Author-illustrator Baek Heena
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| Fairy Godmother, by Baek Heena |
| Cloud Bread, by Baek Heena |
During the prize presentation, Swedish minister for culture and democracy Amanda Lind spoke of the award’s special importance at this moment in history, when children and families across the world are staying at home. “Reading is a way of reducing distances and crossing borders,” she said. Lind also explained that the idea for Lindgren’s most famous book, Pippi Longstocking, was sparked when her daughter was sick with pneumonia and asked to hear a story about a girl of that name.
Reading the award citation, jury member Elina Druker said, “With exquisite feeling for materials, looks and gestures, Baek Heena’s filmic picture books stage stories about solitude and solidarity. In her evocative miniature worlds, cloud bread and sorbet moons, animals, bath fairies and people converge. Her work is a doorway to the marvelous: sensuous, dizzying, and
sharp.”
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