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.

2014 HCA Award for Illustration – Part 5/6: Øyvind Torseter

Read the posts on more nominees 1here, 2here, 3here, and 4here (winner post to follow soon).

Øyvind Torseter, is an artist, illustrator, comic book artist and author, who lives and works in Norway (Listen to the pronunciation of his name via google here). He debuted as a children’s book illustrator in 1999, and his first as author/illustrator was Mister Random in 2002, the release of which led to an intense discussion surrounding intended audience (can’t find any articles, but would be interested if anyone else does!).

From the IBBY site: “The pictures in his books normally appear as illustrations to the text, often authored by himself, but he also plays and experiments with perspective, cut-out drawings and other effects, before photographing it all and editing it with computer-assisted graphics tools. His comic books are influenced by Surrealism and some other works show traces, hints and tributes to art, literature, film noir from the 1950s and other expressions. Torseter has also decorated several public buildings, and his art can thus be found in many places in Norway.”

I am particularly fond of the effects he creates with 3-dimensional paper techniques in some of his picture books, but to get a quick feel for the scope of his art, google images  – WOW!

I recommended My Father’s Arms are a Boat, written by Stein Erik Lunde , illustrated by Torseter for Perfect Picture Book Friday – HERE

Øyvind Torseter, Sudden Mythology. Photo by Børre Høstland, Nasjonalmuseet

Read Maria Popova’s post (Brian Pickings) on The Hole – HERE 

2014 HCA Award for Illustration – Part 4/6: François Place

Next on the short list for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration is François Place (click on his name to go to his website). He debuted in 1993 as an author-illustrator with Les derniers géants (English trans., The Last Giants), an early 18thcentury story of an expedition in an unknown territory inhabited by fascinating giants.

He has become known for his incorporation of maps, and is best known for his epic L’atlas des géographes d’Orbae (The Orbae Geographers’ Atlas). In three volumes he created a world, Orbae. For each, he wrote a tale exposing the traditions of the place, and illustrated some of the fauna, flora and folkloric costumes.

In an interview (here), Place said he is careful about using the word artist to describe himself, “I see myself rather as a storyteller, through text and image.” Amazing artwork, none the less!

Check out his page of books on his agency’s site HERE

Part 1 – Rotraut Susanne Berner

Part 2 – John Burningham

Part 3 – Eva Lindström

2014 HCA Award for Illustration – Part 3/6: Eva Lindström

May I introduce Swedish author/illustrator Eva Lindström, third on the IBBY short list – Part 1 HERE, Part 2 HERE.

“The way I see it, if my story’s going to be the way I want it, I have to be my own target audience. I’m afraid that what I want to say will get diluted if I start thinking about the way anyone else, adult or child, might conceivably want to read my book” – Eva Lindström

Eva Lindström has illustrated for many other Swedish authors for decades, but writes and illustrates her own, and debuted in 1988 with Katmössan – The Cat’s Hat. Her books often deal with heavier subject matter, and she is well known for her expressive use of color.

Eva Lindström, From the book ‘Jag rymmer’, 2006

Olli and Mo, 2012

Lucky you if you understand Swedish – here is a video interview (1hour?, with plenty of her art depicted), the description of which I give you from GoogleTranslate in undiluted form: ‘On November 19 2013 she talked about its authorship and artistry with Asa Warnqvist, Sbi. The program is part of Swedish children’s institution series with author and illustrator encounters.’ Gotta love them for trying!

 

Interesting tidbit: back in art school, Eva Lindström was a member of an activist group, ‘Svarta hämnarna (The Black Avengers), which made political statements through poster art.

 

2014 HCA Award for Illustration – Part 2/6

Missed Part 1 with Rotraut Susanne Berner? Click HERE. You caught it? Good! On to the next on the shortlist: John Burningham

In 1964, my birth year, he made some smart moves: to marry Helen Oxenbury (another brilliant kid-lit author illustrator), AND to illustrate Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (published in 3 volumes in ’64-65) which surely launched the book’s international success and his own. My proof? At least 60 more books and multiple awards. Told ya.

I haven’t read enough to proclaim a favorite, but one I feel particularly drawn to is Come Away from the Water, Shirley, about Shirley and her parents who take a trip to the beach. Her parents settle in their beach chairs with knitting and newspapers, while Shirley is off fighting pirates and retrieving treasure. I adore the contrast!

Another I have had to read to my kids over and over, and gladly, is Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, which won Burningham his second Greenaway Medal in 1970.

Publisher: Jonathon Cope, 1970
Ages: 4 and up
Themes: boats, boating, animals
Opening: This is Mr. Gumpy. Mr. Gumpy owned a boat and his house was by a river.One day Mr. Gumpy went out in his boat. “May we come with you?” said the children. “Yes,” said Mr. Gumpy, “if you don’t squabble.”
Summary: (from B&N) One sunny day Mr. Gumpy decides to take a ride in his small boat. It’s a perfect idea for a lovely summer day, and soon he is joined by children, a rabbit, a cat, a pig, and a host of other friends. But when the goat kicks, the chickens flap, the dog teases the cat and the children squabble — the boat tips into the water and everyone tumbles out. No one minds getting wet on such a nice day, though, especially since Mr. Gumpy invites everyone to his house for tea.

Burningham at an exhibition celebrating 50 years of his work

Check out a slide show of some picture book art – HERE.; his wikipedia page HERE; some ‘Vintage” love for his debut as an author-illustrator in 1963 which, wouldn’t you know it, won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal – his first (comment to let them know to fix the date!) HERE; read more in an interview with Burningham and Oxenbury about their recent collaboration HERE

2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration – Part 1/6

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are given every other year to a living author and an illustrator, selected by the Int’l. Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for their complete work in children’s literature. Yep, we don’t talk much about it in the States, but it’s the highest international recognition for kid-lit. The winners for 2014 have been announced, but I’d like to introduce (in 6 posts) everyone on the short list for illustration, because I didn’t know all of them, and I thought, if I am interested maybe someone else is!

The six short-listed illustrators in alphabetical order are: Rotraut Susanne Berner, Germany; John Burningham, UK; Eva Lindström, Sweden; Roger Mello, Brazil (winner); François Place, France; Øyvind Torseter, Norway.

Rotraut Susanne Berner has been working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator since 1977. She has written and illustrated her own books, but illustrated for many others, has a big list of awards on her wikipedia page, a website HERE and a blog. She’s famous! And here is an interesting tid-bit: according to a 2008 Spiegel article, one of her Wimmelbuecher books, was finally given the green light to hit bookstores in the States. The publisher wanted to ‘get rid of’ a few things from the original book for the American market, including the ‘exposed’ little man below. Read about the original struggle in 2007 HERE

I did manage to find this very book through my library system!

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2008
Ages: 2-5
Themes: city and town life, seasons
Opening: It’s mainly a wordless book, but the first page of each season’s section gives us a few character story-lines to follow in the coming pictures, like “Andrea oversleeps and misses the bus.”
Summary: (from the publisher) Big, colorful illustrations and minimal text set the stage for a delightful cast of characters as they go about their day-to-day adventures in one little town throughout the year. Playing, chasing pets, running errands, going to work: following what happens and looking for the many small surprises in the pictures will absorb and amuse children and parents alike.

The following video was made from her ‘Karlchen’ stories, funny everyday happenings in the life of a little rabbit!