Pre-alert: The world’s largest award for children and young adult literature to be announced on April 4

Welcome to cover the 15^th announcement of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature.

The prize, which amounts to EUR 570 000, is awarded annually to a single recipient or to several. Previous laureates include Philip Pullman (2005), Kitty Crowther (2010), Barbro Lindgren (2014) and Maurice Sendak (2003). Last year’s laureate was the American author Meg Rosoff.

For this year’s award, 226 candidates from 60 countries are nominated. The list of candidates is available here.
 
Alice Bah Kuhnke, Swedish Minister for Culture and Democracy is giving a speech and Jury Chairman Boel Westin will announce the laureate of 2017 on Tuesday April 4, 2017 at 12:45pm CEST at the National Library in Stockholm, Sweden. The announcement will be followed by a presentation of the laureate by the jury.

Footage and images

Press content, along with press releases, will be available on http://www.mynewsdesk.com/alma April 4^th from 13:15 pm CET onwards and throughout the day:

• Audio recording of the phone call to the laureate
• Broadcast-quality b-roll of the announcement
• Soundbites / interviews with the Jury Chairman
• High-resolution still images of the event
• In addition: images and video from the Bologna Children’s Book Fair where the announcement will be broadcasted live.

Accreditation and interviews

Please contact Mariella Kucer, Communications Officer +46 8 519 264 17 / +46 76 540 10 17, mailto:mariella.kucer@alma.se

Live broadcast

We are also able to offer media outlets the opportunity to broadcast the event live on their webpage via an embed codeOR a IP-broadcaster. If interested, please let us know by replying to this email or by contacting us at mariella.kucer@alma.se.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is awarded annually to a single recipient or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and those active in reading promotion may be rewarded. It was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and isrewarding one or several laureates annually regardless of language or nationality. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature, and in children’s rights, globally. An expert jury selects the winners from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations worldwide. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

Previous ALMA laureates:

• 2016 Meg Rosoff
• 2015 PRAESA
• 2014 Barbro Lindgren
• 2013 Isol
• 2012 Guus Kuijer
• 2011 Shaun Tan
• 2010 Kitty Crowther
• 2009 Tamerinstitutet
• 2008 Sonya Hartnett
• 2007 Banco del Libro
• 2006 Katherine Paterson
• 2005 Ryôji Arai & Philip Pullman (shared)
• 2004 Lygia Bojunga
• 2003 Christine Nöstlinger & Maurice Sendak (shared)

Who writes children’s books?

Since ALMA was founded in 2002, 8 women and 5 men has been awarded. For more than a century, The Nobel Prize in Literature has awarded 14 women and 99 men. Will the gender gap grow or decrease?

Not surprisingly, mostly women are committed to children’s literature (as well as children’s culture at large). Today, on International Women’s Day, we can’t help wondering: Why is this a gender issue?

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Of course, we want to highlight Meg Rosoff, Barbro Lindgren, Isol, Kitty Crowther, Sonya Hartnett, Katherin Paterson, Lygia Bojunga, Christine Nöstlinger – all laureates of the worlds largest international children’s and young adult literature award. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million,  indicates that writing for children and young adults is extremely important. Children’s and young adult’s access to literature is a precondition for democracy and openness.