Desordre

The little creatures of disorganisation that mill all over the pages of Le Grand Desordre by Kitty Crowther, seem to have taken over the Award Office as well – knitted by an Award Office co-worker Sara…

And The Process Begins Again…

While the rest of the world is busy congratulating Kitty Crowther on her 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award win, it’s business as usual at the award office. First order of the day is to plan for the Award Week at the end of May and the Award Ceremony on June 1. For our nominating bodies around the world, it is time to start thinking about who they want to see as NEXT year’s winner – the nominations deadline is May 15.  Read all about the nominations process here.

When in Paris

Nothing is as beautiful as Paris in the springtime: and if you needed yet another reason to visit, you have it in the Salon du livre literary festival, open March 26-31. Kitty Crowther has been brought to the festival by her publisher L’école des loisirs to do a signing. The Award Office Paris contacts report it is a huge success, with people queing up to meet the new Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award recipient.

Bonne Chance Kitty!

What Happens In Vimmerby…

What happens in Vimmerby, doesn’t stay in Vimmerby, as it turns out. On March 24 the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was announced from Astrid Lindgren’s childhood town Vimmerby, in Småland. But it could also be followed online – our internet statistics tell us that viewers from 67 countires world wide watched the announcement on www.alma.se.

But the online audience didn’t get to see everything – until now. Here’s a look at the day from Vimmerby.  All photos by Stefan Tell.  

Let’s begin inside Astrid Lindgren’s kitchen—the inspirational startingpoint for many stories:

It’s been kept without alterations, and still looks just like when Astrid Lindgren was a little girl

Including the hats and walking stick of her father and mother:

In the modern building next door, people gathered for the actual announcement broadcast:

The jury – with their secrets:

Kerstin Brunnberg, chairman of the Swedish Arts Council, greeted the audience

And then the announcement was broadcasted live in Swedish Radio:

KITTY CROWTHER!!! APPLAUSE!!

Ulla Rhedin of the jury presents the work of Kitty Crowther

And then, finally – after a year of deliberation and consideration of the 167 candidates from 61 countries: we get to toast the winner (accompanied by the tunes of a children’s choire)

IBBY representative Sven Hallonsten and ALMA representative Larry Lempert…discussing, perhaps, HC Andersen medalists David Almond and Jutta Bauer and ALMA recipient Kitty Crowther.

Photos from the crowd that greeted the winner at the Bologna Fiere will be posted shortly…

Images from Kitty Crowther

Kitty Crowther says: “If I had to choose one word to describe myself, it would be ‘storyteller’. I’ve been steeped in stories from as far back as I can remember. Books were my refuge, my bubble.”

For exampel of her work, visit the Guardian for their image gallery.

Some examples of Kitty Crowther’s titles are these: 

Published by l’Ecole des loisirs, Pastel, 2004

Published by l’Ecole des loisirs, Pastel, 2009

Published by l’Ecole des loisirs, Pastel, 2003

Published by Seuil jeunesse, 2005

Published by l’Ecole des loisirs, Pastel, 2007

Kitty Crowther: Master of Line

Kitty Crowther is an illustrator and also author, from Belgium. She was born in 1970 and has published almost 40 books. Translations of her work have been published in English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, German, Spanish, Greek, Italian, in Brazil, Portugal, Korea, Taiwan and Morocko.  The jury citation reads:

Kitty Crowther is the master of line but also of atmosphere. She maintains the tradition of the picture book while transforming and renewing it. In her world, the door between imagination and reality is wide open. She addresses the reader gently and personally, but with profound effect. In her deeply felt empathy with people in difficulty, she shows ways in which weakness can be turned into strength. Humanism and sympathy permeate and unify her artistry.

 

Congratulations Kitty Crowther

Kitty Crowther is the recipent of the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She’s an illustrator and writer from Belgium, boen in 1970. She recieved the news of the award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – where the decision was greeted with great cheers from the audience!

Congratulations Kitty!

Find more information about the winner and her work at www.alma.se!

Come Visit us in Bologna

All those heading to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair: don’t forget to stop by the announcement of the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award at the Illustrators Cafe, Wednesday March 24, startin 12.45. Also, please come visit us at our stall (being built in the image above), number A40 in hall 29.

Other Literature Awards

As the Award office is scrambling to get ready for the announcement of the 2010 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award at 1 pm on March 24^th, we have received exciting news from two other prestigious awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award  and the German Youth Literature Award.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is presented biannually by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made lasting contributions to children’s literature. One of those was of course Astrid Lindgren, who was rewarded as early as in 1958. This year’s winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 23^rd at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Just this week, IBBY released a shortlist where friends of ALMA will recognize several of the names!

The five short-listed authors in alphabetical order are:

 ·       Ahmad Reza Ahmadi from Iran 
 ·       David Almond from the United Kingdom 
·       Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros from Brazil 
·       Lennart Hellsing from Sweden
·       Louis Jensen from Denmark

 The five short-listed illustrators in alphabetical order are:

 ·       Jutta Bauer from Germany
·       Carll Cneut from Belgium 
·       Etienne Delessert from Switzerland 
·       Svjetlan Junakovic from Croatia
·       Roger Mello from Brazil

The German Youth Literature Award is administered by The Association for Children’s and Youth Literature (AKJ) in Munich and is Germany’s only state-sponsored prize for works of fiction. It has been awarded annually since 1956 by a jury of literature specialists and critics in four categories: picture book, children’s book, young adult book and non-fiction. Astrid Lindgren received this award in 1956 for Mio my son. This week, the nominees for the 2010 Awards were released. Read all about them (in German) here.The winners will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair on 8^th of October. Not to be missed!

Technical Information About the Announcement

On Wednesday March 24 the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will be announced. The announcement will be broadcasted live at www.alma.se. In order to view the announcement live you will need an Adobe Flash Player – which is installed on most computers. If you are unsure of whether you have it you can download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here, for free.