- Opal Publishing House was founded in 1973 by Bengt Christel and Wallborg Segerhelm. Initially, a villa was purchased in Maryhill, Bromma area outside Stockholm city centre, where the Maison is still based. From the outset, the Maison has focused on the dissemination of high-quality literature for children and young people. Even today, Opal remains a strong, independent, family-owned publishing house. The idea for a children's book publishing house began to take shape when Bengt and Valborg worked together at Tiddens. They had a dream of creating their own publishing house, characterized by its refined family character and its interest in high-quality literature aimed at children. During the early years, Opal published almost exclusively translated works, given its close ties to most Danish and German publishing houses, among others. Over time, Opal began searching for Swedish authors, launching a children's comic book competition in 1983 to discover them.This contest is by Sven Nordqvist and Anna Hooglund. Since then, the publishing house has evolved, and today in Opal's catalogues you find predominantly Swedish original works. However, Opal still publishes translated books from most of the world. Opal's publications include winners of the Alma and August awards, and today the Swedish authors of the Maison are spread all over the world.Thanks to Valborg's passion for easy-to-read books, which did not exist in Sweden when the publishing house was founded, but were popular in Denmark ,* Opal began translating and publishing the Latlest series early. The series quickly became popular among the target group, and became an important part of the house's publications. Thus, Opal was the first publishing house in Sweden to publish books that were easy to read - books that were easy to read with age-adapted content. Most of these books were also recorded on cassette tapes, and sold under the name "Book and Tape".Over the years, the publication of Latelist has declined in tandem with the flourishing of other sections of the magazine and the emergence of other actors in the market. But Latelliste has always been proud of Opal, and it was of great importance in the field of children's literature. Every child has the right to find a book that suits them.Bengt Christel was one of the founders of the Children's Book Club in the 1980s, along with Astrid Lindgren and Marianne Ericsson from Ericsson and Lindgren Publishing. Opal was one of the owners of the club until 2017, when it was sold to Norstedtz. Today, Opal is one of the owners of Burgess Publishing, which has moved into the Opalhauset building. The two publishing houses cooperate closely, and they share a marketing department.In 2017, the subsidiary publishing house Fox Pay Opal, which publishes books for young people, was launched. This endeavor aims to establish a strong brand among this target group through influential books, books that suit the tastes of young people and adults alike.
Opal Förlag
Sweden
Opal Publishing House was founded in 1973 by Bengt Christel and Wallborg Segerhelm. Initially, a villa was purchased in Maryhill, Bromma area outside Stockholm city centre, where the Maison is still based. From the outset, the Maison has focused on the dissemination of high-quality literature for children and young peo…
About the Publisher
Opal Förlag
