of the Iterative. Some Comments on the Narrative Structure of Strandloper," The Dreamtime of the Aborigines, or Alan Garner's Baroque Apotheosis, Paris, May1997 (invited speaker)
• "Experiences of Translating Scandinavian Fiction for Children," Round Table on Translation of Children's Literature, Munich, July 1997 (invited speaker)
• "What is Happening in Children's Literature in the West," Asian Children's Literature Convention, Seoul, South Korea, August 1997 (invited speaker)
• "Narrative Voice in Two Historical Novels," The Past in the Present. 13th Conference of the IRSCL, York, UK, August 1997
• "The Myth of Childhood in Astrid Lindgren's Novels," The Phenomenon of Astrid Lindgren, Tallinn, Estonia, November 1997 (invited speaker)
• "The Heirs of Astrid Lindgren in Contemporary Swedish Literature," Astrid Lindgren in the Library, St Petersburg, Russia, November 1997 (invited speaker)
• "The Myth of Childhood in Astrid Lindgren's Novels," Astrid Lindgren and the Problems of Children's Literature, St Petersburg, November 1997 (invited speaker)
• "Farewell, Children’s Literature?" En god historie, IBBY-Denmark, Copenhagen, March 1998 (invited speaker)
• "Reassembled Arcadia," Reconstructing the Riverbank: The Wind in the Willows and After, Reading, UK, April 1998
• "Narrative Theory and its Application in Children’s Literature," BIN-symposium, Biskops-Arnö, Sweden, June 1998 (invited speaker)
• "The View and the Voice," Children’s Literature and Fine Arts. 25^th conference of ChLA, Paris, July 1998
• "Can Fantasy Convey Faith?" True Stories and Good Intentions. The Life and Work of C S Lewis, Örebro, Sweden, August 1998 (invited speaker)
• "Swedish Literature in Russia," The Church and the Academy, Jönköping, Sweden, August 1998 (invited speaker)
• "Fantasy, Fairy Tales and Symbols," C S Lewis Symposium, Stockholm, October 1998 (invited speaker)
• "How Picturebooks Work," Books Are Bridges, Murmansk, December 1998 (invited speaker)
• "What Literature Maybe Is," Children’s Literature: Pure and Applied. Finnish and International Perspectives, Åbo, January 1999 (invited speaker)
• "Children’s Literature as a Rite of Passage," Children’s Literature and Play, Edinburgh, February 1999 (invited speaker)
• "Soviet Children’s Literature as a Reflection of Utopian Thought," Children’s Reading in the New Millennium, StPetersburg, May 1999 (invited speaker)
• "Farewell, Children’s Literature?" Nordic Children’s Literature in the New Millennium, Biskops-Arnö, Sweden, May 1999 (invited speaker)
• "Swedish Picturebooks," Books are Bridges, Pskov, Russia, June 1999 (invited speaker)
• "The Portrayal of the Child in Swedish Picturebooks," Meet the Child, Novgorod, Russia, June 1999 (invited speaker)
• "A Room of One’s Own. The Advantages and Dilemmas of Finno-Swedish Children’s Literature," National Identity and Children’s Literature, Worcester, UK, June 1999
• "Fear or Hope? Dystopian Trends in Contemporary Children’s Fiction," Children’s Literature and Fin de Siècle, Calgary, Canada, July 1999
• "Intersubjectivity in Russell Hoban’s The Mouse and His Child and Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden", PAMLA, Portland, OR, November 1999
• "Scandinavian Andersen Medal Winners," International Hans Christian Andersen Award Winner Series, Peking, China, May 2000 (invited speaker)
• "Between dream and reality in words and images: Creating ambiguity in three bedtime picturebooks". Landmarks, Boundaries and Watersheds, Roanoke, Virginia, Juni 2000
• "Text/image tension: Picturebook aesthetics." Reading Pictures, Homerton College, Cambridge, UK, September 2000 (keynote speaker)
• "What can we learn from narratology?" Narrative Theory and Children's Literature, Danish Pedagogical University, March 2001 (invited speaker)
• "Fairy Tales vs Fantasy." Considering the Kunstmärchen: The History and Development of Literary Fairy Tales, Princeton University, March 2001 (invited speaker)
• "Imprints of the Mind: The depiction of consciousness in children's literature." Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature, Nashville, Tenn., April 2001
• "Bridges Are to Cross": Francelia Butler Memorial Lecture (keynote), 27^th Conference of the Children's Literature Association, Buffalo State University, June 2001
• “What do we need pictures for?” “Cloudberry Fields” Children’s Book Festival, Umeå, April 2002 (invited speaker)
• “The Depiction of Consciousness in Fiction”, The Form of the Narrative, Society for Swedish literature in Finland, Åbo, April 2002 (invited speaker)
• "Storytelling in words and pictures", symposium on tactile picturebooks, Braille Library, Stockholm, April 2002 (invited speaker)
