Bookbird 3 / 2026
Bookbird Vol. 64, No.3, 2026. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN WINNERS AND FINALISTS.
The biennial issue of Bookbird containing articles on the two winners of the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Medal, Michael Rosen and Cai Gao, and on the ten finalists is always a landmark event in the world of IBBY and Bookbird. The issue reflects the breadth and diversity of children’s literature internationally and the 2026 Andersen Winners and Finalists issue is no exception. The winning author and illustrator, Michael Rosen and Cao Gai, represent Britain and China and the finalists come from Iran, France, Chile, the USA, and Korea (authors), Finland, Argentina, Latvia, Egypt, and Italy (illustrators). The themes and topics addressed by these creators varies widely, but each, first and foremost, has an outstanding commitment to their young readers, while also drawing in adults. The words of Cai Gao sum up the ability of her books to ‘invite readers to discover the beauty and value of life itself.’ These are sentiments which apply to the words and images in the works of all the 2026 winners and finalists, concurring with Michael Rosen’s trust in his audience to understand difficult subjects and ‘engage, interpret, and respond in their own ways’ highlighted in the article about his many poems and stories.
Cai Gao has provided the beautiful cover for this issue and books by some of the Andersen finalists and winners feature in Bookbird’s ’postcard’ recommendations studded throughout this issue.
Another Bookbird regular, Books on Books, draws attention to recently published commentaries on children’s literature globally, underlining just what an amazing spread of creativity from so many different lands and cultures comprise international children’s literature.
So much to read in this wonderful issue celebrating books for young readers and their creators from many parts of the world!
| |
Hans Christian Andersen Winners and Finalists | by Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang | I |
| |
Michael Rosen: A Critical Appreciation | by Kimberley Reynolds | 2 |
Michael Rosen at Eighty | by Charlotte Hacking | 5 |
| |
Cai Gao’s Picturebook Art: About Life, Innocence, and Tradition | by Fuling Deng | 9 |
“Tradition Is Fertile Soil, Not a Cage”: An Interview with Cai Gao | by Mingzhou Zhang | 14 |
| |
Autobiography or the Work of Memory? Traces of “Childness” in Ahmad Akbarpour’s Fiction. | by Bahar Eshraq | 17 |
Timothée de Fombelle: Popular Writer with Literary Bell | by Cécile Boulaire | 21 |
María Wernicke: “I Read Those Who Ignore Me and Those Who Take Me into Account” | by Agustina Palenque | 25 |
On Rosehips, Harmonicas, and Threads of Yarn: Time Binds and Unravelings in the Work of Pam Muñoz Ryan | by Angel Daniel Matos | 29 |
Beautifully Broken: Lee Geum-yi’s Imperfect World | by Kim Hyo-jung | 34 |
|
|
When Colorism and Collage Marry Materiality and Naivety: Picturebook Auteur Linda Bondestam Revitalizes Nordic Picturebook Art | by Mia Österlund and Maria Lassén-Seger | 38 |
María José Ferrada and the Essence of Things | by Andrea Casals-Hill | 44 |
Between Text and Imagination: The Creative World of Gundega Muzikante | by Aiga Dzalbe |
Walid Taher: The Wandering Artist | by Yasmine Motawy | 53 |
The Materiality of Childhoods in Beatrice Alemagna’s Picturebooks | by Chiara Malpezzi | 58 |
|
|
Welcoming the First Book: A Quiet Revolution in Nagekeo | by Sofie Dewayani | 62 |
Designing the Bite: Process Notes on Materiality, Typography, and Collective Reading in Lobo Mau com Dor de Dente | by Daniel Kondo | 66 |
| edited by Jutta Reusch—International Youth Library | 70 |
|
|
