Hem | Joanna Hellgren

Frances was first published in 2008 by Éditions Cambourakis. In swedish the three parts as well as the collection is published by Galago. In spanish by La Cupula, in italian by Logos and in Croation by Sandorf.

Frances is an orphanded girl, aged seven. In the first volume, she is taken care of by her aunt Ada, after the loss of her father. In the house her grandfather also lives.

Frances is a trilogy which travels back and forth in time, following both Frances and the grownups around her. A story about family, class, prejudices and imagination.

Comic books and other stories

Illustrated children's books

Mon frère nocturne (My Night Brother) is my first comic book. I published it myself in 2006 in 30 copies, half of them in french. In 2008 it was published by Éditions Cambourakis. Later published in swedish, italian and spanish.

Brorsans kompis Robban. Short novel for young children, written by Maja Hjertzell, Lilla Piratförlaget 2024.

Picture book written by Henrik Wallnäs, Natur& Kultur 2024.
Among dPictus 100 Outstanding Childrens Books 2024.

Picture book written by Naima Chahboun, Rabén & Sjögren 2022. In the selection of Svensk Bokkonst 2022. (Swedish Book Art).

The blue marble. A space journey, written by Mattias Käck. Alfabeta bokförlag 2021.

My mummy is faster than yours! Written by Emma Virke, Lilla Piratförlaget 2021.

August Prize nominee.

Cover and small illustrations for Ariel twentyfour/seven, by Håkan Lindquist. Opal förlag, 2020.

Everywhere and Nowhere. Youth novel by Oskar Kroon, Brombergs 2020. Represented by Koja Agency.

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, picture book written by Åsa Lind, Rabén & Sjögren 2019.
August Prize nominee.

Så mycket kärlek kan inte dö (That Much Love Can Never Die), a youth novel by Moni Nilsson, 2018.
Link to Koja Agency for description in english.

Facts about nordic animals, written by Martin Emtenäs. Cover illustration by Cecilia Heikkilä. Graphic design by Emilie Crispin Ekström. Rabén & Sjögren 2017.

Natur & Kultur republished Katarina Taikons classical and autobiographical children's books from the 70's, and I had the honour to do the new illustrations. All except for one were published in double volumes and have between 15 and 30 illustrations.

Katitzi & Katitzi och Swing (1–2),
Katitzi rymmer & Katitzi i ormgropen (3–4),
Katitzi, Rosa och Paul & Katitzi i Stockholm (5–6),
Katitzi och Lump-Nicke & Katitzi i skolan (7–8),
Katitzi Z-1234 (9),
Katitzi Barnbruden & Katitzi på flykt (10–11)
och Katitzi i Gamla Stan & Uppbrott (12–13).

From book 9, Katitzi Z-1234, the cover backs are black instead of red, to mark the higher age of both Katitzi and the expected reader, as well as the darkness of the story. The different flowers on the backs have names in swedish that symbolises different parts of the story.

Den blomranka som pryder boksvitens ryggar symboliserar berättelsens innehåll på olika sätt:
Bok 1–2: Kung Karls spira, Västerbottens landskapsblomma (boken utspelar sig i Västerbotten).
Bok 3–4: Styvmorsviol (styvmodern, kallad Tanten, gör livet mycket svårt för Katitzi).
Bok 5–6: Harsyra och bok 7–8: ljung (Skogsväxter, då Katitzis familj bor i läger, i tält och vagnar).
Bok 9: Förgätmigej, symbol för Förintelsen och dess offer, som inte får glömmas.
Bok 10–11: Kungsängslilja är Upplands landskapsblomma (Katitzi flyttas till Åkersberga).
Bok 12–13: Maskros, då Katitzi är ett sant maskrosbarn som klarar sig mot alla odds.

Picture book written by Tove Pierrou, Natur & Kultur 2015. Won Snöbollen, Swedish Picture Book of the year 2016.

Min brorsa heter Noa (My brother's name is Noa) is a children's book about racism. Saga is eight years old and loves her brother Noa. But he starts acting strange. Written by Anna-Clara Tidholm. Alfabeta, 2015.

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Picture book written by Jonatan Brännström. Natur & Kultur 2012. Can often be seen at UR, Lässugen.

Picture book written by Åsa Lind, Rabén & Sjögren 2012. Typography by Lina Åberg / Spektra.

Lova! sa Smulan. Written by Moni Nilsson. Natur & Kultur, 2009.

Vem är rädd för... Berättelser om vargen. Antologi, Söderströms förlag 2008.

Teenage girls tend not to ask questions and try to blend in as much as possible, which makes it more difficult for teachers to discover special needs.

October 2011. About reading difficulties among children. The text in the last picture means "Yay! Welcome into a new world!".
This drawing was awarded Best illustration at Fackförbundspressens dag (Day of, The Unions' Press) March 15, 2012.

