While the clock ticks closer to Christmas Eve, Mrs. Claus and the elves do everything they can to replace Santa's beard and restore his Christmas spirit. But when an overeager elf tries to take wool from the recklessly ramming James Baa-nd, the search for a beard solution gets out of hand.
This is Nina Wahlund, author of the Christmas children's book When Santa Lost His Beard.
We spoke with Nina about her own writing company, based in her native country of Sweden, where her childhood passion for reading and writing first came from, and just in time for Christmas, we asked Nina about her book-related festive memories.
Our first question must be about your company – Words by Wahlund – and your deeply rooted passion for writing. You’ve previously shared with us, but I’m hoping you can share with our readers, why you chose to start writing?
Words by Wahlund is a company I started when I published my first children’s book in 2020. It’s a company that focuses mainly on creative writing. But I also offer translation and communication services. In 2021, for instance, I translated romance novels from English to Swedish for Harlequin.
Creative writing has always been a huge part of who I am. I was very young when I first started writing. When I was nine, I started writing short stories. When I was twelve, I began writing poems. In my twenties, my focus instead turned to lyrics. I’ve always liked experimenting with language, working with flow and rhythm and rhyme.
Writing has also been a way for me to deal with things I’ve been going through. My way of not only putting words to my own emotions, but using them to reach other people’s emotions as well.
The main reason I started writing children’s books was to offer children an escape. That’s the role children’s books played for me when I was five years old and lost my older sister to cancer. Looking back, I don’t know how I would have made it through that time if it wasn’t for books. One book in particular - Astrid Lindgren’s The Brothers Lionheart. Through that story, she gave me a place, Nangijala, where I could imagine my sister waiting for me. A place where she lived on. A magical place where all was well.
That’s what I want my children’s books to be as well – a momentary escape from a reality that is sometimes too harsh. An escape into a world where things are never truly lost and everything always works out in the end. I want my books to be like a warm blanket of peace.
That’s what I needed back then. And that’s what books brought me. My books, you might say, are my way of paying it forward.
As a children’s author, you’ve championed imagination and escape above all else, writing and cherishing stories that offer children something bright and happy to read. When you yourself were a young reader, what books held your attention?
Astrid Lindgren’s books more than anything. I’ve already mentioned The Brothers Lionheart, which obviously came to mean a lot to me. I also loved Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter and dreamed of moving out into the forest myself. Ronia, in many ways, embodied that sense of freedom and exploration that I sought as a child. I also loved Mio in the Land of Faraway. Little Mio that is treated horribly by everyone in his life, and then finds out that he is, in fact, a prince in a land far away.
It may not come as a surprise that I also loved Look Madicken, It’s Snowing! – a Christmas book with a beautiful story that could have ended really badly, but that thankfully has a very happy ending.
Another favourite book of mine, and one that my parents must have read to me a million times when I was younger, was a book called Goofy in the Wild, Wild West. I don’t know why I loved that book so much, but I really did. I could never get enough of it.
Now your book is incredibly festive, featuring Santa, Mrs Claus and the Elves from the North Pole. Have you always loved Christmas? Are there any book-related Christmas traditions or memories that you’d be happy to share with us?
Yes, I have always loved Christmas. Especially when I was younger. I couldn’t wait for Christmas to arrive. It was something I looked forward to all year.
There is just something so magical about this season. It makes everything feel lighter and brighter. This is the reason why I so often choose to write about Christmas. It gives the stories that little extra sprinkle of happiness; that extra sense of peace and calm and cosiness.
When I was younger, my parents would always read to me and my younger siblings. Every single night, we would crawl up together on this pink leather couch and start another reading adventure. Christmas was no different. One book that I always loved reading at Christmas was a Disney version of A Christmas Carol. And of course, Astrid Lindgren’s Look Madicken, It’s Snowing!
With my own daughters, I have always read a lot of Christmas books at Christmas. Every December, we have what we call an advent book, where you read one chapter every day until Christmas. But we also read a lot of other Christmas books. So much so that one year, we ran out of books to read. This was actually one of the reasons why I wrote When Santa Lost His Beard. Because I needed a new Christmas story for my daughters.
Christmas is a wonderful time of year where most get to relax and enjoy some reading; New Year is a time for new traditions to start. How would you encourage children to pick up more books and go on more literary adventures?
I think one thing that is very important, especially these days, is to make reading a priority. For yourself as well. Children often do what we do, not what we say. If you take the time every day to sit down with a book, and make it a natural part of your schedule, chances are, your child will too.
Very often, it’s about finding that one perfect book to get your child started. That book that opens up the world of reading for your child. The challenge is, of course, finding that book. My advice would be to start by looking at your child’s interests. Does he or she likes horses? Find a book about that. Does he or she likes soccer? Find a book about soccer. See if that can spark an interest in reading as well.
Or read a book together and discuss it with your child. What did they like about it? What didn’t they like? What did they think of the ending? What did they take away from it? This not only shows your child that you take an interest in their reading, but can also give you some hints about what your child might like to read in the future.
A child that doesn’t like reading may still enjoy a challenge. Such as reading bingo. Create a simple bingo board with different reading challenges. Such as “Read for 10 minutes outdoors”. “Read a book about Christmas”. “Read while sitting under a table”. Make it fun challenges that the child can easily complete. And when they get bingo, award them with something. It doesn’t have to be anything big, or even book related. Find something you think your child would like.
Last but not least, it may sound simple, but one way of getting our kids to read more is to simply take away certain distractions. Such as their phones. Have a phone free hour every night. And make sure that you, as the adult, does the same. Spend that time with a book instead.
Finally, I can be quite certain when I say that another book is on the way from you as an author. Would you be able to share with us a little information about what readers can next expect from you?
That’s right, I have another Christmas book coming out soon - Lighting the Way Home. This book is about Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and some mysterious lights that begin showing up. First, it’s just a blue light in the distance. But that blue light is soon followed by more lights, in all the colours of the rainbow. Where do the lights come from? And why is Rudolph so fixated by them?
Lighting the Way Home is another book filled with Christmas cheer and beautiful Christmas art by the talented Emma Wiklund. My hope is that it will fill you with the Christmas spirit and the joy and peace of the holiday season.
