Bok-Makaren AB has appointed the leading licensing agency Rights & Brands to represent Alfie Atkins (Alfons Åberg) as master agent worldwide for merchandising. With knowledge and experience of building literature driven Scandinavian brands, Rights & Brands will develop a global licensing program for Alfie Atkins.
Alfie Atkins is an ordinary boy who lives with his dad in a suburb – somewhere in the world. He’s not big. He’s not strong. But he’s braver than you might think! The Alfie Atkins books, or Alfons Åberg as he’s known in the original Swedish titles, are written and illustrated by Gunilla Bergström. Gunilla Bergström (1942-2021) was a pioneer in many ways, thematically as well as artistically. She was the first to introduce the collage technique as a storytelling method in picture books and the first to write about divorce for children. Very early on in the world of children’s literature she used a father instead of a mother as the primary parent in her stories. Gunilla Bergström’s stories are psychological mini dramas set in everyday life, often with magical elements.
The first Alfie Atkins book was published in 1972. Since then, more than 25 stories have been published and about 10 million books have been sold and translated to over 40 languages, with new editions being released continuously. Alfie also features in animated TV-series, feature films, audio books, theatre shows and musicals. In Scandinavia, Alfie Atkins is established as a classic among children, parents, and grandparents.
“We are incredibly happy and proud to represent Alfie Atkins as master agent” says Kristin Tjulander, Nordic Commercial Director at Rights & Brands. ”With our vision to bring Scandinavian brands based on literature, art and design to a global arena, it feels natural to have Alfie Atkins as a part of Rights & Brands. Bok-Makaren is doing a fantastic job of developing high-quality content that we will build on when finding new partners and continue to develop existing ones.”
Elisabet Granlund, COO at Bok-Makaren AB, continues: “We have been curiously following Rights & Brands and have been impressed by their development and product launches of other Scandinavian cultural classics. During a time when we are growing with new content such as film and theater, we look forward to developing the merchandising side with those who know it best.”
Rights & Brands will represent Alfie Atkins for merchandising rights worldwide.
For more information, please contact:
Kristin Tjulander, Commercial Director Nordic, Rights & Brands
Tel: +46 707 632 872
E-mail: kristin.tjulander@rightsandbrands.com
Elisabet Granlund, Partner/COO, Bok-Makaren AB
Tel: +46(0)76-205 09 09
E-mail: elisabet@bokmakaren.se
Links
Rights & Brands logo
Kristin Tjulander image
Bok-Makaren logo
Alfie Atkins image
Elisabet Granlund image
Notes to editors:
About Rights & Brands
Rights & Brands (R&B) is a 360 licensing and publishing agency bringing Scandinavian rights and brands – within art, design and literature – to a global arena. R&B operates a worldwide network of over 30 sub-agents and 800 clients.
We represent iconic Scandinavian brands, artists and authors. R&B is the worldwide master agent on behalf of Moomin Characters, and we represent the likes of Stig Lindberg, Carl Larsson-gården Sundborn, Astrid Lindgren, Ilon Wikland, Mauri Kunnas, the Beatles, the Smurfs, Tove Jansson, Sofie Sarenbrant and many more. R&B is ranked #1 in Europe and #16 worldwide in licensing agencies, with an estimated retail value of 900M Euro. We develop and create collaborations and brand extensions with leading brands such as H&M, Uniqlo, Granit, Happy Socks, Fiskars, Rovio, Frever, Bvlgari and Finnair.
Rights & Brands headquarter is in Stockholm, with local branches in Helsinki, Oslo, Hong-Kong and Tokyo. R&B was founded in 2016 and has a yearly turnover of 270M SEK.
www.rightsandbrands.com
About Bok-Makaren AB
Bok-Makaren manages all the rights to the work of author and illustrator, Gunilla Bergström, including the children’s beloved Alfie Atkins. Bok-Makaren’s job is to ensure that Alfie continues to be a beloved character for the children of tomorrow by spreading Alfie and his world.
It can be about licensing and publishing rights for books, media, theatre, film, exhibitions and products. The core of what Bok-Makaren does are the stories and everything must be done in the spirit of Alfie. So, who is Alfie Atkins? Well, he’s an ordinary boy who lives with his dad in a suburb – somewhere in the world. He likes to play football, build a tree house and play with his friends. The stories about Alfie often take place in an everyday environment, at home in the apartment, on the way to school or out on the soccer field, but where Alfies’ imagination, musings, feelings and inventions take the story on further adventures.
www.alfieatkins.com
www.alfons.se