The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award , of five million Swedish crowns (US$550,000) is the world’s largest for children’s and youth literature, and the second-largest literature prize in the world.
Astrid Lindgren is Sweden’s favourite author and one of the world’s most popular. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 94, but her stories will live forever. To honour her memory and promote children’s and youth literature around the world, the Swedish government has founded an international prize in her name..
Illustrations are at least as important as words in most children’s books, and many such books have strong roots in oral storytelling. That is why it is so natural that the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is more than just a literature prize. Or rather it is a literature prize in the widest possible sense of the phrase. Not only authors are eligible. Illustrators, story-tellers and people or organisations that make valuable contributions to the promotion of reading can also be recognised.
Selection of Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize Winner's Work
2009 Tamer Institute for Community Education
"With perseverance, audacity and resourcefulness, the Tamer Institute has, for two decades, stimulated Palestinian children’s and young adult’s love of reading and their creativity. Under difficult circumstances, the Institute carries out reading promotion of an unusual breadth and versatility. In the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, the Tamer Institute acknowledges the power of words and the strength of books, stories and imagination as important keys to self-esteem, tolerance and the courage to face life.
2008 Sonya Hartnett (Australia)
“Sonya Hartnett is one of the major forces for renewal in modern young adult fiction. With psychological depth and a concealed yet palpable anger, she depicts the circumstances of young people without avoiding the darker sides of life. She does so with linguistic virtuosity and a brilliant narrative technique; her works are a source of strength.”
2007 Banco del Libro (Venezuela)
“In a true pioneering spirit, with ingenuity and a sheer determination, the Banco del Libro has constantly sought new ways of disseminating books and promoting reading among children in Venezuela. Enthusiasm, professionalism, closeness to the children and a refreshing lack of bureaucracy are the hallmarks of the Banco del Libro’s work, whether in shanty towns, mountain villages, universities or out in cyberspace.” oy
2006 Katherine Paterson (USA)
"Katherine Paterson is a brilliant psychologist who gets right under the skin of the vulnerable young people she creates, whether in historical or exotic settings, or in the grim reality of the USA today. With a deft aesthetic touch she avoids simple solutions, building instead on the inner strength and courage of her main characters."
2005 Ryôji Arai (Japan)
"Ryôji Arai is an illustrator with a style all of his own: bold, mischievous and unpredictable. His picturebooks glow with warmth, playful good humour and an audacious spontaneity that appeals to children and adults alike. In adventure after adventure, colour flows through his hands in an almost musical way. As a medium for conveying stories to children, his art is at once genuine and truly poetic, encouraging children to paint and to tell their own stories".
2005 Philip Pullman (United Kingdom)
"Philip Pullman is a master storyteller in a number of genres – from historical novels and fantasy to social realism and highly amusing parodies. With inventiveness, linguistic brilliance and psychological insight he creates and explores his own worlds without losing focus on here and now. Through his strong characters he stands firmly on the side of young people, ruthlessly questioning authority and proclaiming humanism and the power of love whilst maintaining an optimistic belief in the child even in the darkest of situations".
2004 Lygia Bojunga (Brasil)
"Lygia Bojunga dissolves the boundaries between fantasy and reality with all the exhilarating ease of a child at play. In her dramatic and word of mouth-style narratives the reader is always enabled to enter directly into the dreams and fantasies that her principal characters draw on for survival. In a deeply original way she fuses playfulness, poetic beauty and absurd humour with social critique, a love of freedom and a strong empathy with the vulnerable child."
2003 Christine Nöstlinger (Austria)
"Christine Nöstlinger is a reliably bad child-rearing influence of the same calibre as Astrid Lindgren. Her diversified and highly committed authorship is characterized by disrespectful humour, clear-sighted solemnity and inconspicuous warmth. She is a staunch supporter of children and those living on the margin of society".
2003 Maurice Sendak (USA)
"Maurice Sendak is the modern picture-book's portal figure. He is unparalleled in developing the picture-book's unique possibilities of narrating - to the joy of constant new picture-book illustrators. Furthermore, he is one of the most courageous researchers of the most secret recesses of childhood - to the delight of constant new readers".
