The Hans Christian Andersen Award, which is called the Nobel Prize for children’s literature, is the highest international distinction given to the creators of books for young people.
Given biennially by the IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to literature for young people.
Rahimizadeh, whose artwork has embellished “The Lovely Hero of Our Story”, “Mad and the Well”, “Arash”, “Rustam & Esfandiar” and many other bestsellers, was shortlisted for the award in 2016.
Khanian is a researcher and a playwright. Among his credits are “A Half Day in the Interrogation Room” and “Compass”. He is also the author of several stories, including “Money” and “Where Is My Joseph”, which have been translated into English, Russian and Polish.
Khanian and Rahimizadeh were nominated for IBBY’s long list by the Children’s Book Council of Iran, and then they were shortlisted for the honor along with 60 other candidates from 32 countries according to a press release the IBBY published last Wednesday.
Both Rahimizadeh and Khanian have previously been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a prestigious Swedish honor to promote children’s and youths’ literature in the world.
Iranian writer Farhad Hassanzadeh received a nomination for the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
The winners of the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award were Jacqueline Woodson from the U.S. as an author and Albertine from Switzerland as an illustrator.
Each winner receives the Hans Christian Andersen Medaille, a gold medal with the bust of Andersen. Medals are presented at the biennial IBBY congress.
The patron of the Andersen Awards is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and the awards are sponsored by Nami Island Inc.
Source:Tehran Times