2014 HCA Award Winner for Illustration – Part 6/6:

Roger Mello is the recipient of the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, for his complete work in children’s literature (more than 100 titles, 20 of which he wrote himself!). And he also writes plays. GO, Roger!

The jury said his “illustrations provide avenues to explore the history and culture of Brazil. He does not underestimate a child’s ability to recognize and decode cultural phenomena and images. His illustrations allow children to be guided through stories by their imagination.” According to Project Muse, ‘All his books deal with the concept of time passing and bringing with it transformation. The stories he creates are always found between the images and text, uniting the two through a continuous dialogue. Yet, despite this continuity, there is no set pattern to his work; he does not allow the reader to form expectations, as he continually plays with color, proportions, and perspective. Mello likes to experiment with different painting modes and media. His influences are innumerable, and he draws on the human creativity found in the world all around him, which allows him to look at the world with the pleasure and amazement of a child and the rich experience of an adults.’

Unfortunately, I could not find a single title of his through my library system, which I hope to remedy – SOON! Read a great post on Mello’s win at Literary Vittles – HERE ; excerpts from an interview in this article on Writing and Wandering – HERE

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is given biennially, and this year’s  winners (yep, there is one for authors too!) will receive their awards at the 34th IBBY Congress, to be held on September 10th, in Mexico City. The five finalists in alphabetical order: Rotraut Susanne Berner, Germany; John Burningham, UK; Eva Lindström, Sweden; François Place, France; Øyvind Torseter, Norway. Click on any of their names to read their post in this series.