Ahmadi short-listed for 2010 Little Nobel Prize

Iranian writer of children's stories Ahmad-Reza Ahmadi has been short-listed for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

The Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the 2010 shortlist including five authors and five illustrators.

The jury selected the prominent poet and screenwriter for his “fascinating short stories”, which “speak poetically about humanity, love, nature and peace for children and young adults.”

Ahmadi will compete with David Almond (UK), Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros (Brazil), Lennart Hellsing (Sweden) and Louis Jensen (Denmark).

Known for his new wave poems, Ahmadi has deeply influenced the pioneers of modern Persian poetry such as Ahmad Shamlou and Forough Farrokhzad.

The Design, The Glass Newspaper, Daily Prose, Rhymes were Lost in the Wind and All Those Years are among his better-known works.

The 2010 short-listed illustrators are Jutta Bauer (Germany), Carll Cneut (Belgium), Etienne Delessert (Switzerland), Svjetlan Junakovic (Croatia) and Roger Mello (Brazil).

The jury was led by Zohreh Ghaeni from Iran, who was joined by Ernest Bond (US), Karen Coeman (Mexico), Nadia El Kholy (Egypt), Maria Jesus Gil (Spain), Jan Hansson (Sweden), Annemie Leysen (Belgium), Darja Mezi-Leskovar (Slovenia), Alicia Salvi (Argentina), Helene Schar (Switzerland) and Regina Zilberman (Brazil).

The winners will be announced on March 23rd at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Also known as the 'Little Nobel Prize', the Hans Christian Andersen Award is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to authors and illustrators, who have contributed to children's literature.

The only Iranian to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award was the renowned illustrator Farshid Mesqali who won the award in 1974 for his contribution to children's books illustration.

Winners of the 2008 Little Nobel Prize were Italian illustrator Roberto Innocenti and Swiss writer Jurg Schubiger.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121051§ionid=351020105.