Australian author-illustrator Shaun Tan has won the prestigious international children's literature prize, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This success comes hot on the heels of his recent win at the Oscars, where he won Best Animated Short Film for The Lost Thing. The Guardian has a fuller report here.
Tan's works are splendid and unique works of art that defy easy categorisation. The Sylvia Ashton-Warner Library holds all his major titles. These are held in our Sophisticated Picture Books collection, as we often recommend them for sharing with older children and young adults, with themes such as alienation and environmental issues. Some are completely his own work, and some are earlier works which he illustrated for esteemed authors Gary Crew (Memorial) and John Marsden (The Rabbits) . His wordless illustrative masterpiece The Arrival has been adapted for theatre with great success.
Tan is one of the authors we will be discussing during our new lunchtime series of monthly book talks, Book Yak, which will be announced in more detail in a separate posting. Book Yak is a chance to discover what exciting children's and young adult books are available from the Library, in an informal half-hour session open to anyone who is interested.
The first gathering, which will focus on sophisticated picture books, is on Wednesday 13 April, 12 noon, Sylvia Ashton-Warner Library Seminar Room. Feel free to join us.