• "Finding Her Own Voice:Gender Representation in Three Karrebaek Picturebooks" (with Carole Scott). Gender, Power and Text, University College London, June 2002
• Characterization in Picturebooks", The Language of Picturebooks,  University of South Africa, August 2002 (keynote speaker)
• "Crossvokalisering och subjektivitet", Samling kring berättaren, Örebro University, November 2002 (invited speaker)
• "Language (Without Ideology) in Children's Literature", Children, Books and Classrooms, Åbo Akademi and Turku University, November 2002 (invited speaker)
• "Mindscapes: Fantasy som ett inre landskap" . Jeg fant, jeg fant! Nordic Children's Literature Conference, Stavanger, Norway, February 2003 (invited speaker
• "Words and Pictrures in Harmony - or not?" The Magic Pencil, British Library, London, March 2003 (invited speaker)
• "How We Get to Know Literary Characters?" "Book Tasting 2003", Swedish Children's Books Institute, March 2003 (invited speaker)
• "Children's Literature and Text-oriented Theories", Children's Literature and Critical Theory, Nordic Doctoral Course in Children's Literature, Copenhagen, March 2003 (invited speaker)
• "Great Western Myths and Children's Literature", American Comparative Literature Association, San Marcos, CA, April 200
• "Crossvocalization and performance" Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature, Nashville, April 2003
• "Why Do We Need Pictures?" Children Need Books to Love, Mariehamn, Åland, April 2003 (invited speaker and workshop leader)
• "The World in Translation" World Literature to World Children, Stockholm, May 2003 (invited speaker)
• "Narrative Theory", Nimble Readings: Second Nordic Doctoral Course in Children's Literature, Åbo, May 2004 (invited speaker)
• "Children's Literature: Art, Pedagogy and Power". Third Nordic Workshop in Children's Literature Research, Reykjavik, October 2004 (invited speaker)
• "Language as Art and Power in Children's and Youth Literature". NordmålForum, Reykjavik, November 2004 (invited speaker)
• "New Masculinities, New Femininities", The Child and the Book, University of Antwerp, April 2005 (keynote speaker)
• "Nordic Doctoral Research", Current Research, Swedish Children's Books Institute, Stockholm, June 2005 (invited speaker)
• Session response paper, "Childhood and Performance", ChLA conference, Winnipeg, Canada, June 2005 (invited speaker)
• "The Identification Fallacy: Perspective and Subjectivity in Children’s Literature". Childhoods 2005, Oslo, Norway, June 2005 (keynote speaker)
• "Voice, Gender and Alterity in George MacDonald's Fairy Tales", MacDonald Centennary Conference, Worcester, UK, July 2005 (keynote speake)
• "Narrative, Perspective and Subjectivity", Fourth Nordic Workshop for Children's Literature Research, Åland, September 2005 (invited speaker)
• "Voice, Subject and Power", the Grimm Award Lecture, Osaka, Japan, November 2005
• "The emergence of Picturebook Theory", Zürich, September 2006 (invited speaker)
• "Why does Pippi Sleep with her Feet on the Pillow, or Subversion Power in Astrid Lindgren's works", International Astrid Lindgren Centennial conference; Zagreb, Croatia, April 2007 (keynote speaker)
• "Why does Pippi Sleep with her Feet on the Pillow, or Subversion Power in Astrid Lindgren's works", International Astrid Lindgren Centennial conference; Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2007 (keynote speaker)
• "Comparative Children's Literature - What is There to Compare?" Children's Literature International Summer School; Roehampton, July 2007 (keynote speaker)
• "Stereotypes of Dystopia: The Denials of Kow-Ten in International Context". 3rd conference on South African children's Literature, Potchefstroom, September 2007 (keynote speaker)
• "Power and Subjectivity i Picturebooks", New impulses in picturebook research, Barcelona, September 2007 (invited speaker)
• "The Self-Exposing I: Fictional Adolescents Toward Adulthood", Nordic Psychotherapeutic Congress, Stockholm, October 2007 (keynote speaker)
• "Multimodal contruction of character" Keynote address, Astrid Lindgren, Internationality and Intermediality, Växjö, Sweden, September 2008 (keynote speaker)
• "Preambles to Atnormative Theory", Key Concepts in Chidlren's Literature, University of Newcastle, January 2009 (invited speaker)
• "Visual Literacy and Implied Readers", Children and Literacy, Lisbon, January 2009
• "George MacDonald's esoteric spaces", Place and Space in Children's Literature, Universiy of Oxford, March 2008 (invited speaker)
• "Time and Totalitarianism", International Conference in the Fantastic in Arts, Orlando, March 2009
• "The Mother Goose Heritage", Poetry and Childhood, British Library, London, April 2009

