In the new fairy tale of Cinderella, the ball has been replaced by a disco and the glass slippers by stylish disco shoes. Björta directly invites the children to participate in the performance by asking questions and offering both wishful glitter and new dance steps.
"I think it was great fun to get the glitter of the wishes. I wished for a radio-controlled monster truck," says Eli Kangas.
"It was great to see a drag queen. I've never seen one before and that's quite unusual," says Fre Gebremichel.
Uncontroversial in the past
During the Rainbow Week 2019, a story reading was also organized with "Among dragons and drag queens". At that time, no one discussed or wondered about the arrangement. But before this year's booking, thoughts were raised about the election.
"Happily, here in Örnsköldsvik, we have received few negative comments and those who have commented do not even live in the municipality. I see this as an acknowledgment that the work that is being done is important," says Katarina Larsson, head of the libraries in Örnsköldsvik.
"Important to manifest"
The reason why the booking has been discussed is that last autumn there was a storm around another show, Drag Queen Story Hour. Politicians from the Sweden Democrats chose to lump everyone together about the genre and demanded an end to story times with drag queens. At the same time, employees at libraries who had booked performances received threats and demands to cancel the performances.
"When library directors, staff and actors are subjected to threats because they show that there is a different way of being and everyone's equal value, it becomes extra important to manifest and stand for these issues," says Katarina Larsson.