Find Christmas gifts and meet the authors at KI’s own book fair

A few questions to Hedda Langeby, project coordinator of Karolinska Institutet’s alumni activities, who is currently organising a book fair in the Aula Medica building on 14 December.

KI is organising its own book fair just in time for Christmas. Tell us, what’s the plan?
“There are lots of researchers and teachers at KI who write popular science books in the field of health and medicine. Furthermore, we still have quite a large stock of books from our own now dormant publishing house Karolinska Institutet University Press. But there will also be other publishers at the book fair, so we’re hoping for quite a large selection of books.”

Ideal for picking up Christmas gifts, then?
“Yes, I really think so. We’ll be offering our own books at good prices and have asked the other publishers involved to be as generous as possible. We’ll also be holding interviews on stage with some authors, and other authors will also be there to answer readers’ questions and sign books. So if you’re lucky, you can pick up a signed copy of your Christmas gift book.”

You usually work with KI’s alumni activities, so is the book fair only open to former KI students?
“No, not at all, everyone’s welcome. Students, employees, alumni and anyone else who happens to be passing the Aula Medica on 14 December. Apart from books and short interviews with authors, we’ll be holding a lottery and other activities on the subject of medicine and health. There is also a café in the foyer for anyone who feels like a coffee and a cake.”

I assume you’ve already sneaked a look at the selection available at the book fair, is there a book you can recommend?
“I’m curious about a book called ‘Hjärnan’, so I was thinking of buying that as a Christmas gift for myself. I’m also looking forward to hearing Emma Frans talk about how we are taking a more critical view of alleged facts in the media flow.”

Text: Katarina Sternudd (in translation from Swedish)