Four authors and Portuguese association candidates for literary prize
Bernardo Carvalho and the cultural association Andante are nominated for the Swedish literary prize Astrid Lindgren, today announced at the Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is considered to be one of the most prestigious international prizes dedicated to literature and the promotion of reading, with a monetary prize of five million Swedish crowns (about 480 thousand euros).
For the 2019 edition, among the 246 candidates from 64 countries are nominated five candidates from Portugal, the appointment being a debut for the author and illustrator Catarina Sobral.
For the rest, it represents a new nomination to the prize, although the illustrator and author Bernardo Carvalho was previously a candidate as co-founder of the editorial project Planeta Tangerina.
Each year, the jury selects dozens of candidates in the area of writing and illustration for children and young people, but also structures and organizations, such as non-governmental associations, publishers or libraries, that focus on promoting reading among the young.
Alongside the five Portuguese candidates are Brazilian writer Ana Maria Machado, Brazilian illustrator Roger Mello and several authors with work published in Portugal, such as Oliver Jeffers (UK), Marjane Satrapi (France), Jimmy Liao (Taiwan) Janosch (Germany) and Jon Klassen (Canada).
This year the prize was awarded to the American writer Jacqueline Woodson.
The winner of the ALMA 2019 prize will be announced on April 2.
The prize, created by the Swedish government in honor of the writer Astrid Lindgren, was awarded for the first time in 2003 to the North American author Maurice Sendak.
