The joint project encompasses all regions of Azerbaijan and will provide each of the country’s 610 refugee and IDP schools with nine books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren in entirely new translations into the Azeri language. 

The project will help Azerbaijani children from refugee and IDP families to develop a desire for reading. 

As the books will be commercially available through the Ali & Nino bookstores, the project will also strengthen access to quality children's literature in the Azerbaijani language on a general level.  

With its strong Swedish dimension, the project will raise awareness in Sweden of the situation of the Azerbaijani IDPs. 

The intercultural ties between Azerbaijan and Sweden will be strengthened through follow-on activities of mutual benefit, such as discussions between Swedish and Azerbaijani experts on child literature. 

Theatre performances based on Astrid Lindgren plays are under discussion with i.a. the State Theatre for Young Spectators, which assisted the IDP School in staging some short performances from Astrid Lindgren books at the launch event of the book project. 

Meanwhile, the Swedish Embassy will assist in bringing the Azerbaijani children’s literature to a broader audience – for instance by introducing Azerbaijani organizations as nominating bodies for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the most prestigious international children’s literature award.