The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

established by the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...

in 2002 to honour the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

children's author

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on- ...

(1907–2002). The prize is five million SEK, making it the richest award in children's literature and one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The annual cost of 10 million SEK (in 2008) is financed with tax money. The Lindgren Award annually recognises one or more living people and extant institutions (twelve in the first ten years) - people for their career contributions and institutions for their long-term sustainable work. Specifically they should be "authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and promoters of reading" whose "work is of the highest quality, and in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren." The object of the award is to increase interest in children's and young people's literature, and to promote children's rights to culture on a global level. The award is administered by the

Swedish Arts Council The Swedish Arts Council ( sv, Statens kulturråd, or ''Kulturrådet'') is a Swedish administrative authority organized under the Ministry of Culture, and is tasked with promoting culture and its availability by distributing and following up on g ...

funded solely by the central government. Officially it is called "An award by the Swedish people to the world". The award ceremony is presided over by

Crown Princess Victoria Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland (Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée; born 14 July 1977) is the heir apparent to the Swedish throne, as the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf. If she ascends to the throne as expect ...

of Sweden. "The award recipients are chosen by a jury with broad expertise in international children's and young adult literature, reading promotion and children's rights. The 12 members include authors, literary critics and scholars, illustrators and librarians. One member represents Astrid Lindgren's family." The annual cycle begins no later than December about 9 months before nominees are announced, 15 months before the winner is announced and 18 months before the presentation.

Winners

In the first seventeen annual cycles through 2018 there were 18 recipients, fifteen people and three institutions. There were two inaugural awards in 2003 and two again in 2005. *2003:

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...

, United States *2003:

Christine Nöstlinger Christine Nöstlinger (13 October 1936 – 28 June 2018) was an Austrian writer best known for children's books. She received one of two inaugural Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards from the Swedish Arts Council in 2003, the biggest prize in childre ...

, Austria *2004:

Lygia Bojunga Nunes Lygia Bojunga (born 26 August 1932, in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian writer of children's books under the name Lygia Bojunga Nunes. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards: for "lasting contribution to ch ...

, Brazil *2005:

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...

, United Kingdom *2005: Ryōji Arai, Japan *2006:

Katherine Paterson Katherine Womelsdorf Paterson (born October 31, 1932) is an American writer best known for children's novels, including '' Bridge to Terabithia''. For four different books published 1975-1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Aw ...

, United States *2007:

Banco del Libro Banco del Libro is a non-profit organization for the promotion of children's literature, with headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. It was established in 1960 as a centre for the exchange of textbooks – hence the name Banco del Libro (Book Bank) ...

, Venezuela *2008:

Sonya Hartnett Sonya Louise Hartnett (born 1968) is an Australian author of fiction for adults, young adults, and children. She has been called "the finest Australian writer of her generation". For her career contribution to "children's and young adult liter ...

, Australia *2009:

Tamer Institute for Community Education The Tamer Institute for Community Education is a non-profit non-governmental educational organization working in Palestine. It was established in 1989 in response to Palestinian needs during the first intifada. Tamer works primarily with and fo ...

, Palestine *2010: Kitty Crowther, Belgium *2011:

Shaun Tan Shaun Tan (born 1973) is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for '' The Lost Thing'', a 2011 animated film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Other books he has written and illustrated inc ...

, Australia *2012:

Guus Kuijer Guus Kuijer (; born 1 August 1942) is a Dutch author. He wrote books for children and adults, and is best known for the ''Madelief'' series of children's books. For his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest ...

, Netherlands *2013:

Isol Marisol Misenta (born 6 March 1972), known professionally under the mononym Isol, is an Argentine creator of children's picture books and a pop singer. For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" ...

, Argentina *2014:

Barbro Lindgren Barbro Lindgren (born 18 March 1937) is a Swedish writer of children's books and books for adult readers. For her lasting contribution as a children's writer, Lindgren was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in ...

, Sweden *2015:

Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) is a multilingual, early literacy research and development organisation, affiliated with the University of Cape Town. PRAESA's work in literacy approaches, curricula, t ...

(PRAESA) *2016:

Meg Rosoff Meg Rosoff (born 16 October 1956) is an American writer based in London, United Kingdom. She is best known for the novel '' How I Live Now'' (Puffin, 2004), which won the Guardian Prize, Printz Award, and Branford Boase Award and made the ...

, United States/United Kingdom *2017:

Wolf Erlbruch Wolf Erlbruch (30 June 1948 – 11 December 2022) was a German illustrator and writer of children's books, who became professor at several universities. He combined various techniques for the artwork in his books, including cutting and pasting, ...

, Germany *2018:

Jacqueline Woodson Jacqueline Woodson (born February 12, 1963) is an American writer of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for '' Miracle's Boys'', and her Newbery Honor-winning titles ''Brown Girl Dreaming'', ''After Tupac and D Foster'', ''Fea ...

, United States *2019:

Bart Moeyaert Bart Peter Boudewijn Moeyaert (born 9 June 1964) is a Belgian writer. Early life Moeyaert was born in 1964 in Bruges as the youngest of seven brothers. He is named after the character Bartje in the book series by Anne de Vries and after Baudo ...

, Belgium *2020:

Baek Hee-Na Baek Hee-na (Korean: 백희나, Romanized: Baek Hui-na, born 1 December 1971 in Seoul) is a South Korean author of picture books, an illustrator and animator. She writes picture books with characters that have distinct personalities and with c ...

, South Korea *2021: , France *2022: Eva Lindström, Sweden Five of the Lindgren Award winners have also, and much earlier, won the older, international

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

for their lifetime contributions to children's literature: Sendak and Erlbruch as an illustrator; Nöstlinger, Nunes, and Paterson as writers. In 2020, Woodson also won the Andersen Award as a writer. (Astrid Lindgren won the Andersen Award in 1958.)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Children's literary awards Swedish literary awards International literary awards Literary awards honoring writers Swedish speculative fiction awards Astrid Lindgren Awards established in 2003

Winners

See also

References

External links