Nearly 250 children’s book authors from 64 countries are up for the 2019 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, one of the most prestigious awards for children’s literature worldwide. The candidates were presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 11 by the jury chair Boel Westin.
The three Arabophone authors on the list are: Jordanian-Palestinian author Taghreed Najjar, Lebanese-Belgian author Fatima Sharafeddine, and Palestinian writer Sonia Nimr.
Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, who writes in English, also made the list.
You can find the complete list of authors online, and more about select works by the nominated authors here at ArabKidLitNow!:
Thunderbird, Sonia Nimr
Wonderful Journeys in Amazing Lands, Sonia Nimr
One Day The Sun Will Shine, Taghreed Najjar
Against the Tide, Taghreed Najjar
A sample of Fatima Sharafeddine’s latest YA novel, Cappuccino, is available upon request. Her first YA novel, Faten, was translated by the author as The Servant and published by Groundwood. Ghady & Rawan, co-written with Samar Mahfouz Barraj, is forthcoming in translation from University of Texas Press next year, co-translated by ArabKidLitNow! members M Lynx Qualey (the Ghady sections) and Sawad Hussain (the Rawan sections).
The 2019 ALMA laureate will be announced on April 2, 2019.
ArabKidLitNow! 