Author Meg Rosoff is coming to Sweden to receive the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). The Award Week begins May 23 and ends with the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on May 30.
“That´s amazing, I have to sit down, I can´t believe that” was Rosoff’s reaction when Jury Chairman Boel Westin informed the American writer living in London that she is the laureate of the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature.
The program for the award week includes meetings with press and media, meetings with children and young adults and a visit to Astrid Lindgren’s childhood home Näs in Vimmerby. On May 25, Meg Rosoff meets the public in a conversation with ALMA jury member Maria Lassén-Seger at Kulturhuset in Stockholm. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
The preceding week Meg Rosoff will do a flying visit to Stockholm to participate in the talk show Babel on Swedish National Television.
The award week ends with the award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall lead by writer, artist and City Librarian Katti Hoflin:
– The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is the largest award for children’s and young adult literature. to be the compere of the tribute for this year´s laureate Meg Rosoff is an honour and a joy for an old warrior for children’s and young adult culture like me.
This year’s award is presented by Swedish Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature.
The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.