HCAA 2018 shortlists Iranian writer Farhad Hassanzadeh

The 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award has shortlisted Iranian writer Farhad Hassanzadeh.

The shortlists for the best authors and illustrators of children’s books were published by International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) on January 17, 2018.

The shortlist for the best author of children’s books includes Iranian writer Farhad Hassanzadeh, Marie-Aude Murail from France, Eiko Kadono from Japan, Joy Cowley from New Zealand, and Ulf Stark from Sweden.

Hassanzadeh has had an influential presence in children’s and young adult literature in Iran in the past quarter century. Through his novels, stories, rewritings of old tales, poems, biographies, and journalistic essays, he has been able to encourage a broad spectrum of audiences in various age groups to read literary works.

He was born in 1962 in Abadan, a town in the south of Iran by the side of the Arvand River on the Iran-Iraq border. After leaving Abadan and going through many jobs, he was finally able to engage in his chosen career of creative writing.

His diverse experiences have enabled him to create a broad spectrum of characters, circumstances and locations and he writes for various age groups.

He has written about the effects of war on civilians, migration and vagrancy, teenage love, children in shantytowns, teenagers’ special worlds, marginalized or fringe characters, social taboos, as well as different geographical regions and areas.

The strength of his fiction is not limited to his courage in bringing up fresh topics, especially in young adult novels. The form and expressive style he uses in his works are also creative and make them interesting to read.

Hassanzadeh has succeeded in creating over eighty works and won more than thirty national awards. His best known works include the short story collection ‘The Seventh Bench on the Lake’, the young adult novels ‘The Moon’s Guest, ‘Bambak’s Scorpions’, ‘Hasti’, and the children’s book ‘Kooti Kooti Tales’.

His stories have been adapted into films and plays. He received the Art Medal of the First Degree from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for creating lasting characters in children’s and young adult literature.

Pablo Bernasconi from Argentina, Linda Wolfsgruber from Austria, Xiong Liang from China, Iwona Chmielewska from Poland, Igor Oleynikov from Russia, and Albertine from Switzerland are the nominees for best illustrator of children’s books.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books.  Given every other year by 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, lasting contribution to children's literature.

The 2018 Jury, selected by IBBY's Executive Committee from nominations made by its national sections, comprises the following ten distinguished members from across the globe.  Jury President Patricia Aldana from Canada leads the Jury to select the winners of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen awards.

Former IBBY Vice President Elda Nogueira from Brazil and IBBY Executive Director Liz Page are ex officio Jury members.

The Jury President guides the judging process and presides at the jury meeting January 2018.

This year, in light of the Jury’s desire to help build bridges of understanding and to expand access to the very best books they chose to create a list of fifteen outstanding books, some from the short-listed authors, some from other nominees, that they felt were important enough to merit translation everywhere so that children around the world could read them.

The two winners will be announced at the IBBY Press Conference at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair on March 26, 2018, at the Illustrators' Cafè. The medals and diplomas will be presented to the winners during the 36th IBBY Congress in Athens, Greece on Saturday, 30 August 2018.

MG/MMF