Acceptance speech

Her Royal Highness,
Mr Prime Minister,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I do not need to tell you that I am extremely happy to have received the most wonderful and prestigious award that has ever been dedicated to literature for children and young adults from your country.

While I do not consider myself being very modest, I have to admit that I did not even dare to hope to ever get this price, in particular as the very first one. After all, there are so many authors writing decent books for children in today’s world.

So let me thank you for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in the name of all these authors, as Sweden is obviously the only country on earth acknowledging the importance of children’s literature in our society.

I do hope that the sensation created by this award will lead to re-thinking children’s literature elsewhere: it should not be taken any longer for the immature younger sister of the serious art of literature for ”grown-ups”. Let me conclude by saying that I hope that Astrid Lindgren herself would have agreed on the jury’s decision. Because of her commitment to children, this price means very much to me. Thank you!