A new EU4Ocean Thematic Networking Group titled "Let's bring the ocean into libraries and book fairs across Europe!" (the Literature Networking Group) has been launched on 3 June 2025! It is led by Andrea Bozman, who won the MakeEUBlue Awards 2024 for the Best education initiative for her project Small Scientist, blending science with storytelling in Norwegian education centres.
The Thematic Networking Group provides a network and learning opportunities for those who have created or are interested in creating ocean-based literature for formal or informal education. Literature extends beyond books and includes digital materials, experimental forms (e.g., gamified marine science, multimodal exhibits, virtual reality), plays, songs, ecopoetry, oral literature, prose, flash fiction, participatory action literature, and more.
Discussion Themes include:
• Collaboration: With artists, libraries, museums, and communities, from ideation to outreach;
• Funding: Finding and accessing funding, linking to research, and supporting user needs;
• Creative Process: From publishing routes to scaling ideas across regions, and learning from what didn’t work;
• Outputs: A shared checklist for literary materials and a central database of ocean-lit initiatives.
The Thematic Networking Group holds digital meetings, providing a space to exchange ideas, share best practices, and collaborate on initiatives. We welcome anyone with an interest in the Ocean—including writers, educators, publishers, artists, community groups, researchers, and ocean advocates—to join us in this effort.
The group is open to members of the three EU4Ocean communities - the EU4Ocean Platform, the Youth4Ocean Forum and the Network of European Blue Schools.
All are welcome — bring your ideas, your experiences, and your creative energy. Let’s bring the ocean to life through story.
Interested? Let the facilitators know at nathalie [dot] van [dot] isacker
seascapebelgium [dot] be (nathalie[dot]van[dot]isacker[at]seascapebelgium[dot]be) !