BfK News: May 2013
Isol wins 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Argentine illustrator, Isol has been awarded children’s literature’s biggest prize, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, worth £500,000.
Isol was born Marisol Misenta in Buenos Aires in 1972. She began her artistic education at the Escuela Nacional de Belles Artes, studying to be an art teacher, then spent a couple of years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.
The jury’s citation for the Award said, ‘Isol creates picturebooks from the eye level of the child. Her pictures vibrate with energy and explosive emotions. With a restrained palette and ever-innovative pictorial solutions, she shifts ingrained perspectives and pushes the boundaries of the picturebook medium. Taking children’s clear view of the world as her starting point, she addresses their questions with forceful artistic expression and offers open answers. With liberating humour and levity, she also deals with the darker aspects of existence.’
Isol is the author and illustrator of about 10 published titles and has illustrated a similar number of published works by other authors. She made her debut in 1997 with Vida de perros, the story of a little boy who sees clear similarities between himself and his dog. She has been published in some 20 countries, and books available in English include It’s Useful to Have a Duck, Petit the Monster and Beautiful Griselda all published by Canadian company Groundwood Books)
Little Rebels Children’s Book Award
Sarah Garland has won the inaugural Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Azzi in Between, which tells the story of a family forced to flee their homeland and settle in a strange and unfamiliar country. The book is based on the author’s own experience of working among refugee families and is endorsed by Amnesty International. Fen Coles, director of Letterbox Library who administered the award, said, ‘At a time when there are so many damaging myths circulating about refugees and asylum seekers, it is heartening to see a book which tells the truth – and in a way which children understand’.
Garland was presented with her award at the first London Radical Bookfair, convened by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB). She received a cheque as well as a framed picture by Guardian cartoonist Ros Asquith.
The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award (www.littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com) is a new award and recognises children’s fiction for readers aged 0-12 which promotes social justice. It is the brainchild of Nik Gorecki, Housmans Bookshop.
Branford Boase Award Shortlist
The shortlist for the 2013 Branford Boase Award has been announced. The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.
Competition was particularly fierce this year, with over 60 books submitted for the award. A longlist of twenty-five has been whittled down to just seven books, described as ‘really interesting’ by chair of the judges, Julia Eccleshare.
The seven shortlisted books are:
After the Snow by S D Crockett, edited by Emma Young (Macmillan)
The Things We Did for Love by Natasha Farrant, edited by Julia Heydon-Wells (Faber)
Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan, edited by Mara Bergman (Walker)
A Hen in the Wardrobe by Wendy Meddour, edited by Janetta Otter-Barry (Frances Lincoln)
Black Arts by Andrew Prentice & Jonathan Weil, edited by Simon Mason (David Fickling Books)
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton, edited by David Fickling (David Fickling Books)
A World Between Us by Lydia Syson, edited by Sarah Odedina (Hot Key)
The 2013 CLPE Poetry Award
The 2013 CLPE Poetry Award has been won by George Szirtes for In the Land of the Giants, illustrated by Helen Szirtes (Salt Publishing). Szirtes was presented with the award by Rachel Rooney, the 2012 winner, at a ceremony at CLPE. Established in 2003, the annual Poetry Award encourages and celebrates outstanding new children’s poetry. Judge Fiona Waters, describing In the Land of the Giants, said, ‘This is what real poetry for children is all about – challenging, mysterious, lyrical, profoundly thought provoking and with absolutely no cheap easy laughs, no snot, no bums, nothing remotely patronising. Children will come back to this book time and time again, and the images will haunt their dreams.’
