Children's book author Lee Geum-yi nominated for Hans Christian Andersen Award

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) named Lee along with five others in the authors category.

Children's book author Lee Geum-yi [KOREAN BOARD ON BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE]

Children’s book writer Lee Geum-yi was shortlisted for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award (HCAA) over the weekend, becoming the first Korean author to be nominated for the award in the author’s category.

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) named Lee along with five others in the authors category. The other nominees are Marina Colasanti from Brazil, Heinz Janisch from Austria, Bart Moeyaert from Belgium, Timo Parvela from Finland and Edward van de Vendel from the Netherlands.

The HCAA is sometimes called the Nobel Prize of children’s literature. The top two prizes go to one author and one illustrator. Korean illustrator Suzy Lee won the illustrator’s award in 2022. Founded in 1956, the HCAA is named after the 19th-century Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It gives awards every two years.

A committee from each country recommends authors from their country to the IBBY, and international judges evaluate the achievements of the authors before selecting six people for the shortlist and then the final winner. This year’s shortlisted authors and illustrators were chosen from a list of 59 nominations from 33 countries, on a 10-member jury led by Liz Page, former IBBY executive director, according to the IBBY.

The winners of the HCAA will be announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on April 8, while the medals will be presented at the IBBY Congress, which will be held between Aug. 30 to Sep. 1 in Trieste, Italy.

“We looked at whether the author we recommended could elicit universal emotions from foreign readers while expressing uniquely Korean characteristics at the same time, and whether the author is someone who develops along with the children and adolescents of our time,” the Korean Board on Books for Young People (KBBY), the Korean chapter of the IBBY, said in its statement recommending Lee Geum-yi for this year’s HCAA.

Lee published her first work in 1984 with “Younggu and Heukgu,” a collection of stories. Lee’s young adult's novel “You Too Are a Twilight Lily” (1999) has maintained its position as a bestseller for many years, and she has written more than fifty literary works including young adult's novels, children’s fiction and early reader books. Lee was named on the 2018 IBBY Honor List for “Can’t I Go Instead” (2016) and was Korea’s nomination for the HCAA in 2020 also.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]