Croatian Writer Miro Gavran Nominated for World’s Highest Children’s Literature Award

Hans Christian Andersen Award (photo/andersen-award)

Croatian writer Miro Gavran has been nominated for the most famous international children’s literature award…

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. Every other year the Andersen Award is presented to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. This year well-known Croatian writer Gavran is among the nominations.

Gavran’s works have been translated into 38 languages, with titles such as “How Dad Won Mum”, “Try to Forget”, “Happy Days”, “and “The Teacher of My Dreams” enjoyed by both young and old. Gavran’s books have come out in 200 different editions at home and abroad. His dramas and comedies have had more than 300 theatre first nights around the world and have been seen by more than three million theatre-goers.

He is the only living dramatist in Europe to have a theatre festival devoted solely to his plays outside his/her homeland; the Gavranfest has been held in Slovakia since 2003 and in Poland from 2013.

The Author’s Award has been given since 1956 and the Illustrator’s Award since 1966. The Award consists of a gold medal and a diploma, presented at a festive ceremony during the biennial IBBY Congress. The Patron of the Andersen Awards is Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and the Awards are sponsored by Nami Island Inc.

Miro Gavran (photo/mirogavran.com)

The selection criteria include the aesthetic and literary qualities of writing and illustrating as well as the ability to see things from the child’s point of view and the ability to stretch the child’s curiosity and imagination. The complete works of the author and of the illustrator will be taken into consideration.

For the 2016 Awards 28 authors and 29 illustrators have been nominated from 34 countries.

Argentina: author María Laura Devetach; illustrator Diego Bianki
Australia; author Ursula Dubosarsky; illustrator Bronwyn Bancroft
Austria: author Renate Welsh; illustrator Linda Wolfsgruber
Belgium: author Bart Moeyaert; illustrator Rascal
Brazil: author Marina Colasanti; illustrator Ciça Fittipaldi
Canada: author Kenneth Oppel; illustrator Pierre Pratt
China: author Cao Wenxuan; illustrator Zhu Chengliang
Colombia: illustrator Claudia Rueda
Croatia: author Miro Gavran
Denmark: author Louis Jensen; illustrator Lilian Brøgger
Egypt: author Affaf Tobbala
Estonia: author Piret Raud
France: author Timothée de Fombelle; illustrator François Place
Germany: author Mirjam Pressler; illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner
Greece: author Eleni Dikaiou; illustrator Lida Varvarousi
Iran: illustrator Pejman Rahimizadeh
Italy: author Chiara Carminati; illustrator Alessandro Sanna
Japan: author Eiko Kadono; illustrator Ken Katayama
Republic of Korea: illustrator Suzy Lee
Latvia: illustrator Anita Paegle
Mexico: illustrator Gabriel Pacheco
Netherlands: author Ted van Lieshout; illustrator Marit Törnqvist
New Zealand: author Joy Cowley
Norway: author Toråge Bringsværd; illustrator Lisa Aisato
Palestine: author Sonia Nimr
Russia: author Andrey Usachev; illustrator Mikhail Fedorov
Slovakia: author Daniel Hevier; illustrator Peter Uchnár
Slovenia: author Svetlana Makarovič; illustrator Marjan Manček
Spain: author Agustín Fernández Paz; illustrator Miguel Anxo Prado Plana
Sweden: illustrator Eva Lindström
Switzerland: author Franz Hohler; illustrator Etienne Delessert
Turkey: author Gülçin Alpöge; illustrator Ferit Avci
UK: author Elizabeth Laird; illustrator Chris Riddell
USA: author Lois Lowry; illustrator Chris Raschka

Winners will be announced this year on 4 April 2016.