This year’s ALMA recipient announced on 20 March

The recipient or recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature, will be announced on Tuesday 20 March at 1 pm. This year, 184 candidates from 66 countries are nominated.

-It’s fantastic to see the increasing breadth of entries, expanding our knowledge of children’s literature around the world, says Jury Chairman Larry Lempert. The number of candidates is larger than ever, and this naturally makes the jury’s job even harder, but also much more exciting.

This is the tenth year of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

- Over those ten years, the jury has worked hard to choose worthy recipients of the award. We have read, discussed, dissected, argued, informed, visited people and organisations and finally agreed on the nominee whose work or activity is considered by the jury to be of the highest artistic merit. I am extremely proud that the jury has never been predictable or politically correct in its choices, states Larry Lempert.

In line with tradition, the announcement of this year’s recipient or recipients will take place at the cultural centre at Astrid Lindgrens Näs in Vimmerby and will be streamed live to the world’s biggest book fair for young readers in Bologna, Italy. The announcement and the jury’s presentation of the recipient can be followed at www.alma.se/en.

A full list of the nominated candidates is published on the ALMA website. Among the nominees, 38 percent are authors, 21 percent illustrators, 20 percent promoters of reading and organisations and 1 percent oral storytellers. A fifth of the nominees are nominated in more than one category.

The previous recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award are: Shaun Tan (2011), Kitty Crowther (2010), Tamer Institute (2009), Sonya Hartnett (2008), Banco del Libro (2007), Katherine Paterson (2006), Philip Pullman (2005), Ryôji Arai (2005), Lygia Bojunga (2004), Christine Nöstlinger (2003) and Maurice Sendak (2003).

Contact:
Rebecka Svensén
Communication Officer, Vimmerby
rebecka.svensen@alma.se
+46 (0)8-519 264 20

Helene Andersson
Communication Officer, Bologna
helene.andersson@alma.se
+46 (0)8-519 264 17

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