Presenting the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees 

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. Given every other year by IBBY, the Awards recognize the lifelong achievement and are presented to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children’s literature. Nominations for the Andersen Award are made by the National Sections of IBBY. The Award recipients are selected by a distinguished jury of children’s literature specialists.

This Bookbird issue is a collection of one-page narratives for each nominated author and illustrator, which provides a brief introduction to their life and work. As any reader of this special Bookbird issue can see, the jury has quite a challenging task in front of them. Each and every one of the illustrators and authors nominated for the Award this year has made an invaluable contribution to the world of children’s and young adult literature. As you read about their wonderful contributions, we encourage you to think of ways to make their work even more widely known, translated, shared, and enjoyed across national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. 

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