One of my highlights from the 2010 Bologna Book Fair was attending the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award announcement and seeing the winner, Kitty Crowther, who unbeknownst to us had been sitting next to us,  accept the award. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is announced  every year in March and then in  late spring, the ALMA winner visits Sweden and Europe to partake in Award Week: A Spotlight on Children’s Literature. This year Award Week will take place from May 23rd to June 1st and highlights will include:

May 25 ~ Meet Kitty Crowther, House of Culture, Stockholm, Sweden

“If I had to choose one word to describe myself, it would be storyteller,” says Kitty Crowther. Listen to her presentation of her work and her inspiration. Kitty will be joined on stage by  illustration expert Ulla Rhedin and Johanna Lindbäck, one of Sweden’s top literature bloggers, for a program that will showcase Kitty’s work and contextualise her inspiration and development as an artist.

May 26 ~ Presentation at the International Youth Library, Münich, Germany

After a welcome speech by head librarian Dr. Christiane Raabe, German illustrator Judith Drews will give a lecture on the work and importance of Kitty Crowther. Kitty will also present her work.

May 28 ~  Astrid Lindgren Conference, Vimmerby, Sweden

The bi-annual Astrid Lindgren conference in Astrid Lindgren’s childhood town, Vimmerby, gathers academics and scholars to discuss children’s literature and its development. Kitty Crowther will give the key-note address.

June 1 – Awards Ceremony, Stockholm Concert Hall, Stockholm, Sweden

This  evening celebrates Kitty Crowther and her world of images  and also spotlights the importance of children’s literature. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will be presented to Kitty Crowther in front of  1,000 invited guests. Kitty will receive the award amount of 5 million SEK (which makes the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award the world’s largest children literature award) as well as an original work by Swedish illustrator Eva Lindström.  The award will be  presented by H.R.H. Princess Madeleine of Sweden.

For more information on the ALMA Award Week check out the ALMA blog.

Following on from Monday’s post, here are some of our highlights from Day 2 of the Bologna Book Fair.

We started out with a children’s theatre production inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and performed by students from Bratislava’s Academy of Fine Arts – great fun!

The JES: Join – Enjoy – Share session for the International Meeting of Children’s Librarians. They had two very interesting speakers lined up: Ruba Totah from the Tamer Institute in Ramallah, Palestine, which won the 2009 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, talking about their many projects, linking to community and school libraries;

and famous Brazilian author Ana Maria Machado, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2000, who gave a very thought-provoking paper about the lamentably small number of foreign-language books translated into English…

“African Books for Children”, a roundtable session chaired by Viviana Quiñones of the French Centre national de la littérature pour la jeunesse – La Joie par les livres with Phocas Ekouedjin of Afrilivres (Association of African Francophone Publishers) and Tainie Mundondo of Apnet (African Publishers Network), as well as publishers from Benin, Senegal, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mauritius and Rwanda. They discussed the publishing and distribution of African children’s books and profiled recent children’s books published in Africa.

A presentation of the 20-year-old journal Takam Tikou in its new online format. Takam Tikou, published by the Centre national de la littérature pour la jeunesse – La Joie par les livres, focuses on children’s books and reading in Africa, the Arab world, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. If you read French, there is a fabulous wealth of material and resources available – definitely well worth exploring.

The announcement of the Astrid Lingren Award – see Corinne’s post. It was very exciting and we really felt we had a stake in it this year, with PaperTigers being a nominating body. The visual presentation of winner Kitty Crowther’s books made me want to read all of them – and also ask myself why I’d never come across her work – well, it turns out only one of her books has been translated into English. What was it that Ana Maria Machado was saying earlier that morning?

Seeing a proof of Allen Say’s new book, The Boy in the Garden - it’s going to be another gorgeous book. Thank you for showing it to us, Christine!

And you can see more photos from Day 2 here…

Announced today in Sweden and broadcast live at the Bologna Book Fair,  Kitty Crowther is the recipient of the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial award. Click here to read the press release and click here to see our photos from the announcement. PaperTigers was a nominating body for this year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial award, the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature, so we were definitely looking forward to the award announcement. We got to the seating area early and it turned out that we were sitting right next to Kitty!  It was most exciting to see her reaction when her name was announced. Definitely one of our highlights from the Fair!

(Click on event name for more information)

Bath Literature Festival~ ongoing until Mar 7, Bath, United Kingdom

Exhibition of Joy Mallari’s Artwork From the Book Doll Eyes~ ongoing until Mar 9, Makati City, Philippines

Entries Accepted for the Growing Up Asian in America Contest~ ongoing until Mar 10, San Francisco, CA, USA

The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ ongoing until  Mar 14, Ashburton, New Zealand

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, Chicago, IL, USA

New York Public Library Exhibit: 2010 Caldecott Winner Jerry Pinkney’s African-American Journey to Freedom~ ongoing until Apr 18, New York City, NY, USA

Read Across America Day~ Mar 2, USA

Papirolas Festival for Children and Youth~ Mar 2 – 7, Guadalajara, Mexico

20th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair~ Mar 2 – 7, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

World Book Day~ Mar 4, United Kingdom and Ireland

New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards Finalists Announced and On-Line Voting Begins~ Mar 4, New Zealand

Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature Conference Mar 5 – 6, Dublin, Ireland

The Environmental Imagination and Children’s Literature~ Mar 5 – 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

Shanghai Literary Festival~Mar 5 – 21, Shanghai, China

Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference~ Mar 6, Bellingham, WA, USA

Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices Day and Charlotte Zolotow Award Presentation~ Mar 6, Madison, WI, USA

SCBWI Conference: Creating Diversity in Children’s Literature~ Mar 6, Frederick, MD, USA

SCBWI Writers’ Day with Holly Thompson (Includes a session entitled “Plotting Across Cultures: A Workshop on Writing Intercultural Fiction”)~ Mar 6 – 7, Hong Kong

YALSA’s Teen Tech Week~ Mar 7 – 13, USA

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy~ Mar 8 – 14

SCBWI Presents From Literature to Theatre~ Mar 9, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Writing Across Cultures~ Mar 9 – 10, Hong Kong

13th Time of the Writer International Writers Festival~ Mar 9 – 13, Durban, South Africa

New Zealand Post Writers & Readers Week~ Mar 9 – 14, New Zealand

IBBY Ireland Celebrates Hans Christian Andersen~ Mar 10, Dublin, Ireland

California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) Annual Conference~ Mar 10 – 13, San Jose, CA, USA

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature~ Mar 10 – 13, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Arabian Reading Association (TARA) and the Teachers of Young Children (TOYC) 2010 Conference~ Mar 11, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 11 – 14, Hong Kong

The 14th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 12 – 13, Redlands, CA, USA

My Biggest Writing/Illustrating Challenge and How I Solved It with Panelists Elise Broach, Lita Judge, Grace Lin, Sara Pennypacker~ Mar 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009~ Mar 13 and 20, Singapore

Tucson Festival of Books~ Mar 13 – 14, Tucson, AZ, USA

Children’s Book Week~ Mar 13 – 28, Belgium

42nd Annual Children’s Literature Festival For Children in Grades 4-10~ Mar 14 – 16, Warrensburg, MO, USA

Somerset Celebration of Literature: Reading Locally, Learning Globally – Creating a Universal Experience~ Mar 15 – 19, Mudgeeraba, Australia

Into the Wood: Antonio Frasconi’s Art for Children~ Mar 16 – Jun 13, Amherst, MA, USA

All Saints’ College 9th Festival of Children’s and Young Adult Literature~ Mar 17 – 19,Bull Creek, Australia

40th Annual Conference on Children’s Literature~ Mar 19 – 20, Athens, GA, USA

Multicultural Literature Advocacy Group Presents Books By the Bay 2010 Annual Multicultural Literary Conference~ Mar 19 – 21, Mobile, AL, USA

World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20

Stories Day and Night: A Celebration of Storytelling~ Mar 20, Singapore

Music for Literacy~ Mar 20, Stafford, TX, USA

The Norman Lindsay Festival of Children’s Literature~ Mar 20 – 21, Faulconbridge, Australia

Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia

World Poetry Day~ Mar 21

Exhibit of Sally Rippin’s Illustrations for Peeking Ducks~Mar 22 – Apr 11, Melbourne, Australia

Hans Christian Andersen Award Winners Announced~ Mar 23, Bologna, Italy

Once Upon a Time . . . Children’s Book Illustrators, Then and Now~ Mar 23 – May 27, Oakland, CA, USA

Public Library Association’s National Conference~ Mar 23 – 27, Portland, OR, USA

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winners Announced~ Mar 24, Vimmerby, Sweden

Salon du livre de Paris~ Mar 26 – 31, Porte de Versailles, France

38th National Book Fair & 8th Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 26 – Apr 6, Bangkok, Thailand

Discovering Buried Fairy Tales: Adventures of a Scholarly Scavenger~ Mar 27, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Margaret Mahy Day~ Mar 27, New Zealand

The Piece by Piece Storytelling Mash-Up~ Mar 28, Toronto, ON, Canada

Today the organizers of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, given annually to books and works that reflect the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, have announced the 168 candidates nominated for the 2010 award (to download the nomination list as a pdf, click here).

The list of writers, illustrators, oral storytellers and literacy-related organizations, working in various literary traditions and languages, represents more than 60 countries and is a treasure trove of talent and commitment to books and reading.

In addition to author Allen Say and author/promoter of literacy Greg Mortenson, proudly nominated by us, the list includes, among many others, New Zealander author Margaret Mahy; Australian Hazel Edwards; South African Niki Daly; Mongolian writer/poet/promoter of reading Dashdondog Jamba and Filipino illustrator Albert Gamos. And for organizations promoting reading and literacy, it lists IBBY International; Room to Read, in the U.S.; Filipino publishing house Adarna; La Fundación Riecken from Guatemala, and many more.

Considering all these strong candidates, it looks like the jury members have their work cut out for them. Their decision will be a hard one to reach—but reach it they will (and expertly so)! The winner or winners will be announced in Vimmerby, Sweden (the birthplace of Astrid Lindgren) on March 24, 2010, and the announcement will be broadcast live to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, in Italy (which next year will take place March 23-25).