Forthcoming:

• "Playing Games with the Reader", Diana Wynne Jones conference, Bristol, July 2009
• "Female Robinsonnade", IRSCL conference, Frankfurt, August 2009
• "Objects and Signs", Beyond Borders, picturebook conference, Glasgow, September 2009

Conference organizer/co-organizer

• Annual symposium of the Swedish Semiotic Society, January 1993 (co-organizer)
• Crossing the Boundaries, 11^th congress of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature, Geelong (Australia), August 1993 (co-organizer)
• Current Trends in International Children’s Literature Research, Stockholm, April 1994
• Reflections of Change, 12^th congress of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature, Stockholm September 1995
• International Selma Lagerlöf Symposium, Academy of Letters, Stockholm, September 1997
• The Aesthetics of Picturebooks, International Symposium, Stockholm University, October 1998
• Children’s Literature: Pure and Applied. Finnish and International Perspectives, Åbo Akademi, January 1999 (co-organizer)
• First Nordic Workshop on Children's Literature Research, May 2002
• First Nordic Doctoral Course in Children's Literature, March 2003
• Second Nordic Workshop on Children's Literature Research, August 2003
• Third Nordic Worskhop in Children's Literature Research, October 2004. 
• Fourth Nordic Worskhop in Children's Literature Research, September 2005. 
• Fifth Nordic Worskhop in Children's Literature Research, August 2005. 
• Astrid Lindgren Centennial Conference, Stockholm, May 2007

Reviewing and regular contribution

• Detskaya Literatura (Children’s Literature, Moscow, Russia) 1977-
• Phaedrus (USA) 1981-87 (the journal closed down 1987)
• Opsis Kalopsis (Stockholm; the leading Swedish professional journal of children’s culture) 1986-2002
• Marvels & Tales (USA) 1986-
• Vår Lösen (Stockholm; the cultural journal of the Swedish church) 1991-1998
• Canadian Children’s Literature (Guelph, Canada) 1991-
• Rubinaitis (Vilnius, Lithuania) 1995-
• Children's Literature Program Book Review Service, SDSU, 1999-2001
• Scandinavica (London) 1999-

Academic Consulting and Other Related Work

MA and PhD theses examination

• Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (MA) 1995
• Linköping University (PhD) 1996
• University of Witwatersrand, South Africa (PhD), 1997
• Gothenburg University (PhD) 1998
• Åbo Akademi (MA) 1999
• Danish Pedagogical University (PhD) 2001
• Åbo Akademi (MA) 2001
• Åbo Akademi (MA) 2002
• University of Tasmania (PhD) 2002
• Åbo Akademi (MA) 2002
• Åbo Akademi (2 MA) 2003
• Åbo Akademi (2 MA) 2004
• Danish School of Librarianship (PhD) 2006
• Stockholm uniiversity (PhD) 2007

Theses examination committee

• University of Lund (PhD), 2001
• Stockholm University (PhD) 2004 
• Stockholm University (PhD) 2005

Referee for academic appointments and research grants

• Nationaal  Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Brussels 1993
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA 1996
• Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, 1997
• University of Pittsburgh, USA 1999
• University of Uppsala, Sweden 1999
• Swedish National Bank Tercentenary Foundation 2000
• Södertörn University College, Sweden 2001
• University College Worcester, UK 2001
• University of Technology, Sydney, Australia 2001
• Swedish Council for Scholarly Research, 2002, 2004 and 2005
• Karlstad University, Sweden 2002
• University of Uppsala, Sweden 2003
• Academy of Finland, 2003
• Cambridge University, UK, 2004
• University of Worcester, UK 2004
• Missouri Western State University, USA 2005
• Danish School of Librarianship 2005
• University of Warwick, UK 2006
• University of Tübingen, Germany 2006
• Bolton University, UK 2007
• Illinois State University, USA 2007

Editorial and advisory boards

• Editorial Board, the Selma Lagerlöf Society Publication Series 1989-2003
• Reader, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 1993-
• General Editor, IRSCL Publication Series, Greenwood Publishing 1993-97
• Editorial Board, The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996-99
• Advisory Board, Asian Children’s Literature journal, 1997-
• Advisory Board, Hebei Publishing, PR China 1997-2000
• Editorial Board, Bookbird journal, 1999-
• Editorial Board, Creata journal (Sydney, Australia), 1999-; special guest editor 2001
• Editorial Board, Marvels & Tales, 2000-
• Editorial Board, Anuario de investigación en literatura infantile y juvenil (Spain) 2001
• Senior Editor, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, Oxford University Press, 2000-2006
• Column Editor, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 2001-
• Senior Editor, Routledge Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, 2002-2004
• Senior Editor, Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales, 2004-
• Advisory Board, Danish Children's Books Center, 2005-
• Advisory Board, Swedish Children's Books Institute 2005-
• Advisory Board, Seven Stories, University of Newcastle, UK 2005-
• Editorial board, Barnboken (Sweden) 2006-
• Editorial Board, Papers (Australia) 2006-

• The Selma Lagerlöf Prize Jury, 1994-97
• August Prize jury, 2001-02
• SWEA (Swedish Women Educational Association) Literary Award, 2002-2006
• Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature, 2002-2008

Membership in Professional Organizations and Offices Held

• Swedish Writers’ Union, 1982-
• International Research Society for Children’s Literature,IRSCL 1982-, Executive Board member 1991-93, President 1993-97
• Children’s Literature Association of North America, 1985-, elected member of the International Committee 1998-2001and 2002-2004
• Selma Lagerlöf Society, Executive Board member 1988-2003
• Swedish Semiotic Society, Founding Board member, 1991-95
• Nordic Network for Children's Literature Research, coordinator 2001-2006

Publications