Her books are drastic, full of strong feelings: About Laurie Halse Anderson, who was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Prize.
Laurie Halse Anderson had the laughs on her side last Tuesday. On the occasion of the announcement of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize, ALMA for short, at the international children’s book fair in Bologna, the newly crowned winner asked: “Are you sure?” She had just found out that she had been chosen from among the 251 nominated personalities and organizations from 64 countries. Endowed with around 450,000 euros, the ALMA is one of the most important international prizes that children’s and young adult literature has to award – and yes, the jury was certain: it honors the author, who was born in New York State in 1961, because she with her books follow and live up to what Astrid Lindgren has always demanded, proven with her work and summed up in a single sentence: “Children have a right to great stories.”
