Shaun Tan wins the 2011 ALMA

More exciting news for the Australian book world and especially Shaun Tan. He has been announced as the winner of this year’s ALMA.

 The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is awarded annually to a single recipient or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and those active in reading promotion may be rewarded. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature, and in children’s rights, globally.

The award, which is the world’s largest children’s literature award, was awarded for the 11th time this year. You can read more about it on their website. Their explanation about why Shaun Tan won the award is here. I  love their introduction

A masterly visual storyteller

Shaun Tan is a masterly visual storyteller, pointing the way ahead to new possibilities for picture books. His pictorial worlds constitute a separate universe where nothing is self-evident and anything is possible. Memories of childhood and adolescence are fixed reference points, but the pictorial narrative is universal and touches everyone, regardless of age

You can watch the broadcast (in English) of the announcement as well as the presentation to Shaun Tan at  (in Swedish with English subtitles). There is also an article in the UK newspaper, The Guardian

Shaun Tan is the second Australian ALMA winner, the first being Sonya Hartnett in 2008.

And the Oscar goes to…The Lost Thing (Shaun Tan)

How wonderful that Shaun Tan has won the Oscar for The Lost Thing (Category: Best Short Animated Film). The award was shared with his British co-director Andrew Ruhemann.

There is an article about the award in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and a video available of the acceptance speech. I liked the part in the speech where Shaun commented on “the irony of being noticed for a film about not being noticed.”

This is one homepage that will need an update  – from Oscar nominee to winner

ABC News also has a piece with other links to earlier interviews on Artworks (Radio National) and ABC’s Articulate sites.

The School Library Journal also published an interesting interview with Shaun about his film last week.

Shaun Tan’s Oscar nomination

Meant to post about this when I read it in Thursday’s Age newspaper. My favourite author/illustrator Shaun Tan has another accolade. This time he has an Oscar nomination.  The nomination is for his short animation for The Lost Thing. I wrote a post back in May last year about the short film. If you haven’t already , have a look  the film’s site. The Australian Newspaper also had a brief comment from Shaun about his nomination

If you are interested in more of the Oscar nominations the SBS site offers a complete list of nominations.

I also collected some other videos in Vodpod with that offers a snippet with Shaun Tan on The Lost Thing film which was narrated by Tim Minchin.

The Lost Thing (Shaun Tan) – a new animation

From a post on one of the sites I regularly follow/visit, Fiction Focus (CMIS), comes this heads up about another Shaun Tan experience.

…the short film (15 minutes) of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing has been completed….it will be screened in competition at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June.

This is more great news from our our multi-award winning author and illustrator.

There was a theatre production (puppets) of The Lost thing in 2004 and this current animation project looks to be just as interesting. There is a great website for The Lost Thing. It contains all sorts of things about the book, the official trailer, a gallery of stills and a very impressive loading graphic   and you can also find teacher’s notes for the work as well

I love the way Shaun Tan encourges/invites all sorts of interaction with his works. The play that was adapted from his book The Arrival was wonderful and he also had a theatrical adaptation of  The Red Tree as well as a musical production with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in July 2008.

He has spoken and written about these collaborative processes in very thoughtful and insightful ways. In Sydney last year Shaun Tan gave the Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture and here is spoke about the using illustration as a narrative device.

Shaun Tan is an amazing illustrator and writer but he is also a very articulate man who is not precious about his writing, in fact he is a very generous storyteller and “ideas” person. I have some young aspiring writers and Shaun Tan is one writer I encourage them to follow.

CBCA 2009 winners

The CBCA 2009 book awards have been announced. I am so pleased about the winner. Anyone who has been reading this blog know my appreciation for the work of Shaun Tan and I loved this one. It had some wonderful short stories written and illustrated by Shaun. My favourite would have to be Alert but not alarmedand the story is about the  storage of ballistic missiles in suburbia. Anthony Eaton’s book has made it to the Inky long list and it is great to see that there is an appreciation of the novel by younger readers as well as adults regarding it highly.

I have also enjoyed a number of the other winners and honour books and so it will be interesting to talk with colleagues to hear about their ideas on the final list.

Older Readers Book of the Year 2009

• Winner: Tan, Shaun Tales from Outer Suburbia                        
• Honour: Eaton, Anthony Into White Silence 
• Honour: French, Jackie A Rose for the Anzac Boys                    

 Younger Readers Book of the Year 2009

• Winner: Millard, Glenda, Illus: King, Stephen Michael, Perry Angel’s Suitcase        
• Honour: Bateson, Catherine The Wish Pony  
• Honour: Gleitzman, Morris Then     (This sequel to Once is a great, if a very sad story. It has been widely read and enjoyed by many of our students and worthy of the honour title)    

 Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2009

• Winner: Hall, Lincoln, Alive in the Death Zone This story about climbing the world’s highest mountain, being left for dead near the summit and then the subsequent return to life and safety, is a story that is incredible and makes for the most exciting adventure.
• Honour: Duborsarky, Ursula Illus: Tohby Riddle , The Word Spy (This has been an interesting book on a number of levels (junior and senior students have been interested n the information within and Tohby Riddle’s illustrations are great. There is also a Word Spy blog you can visit.
• Honour: Greenwood, Mark, Illus: Lessac, Frané , Simpson and his Donkey This story is one that most Australians learn about as children. It is a very poignant account of the famous ANZAC story about Simpson and his donkey told in picture book format and does justice to its subject matter.