Polar Fish is a small Stockholm publishing house run by writers, artists, publishers and teachers. We started up in 2014 to develop new fiction and learning materials for readers of all ages.
We work with other Swedish publishers to produce the Good Stuff printed and digital series of 20 books (Liber AB) and the Polar Fish printed fiction series of 16 books (Natur & Kultur).
In the beginning of 2017 we released Lucky Reads, a series of 16 digital and print novels for teenage readers and In spring 2017 we print published Idby, our first complete in-house series of 16 small books for young readers. Idby is licensed to publishers in Sweden, Thailand and China.
Who are Polar Fish?
* Sarah is one of our co-founders and our creative director. She is PhD trained in gender roles, an exhibited artist and designer, lecturer at university and has published 8 books.
* Andy is our other co-founder and head of content. He is the best-selling educational author in Sweden, PhD trained in narrative, an experienced teacher of English as a second language and has more than 50 books published and a million copies sold.
* Paul is our head of schools. He has 20 years teaching experience and a background as an international pedagogical adviser.
* Steve is our head of English as a second language. He has 10 years teaching experience and has lived and worked in 20 countries.
* Inger is our main editor with more than 30 years experience. She also edits with the Swedish academy who award the Nobel prize for literature.
* Françoise is also an editor, teacher and translator and is responsible for all things French. She also teaches at the French school in Stockholm and at the University.
* Anders is one of our illustrators. He was one of the founders of Forsberg’s design school in Stockholm and is a professional illustrator with over 20 years experience.
Inside First
Polar Fish lives by the Inside First approach to character. Inside First is a social-philosophical approach to character definition in story, film, education and the broader culture. It is typified by two basics ideas.
Firstly, it is always good to challenge stereotypes.
Secondly, a character should be defined by what they think and feel rather than gender, ethnicity, age, body type and ability.
What is Idby?
Idby is a series of books published in Swedish and English and soon to be French, Chinese and Thai. You can find out everything about this wonderful world by clicking this little square thing.
What is Lucky Reads?
Lucky Reads is a series of 16 books for readers aged 12-16. The books come with a complete pedagogical suite designed to make them perfect for school use. The books were first printed by Natur & Kultur in Stockholm and some are licensed for digital use by the National Encyclopaedia in Sweden. New Lucky Reads books are being added all the time. You can read all about Lucky Reads by clicking on the medium sized square thing.
What is Good Stuff?
Good Stuff is the best-selling educational material in Sweden. It has been number one for the last 10 years and has shaped Swedish English education to rank Sweden number one in the world for English fluency. This series was created by the team behind Polar Fish and is published by one of Sweden's biggest educational publishers, Liber AB. You can find out all about Good Stuff by clicking the slightly bigger square thing. The page is in Swedish.
Want to talk to Polar Fish?
We are based in Nacka, 15 minutes from downtown Stockholm in Sweden. You can reach Sarah on sarahscho@me.com or Andy at amcoombs@me.com. If you would like to talk to someone else in the team get in touch with Andy and he will point you in the right direction.
International work
Recently Polar Fish has been gazing to other shores. In 2016 we have started to reach out to schools and other partners all over the world to see if there is a place for our work abroad. We were honoured and pleased to be chosen by a lovely school in Malawi to try out Readby and have now tried Readby out on schools in more than 70 countries. This has given us amazing feedback and so in 2017 we will be rolling out the new Readby product for schools globally. Watch this space.
Credits:
Created with images by tpsdave - "alaska iceberg melting" • Enokson - "Adding a little shoe spice to the stacks ..."