Press Release 9 / 2004-2006

27 March 2006/Jeffrey Garrett

The Hans Christian Andersen Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces that Margaret Mahy (New Zealand) is the winner of the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Wolf Erlbruch (Germany) is the winner of the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration.

The Awards will be presented to the winners at the opening ceremony of IBBY’s Congress in Beijing, China, on 20 September 2006.

In awarding the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Writing to Margaret Mahy, the jury has recognized one of the world’s most original re-inventers of language. Mahy’s language is rich in poetic imagery, magic, and supernatural elements. Her oeuvre provides a vast, numinous, but intensely personal metaphorical arena for the expression and experience of childhood and adolescence. Equally important, however, are her rhymes and poems for children. Mahy’s works are known to children and young adults all over the world.

The 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration recognizes one of the great innovators and experimenters of contemporary children’s book illustration. Wolf Erlbruch masters an array of artistic registers, is as at home citing and combining artistic styles of the 19th and 20th centuries as he is inventing new ways to reach out to children of all ages. Sometimes simple and elemental, at other times dense and intricate, he is always playful, humorous, and philosophical.

Margaret Mahy was selected from 26 authors nominated for the award. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Jon Ewo (Norway), Peter Härtling (Germany), Philip Pullman (United Kingdom), Toon Tellegen (Netherlands), and Eugene Trivizas (Greece). Wolf Erlbruch was selected from 25 illustrators nominated. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Lilian Brøgger (Denmark), Etienne Delessert (Switzerland), Isol Misenta (Argentina), Grégoire Solotareff (France), and Klaas Verplancke (Belgium).

The other author candidates were (by country): Ema Wolf (Argentina), Adelheid Dahiméne (Austria), Pierre Coran (Belgium), Joel Rufino dos Santos (Brazil), Jean Little (Canada), Zhang Zhilu (China), Joza Horvat (Croatia), Josefine Ottesen (Denmark), Hannele Huovi (Finland), Pierre-Marie Beaude (France), Mohammad Hadi Mohammadi (Iran), Angela Nanetti (Italy), Toshiko Kanzawa (Japan), Matilde Rosa Araújo (Portugal), Sergey Kozlov (Russia), Lubomir Feldek (Slovakia), Jordi Sierra i Fabra (Spain), Barbro Lindgren (Sweden), Hanna Johansen (Switzerland), and E. L. Konigsburg (USA).

The other illustrator candidates were (by country): Heide Stöllinger (Austria), Rui de Oliveira (Brazil), Michèle Lemieux (Canada), Tao Wenjie (China), Virpi Talvitie (Finland), Vasso Psaraki (Greece), P.J. Lynch (Ireland), Emanuele Luzzati (Italy), Daihachi Ohta (Japan), Annemarie van Haeringen (Netherlands), Svein Nyhus (Norway), Alain Corbel (Portugal), G.A.V. Traugot (Russia), Martin Kellenberger (Slovakia), Lila Prap (Slovenia), Javier Serrano (Spain), Eva Eriksson (Sweden), David McKee (United Kingdom) and Ashley Bryan (USA).

Jury President Jeff Garrett (USA) chaired the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury during its meetings in Fiesole, Italy, 24-25 March 2006. The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury consisted of the children’s literature specialists Vasja Cerar (Slovenia), Lona Gericke (South Africa), Grazia Gotti (Italy), Maija Korhonen (Finland), Angela Lebedeva (Russia), Bill Nagelkerke (New Zealand), Parnaz Nayeri (Iran), Isabelle Nières-Chevrel, María Cecilia Silva-Diaz (Venezuela) and Junko Yokota (USA). The President of IBBY Peter Schneck (Austria) and IBBY Administrative Director Liz Page (Switzerland) participated in the meeting ex officio.