Tidningen Specialpedagogik 1/2016. There are more part time teachers in the Swedish private schools and preeschools than in the public ones.

Specialpedagogik 1/2017. Coaches helping youth with disabilities finding work is a great investment for society.

An international study showed differences in the brains between children with adhd and those without, differences that became smaller with time.

Tidningen Specialpedagogik. Not building steady ground lead to more acute problems.

Specialpedagogik 2/2017. The differences can be a positive asset in schools of sparsely populated areas.

Specialpedagogik 1/2017. One difficulty seldom comes alone. Students with extra need in math often have reading difficulties as well.

Reading helps identification and understanding. Specialpedagogik, October 2011.

Specialpedagogik #3/2013. "I'm not going, I hate skiing". Children who are from poor families do their best to keep that a secret.

Specialpedagogik #1/2013. Many students who fail in Swedish high school blame themselves, and are not aware of their right to special help with, as an example, dyslexia.

Specialpedagogik #1/2013. While other swedish children quit preschool and start the preschool class "0", children with developement disorder move directly to their separate class.
How does this transfer and separation work, without the pedagogic help of the preschool class?

Specialpedagogik 5/2013. "The school for you?" Students in private swedish highschools are statistically less likely to receive the help of a teacher for special needs, than students in public highschools.

Tidningen Specialpedagogik 3/2015. Art classes in school are often less creative than intended.

Akademikern 3/2014. Society's institutions have to learn how to communicate clearly in order to save time and money.

Specialpedagogik 3/ 2014. When several teachers and school staff collaborate around a child, new angles can show up.

Specialpedagogik #5/2013. Progress is made in the meeting between the pupil and the teacher.

Specialpedagogik 1/2018. Teaching in an including way can mean giving children the same exercise with adapted degrees of complexity.

Specialpedagogik 6/2014. Multiliteracies and multimodal learning.

Chef & Ledarskap, december 2013. Cover and illustrations for the theme Children in need of extra help.

10-tal. Short story by Billy Kahora.

Akademikern, december 2013. About internet security in local politics and City Hall.

Akademikern 2/2014. Older coworkers situation at work.

Akademikern 1/2014. "Göteborgsandan". About corruption in Gothenburg.

Illustrations for Akademikern, October 2012. First too young, the too old: About age discrimination.

Illustrations for Akademikern, April 2012. Beware of what you publish on the social networks!

Akademikern, december 2013. About internet security in local politics and City Hall.

Illustrations for Akademikern 1, 2013. The 80:s closet. About the unopenness at work during the 1980:s.

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Cover for Kontur 2009, the Bloomsbury Issue.

Editorial illustrations for Specialpedagogik, Akademikern and other.

Graphic Design

Cover for album by the punk group Kapten, 2022 (Logo by the band).

Cover for single by Steso Songs / Karolina Stenström, sang by her and Mattias Alkberg. Produced by Åsa Johnsen. Woodprint, 2022.

Cover for the album Curse All Law by punk rock group Könsförrädare. Teg Publishing, 2013.

Book cover for plays and novels, published by the small feminist publisher Rosenlarv, 2005–2013.

Artwork for myself or for exhibitions.

Fungi – for the Nobel Prize Museum i Stockholm.

Seven comics about different aspects on fungi, for the exhibition Fungi, that took place between September 2023 and January 2024.

My comics were based on several books, mostly Svamparnas förunderliga liv, by Anders Dahlberg and Anna Froster, and Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake.

Made with pencil, Flashe vinyle paint and black ink on aquarelle paper. Framed 60x80 cm. Available for further exhibition or for sale.

Branterna och sjön, art commission for Fagerslättsskolan in Huskvarna. The school is for kids between 6 and 13 years. Bought by Jönköpings kommun through Art Platform.

Made out of plywood, wood stain, pyrography and lacquer.

The motives focus on local flora, fauna and imaginary creatures around the lake Vättern. The blue piece shows Vättern fishes and a huge sea serpent.

Ink and watercolor paintings, most of them made for an exhibition at Candyland, Stockholm, 2015, together with Emma Rendel. The title was Den yttersta tiden, The end of time. Curated by Johanna Ringertz.

Drawings shown at the subway station Slussen in Stockholm between May 2014 and May 2015. They were part of the program Svartvita bilder (Black and white pictures).

The title was Tröjan (The sweater), from the saying The forest is the sweater of the poor, since the theme was the woods as a playground and a home.

Au pair was a story in ten chapters, each one on a lampshade (except chapter nine which was an animated film with music by Anna Giertz), made in 2012 for the exhibition Careful Companion at Arkitekturmuseet in Stockholm. It was later shown at Gävle Konstcentrum 2013 and Grafikens Hus, also 2013. Unfortunately, although the exhibition Vi har en viktig grej på gång was over, the lamps were still at Grafikens Hus when the museum burned down in March 2014.