Writer of "Cloud Bread" Receives the "Nobel Prize of Children's Literature," "A Chance to Rise from Despair"

[경향신문]

Writer Baek Heena, selected as the recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, referred to as the “Nobel Prize in children’s literature” on March 31. Lee Suck-woo

“They say it is darkest just before the dawn, so I think this prize has given me a chance to rise again from deep in despair.”

The writer Baek Heena (49), whom readers have encountered through picture books such as Cloud Bread, Moon Sherbet, and Magic Candies, said, “I still can’t believe that I won the award.” On March 31 (local time), Baek received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), referred to as the “Nobel Prize of children’s literature.” This year, over 240 writers from 67 countries were nominated for the award. This is the first time that a Korean writer has received this award after beating such fierce competition.

On April 1, Baek, who resides in Thailand, spoke with the Kyunghyang Shinmun over the phone and said, “After the second ruling on the copyright of Cloud Bread was announced in January, I was exhausted in both body and mind, and literally just breathing.” She added, “I wasn’t even aware that I was nominated, when I suddenly got a phone call yesterday and received the news.”

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is an international literary prize established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honor Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), the Swedish writer famous for the fictional character, Pippi Longstocking. The award amounts to SEK 500,000 (approx. 600 million won). According to the ALMA jury, they had planned to announce this year’s recipient at the 2020 Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the world’s largest exhibition of children’s literature. But the book fair was postponed after COVID-19 hit the European continent, and so the winner of the award was announced at Lindgren’s home in Stockholm. The announcement was aired live to the world on YouTube.

Boel Westin, chairperson of the jury evaluated the world of Baek as “a doorway to the marvelous” when announcing Baek as this year’s recipient. The jury explained their decision and said, “With exquisite feeling for materials, looks and gestures, Baek Heena’s filmic picture books stage stories about solitude and solidarity,” and described her work as “sensuous, dizzying and sharp.”

They also focused on the technique Baek uses--how she creates picture books with paper dolls she makes herself. The jury said, “Since her debut, Baek Heena has continued to evolve a singular and highly original picture book world,” and further elaborated that “Her techniques connect to a long tradition of toy books for children,” as well as paper dolls and pop-up books. The jury assessed that “Baek has brought development and renewal with her highly original technical and artistic solutions.”

Baek was selected as the Illustrator of the Year at the 2005 Bologna Book Fair and had attracted attention from inside and outside Korea early on, but it was not easy for her to engage in her creative work. After news of Baek’s award came out, even the Swedish press reported that although her first book, Cloud Bread had achieved commercial success, the writer was thoroughly excluded from that success.

Baek herself said, “From the day I debuted until now, my life as a writer has not been easy, and I started by experiencing too harsh of a despair,” and mentioned her long court battle over copyrights with a publisher. Baek’s most famous book, Cloud Bread, which was published in 2004, was a typical example of an unfair “lump-sum contract” where the writer transfers the copyright to the publisher. Cloud Bread was later produced into a TV series and musical creating nearly 440 billion won of added value, but Baek only received 18.5 million won. Baek filed a lawsuit against the publisher, but the court sided with the publisher in the first trial and in the second trial in January. Baek has appealed to the Supreme Court.

She was able to tell the world of the problem of unfair contracts in the publishing world with her difficult court battle, but she said she was burned out in body and in mind. “I still have a Supreme Court ruling remaining, but I lost in the previous trials in a devastating way. I suffered a serious blow after realizing that the rights of a writer in our society are worthless,” she said. She further explained, “I had written a book a year, but I haven’t written anything since last year. I was in a desperate state, wondering if I could ever write again.” “Hearing the good news at a time when I was losing my confidence, I found hope that I could rise again,” she added.

Baek referred to the string of writers who refused to receive the Yi Sang Literary Award recently, because of regulations forcing writers to hand over the copyright of their work and said, “I didn’t enter the court with rosy predictions that I could win, but to tell the world that this is clearly a wrong practice. I thought I would be able to pave the way somewhat.” She argued, “We need to create an environment where writers are more aware of their copyrights and publishers don’t think lightly of the rights of the writers.”

According to Baek, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is meaningful for the Swedish government hands out the award to people working in children’s and young adult literature with the taxpayers’ money. “I heard that this award was established to help people realize the importance of children’s and young adult literature and to give power to the people engaging in such work. In our country, the rights of children are still regarded lowly, as we can see in the recent chat room incident and the no-kids zones. If this is the way we treat children, then how much lower the status of writers creating literary work for such children? I hope the latest award can provide an opportunity for our society to respect children and their culture.”