Swedish Picture Book of the Year / Where’s My Egg?

Bildmuseet presents all original illustrations for Var är mitt ägg? [Where’s My Egg?], the best Swedish picture book published in 2025 and winner of the national award Snöbollen [The Snowball]. Working in oil pastel and a scratch technique, Julia Groth has created a wordless visual feast in which every detail contributes to the unfolding adventure. The images offer a compelling contrast between the hen’s sunlit anxiety and the spirited little egg’s subterranean trials.  

Where’s my egg? wonders a handsome hen whose egg has suddenly sprouted legs and wandered off blindly. It has tumbled into a hole in the ground, making its way through dark tunnels, encountering both friendly and fearsome creatures: a badger, a group of rabbits, a snake, fox cubs and a lizard… Meanwhile, the hen searches anxiously above ground.  

From the jury’s citation: In this wordless picture book, created with an advanced scratch technique, the reader is invited to engage actively with the visual language: the consistently earthy colour palette, movements across multiple layers, the animals’ expressive faces and occasional signs in speech bubbles. In both content and form, the book is a perfectly realised whole – like an egg. 

Julia Groth (b. 1988) is an illustrator, children’s author, interior architect and communications professional based in Järvsö, Sweden. Since her debut in 2019 with Lilla grodan, morfar och döden [The Little Frog, Grandpa and Death], she has written and illustrated five children’s books. Groth’s works are recognised for their carefully chosen colour palettes and playful storytelling style. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Umeå School of Architecture, a master’s degree in design from HDK in Gothenburg, and has studied printmaking at Östra Grevie folkhögskola. As an interior architect, she has developed patterns for public spaces and interiors.  

Swedish Picture Book of the Year / Where’s My Egg? is produced by Bildmuseet. Curator of the exhibition is museum curator Lisa Lundström, and member of the picture book award jury was museum curator Brita Täljedal. The exhibition is accompanied by activities and school programmes in the museum’s creative workshop for visitors of all ages. 

The Snowball national picture book award is an initiative by Krumelur – the Association for Young Words in the North, in partnership with the municipality of Umeå, Pilgatan Cultural Association, the Regional Library of Västerbotten, Littfest – Umeå International Literature Festival, the Association of Swedish Illustrators and Graphic Designers, and Bildmuseet.  

Press previews and images 
Welcome to email your request to press.bildmuseet@umu.se. Press images. 

Opening on Art Friday with Littfest, 13 March 17:00–24:00 
The exhibition is inaugurated at 18:00. A drop-in workshop inspired by Where’s My Egg? will take place during the evening, which will also see the opening of the exhibition AI and the Paradox of Agency. Poetry readings, guided tours, live music, DJ, and bar. Welcome!