A young man in an empty theatre room, carrying a wrapped present.

Award ceremony 2021

Laureates Jean-Claude Mourlevat and Baek Heena accepted the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award at our digital award ceremony on May 31 .

About the award

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Laureate 2021

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We are pleased to welcome writer and librarian Balsam Karam and professor Katarina Eriksson Barajas to our jury. Their terms will begin on July 1.

BCBF: Meet Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Get closer to this year's laureate Jean-Claude Mourlevat! Hear him on June 15, during the Bologna Children's Book Fair, in a conversation with our jury chair Boel Westin.

Custom-designed contemporary circus

This spring, students from the Cirkus Cirkör Upper Secondary School and the Designgymnasiet in Sickla worked with the picture book The Arrival, by the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Laureate Shaun Tan. See the result on June 8, in a 30-minute contemporary circus at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern.

A prize for the prize!

We are proud to share that our visual identity has won first place in Swedish Resumé Design Award. Earlier this spring, we launched the identity which was undertaken in collaboration with the branding agency Happy F&B.

Get to know this year's laureate

Listen to an introduction to the French author Jean-Claude Mourlevat. Jury member Lena Kåreland in a conversation with cultural writer Johanna Lundin. In Swedish.

See the presentation

En person med en tygkasse där det står "Litteralund"

Meet Baek Heena and Bart Moeyaert

On May 19, two of our laureates took part in Litteralund, a digital conference packed with inspirational talks within the field of children's literature. Our jury member Mårten Sandén also gave an introduction to this year's laureate.

See the program

Young people show a passion for writing

Our writing contest Young Writers for Young Readers elicited more than 250 submissions from across Sweden, all written by young people between the ages of 10 and 18. The contest is organized in cooperation with Tensta Konsthall, aiming to inspire children to spend more time writing and putting their emotions into words.

Meet the winners of Young Writers for Young Readers

Everything great that ever happened in this world happened first in somebody’s imagination. Children create miracles when they read.

- From Astrid Lindgren's speech at the reception of the H C Andersen Award in April 1958

Interview with outgoing jury member Maria Lassén-Seger

The 2021 award announcement was the last for Maria Lassén-Seger. After twelve years on the jury, she is stepping down. We asked Maria to share some memories from her jury work. She picked out some favorite books by our laureates, too!

Read the intervju with Maria Lassén-Seger

En keybord och en mikrofon på en scen, i bakgrunden ett hjärta

Award Ceremony 2021

Because of Covid-19, last Spring we had to postpone the award ceremony in Stockholm. Now we look forward to a double and digital ceremony on 31 May 2021 where we will honor the 2020 laureate Baek Heena and the upcoming new laureate.

ALMA collaborates with Historieberättarna

The film and storytelling project Jag har tips på en bok (“I know a great book”) will engage young readers in interpreting books by ALMA laureates such as Jacqueline Woodson, Shaun Tan, Isol and Lygia Bojunga.