TEHRAN – Iran’s Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature has nominated bestselling writer Hushang Moradi Kermani for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2021.

The award, administered by the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs, was established in 2002 to commemorate Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren and to promote children’s and youths’ literature from around the world.

It is the world’s largest award for children’s and youths’ literature, and the second-largest literature prize in the world.

The prize, five million Swedish kronor in cash, is awarded to one or more recipients including authors, illustrators, storytellers and promoters of reading.

Over 260 figures and organizations from across the world have been nominated for the award and the winner will be announced on April 13, 2021.

Iran’s nominations for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award are selected separately every year by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the Iranian Association of Writers for Children and Youth, the Children’s Book Council of Iran and the Institute for Research on History of Children’s Literature.

The 76-year-old Moradi Kermani has been nominated for the award several times, the last of which was made by the IIDCYA in 2020. However, he failed to win the honor.

The writer is not Iran’s sole nomination for the award in 2021. IIDCYA has earlier announced writer Hamidreza Shahabadi and its mobile library program as its nominees for the prize.

Reading promoters Abdolhakim Bahar, Mehdi Hejvani and Aliasghar Seidabadi, authors Jamshid Khanian, Hamidreza Shahabadi Farahani and Mohammadreza Shams, illustrator Farshid Shafiei, and Read with Me, a reading promotion project, are Iran’s other nominees for this honor.

Moradi Kermani is mostly known as a children’s writer, but his works also appeal to adults.

He is the author of numerous bestsellers such as “You’re No Stranger Here”, “The Water Urn” and “A Sweet Jam”. Most of his works have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Armenian, Turkish and several other languages.

“Hushang Moradi Kermani is the writer for those children and youths whose voices are heard in their society; from those children who work in the carpet weaving workshops to those who enjoy the minimum educational facilities in their schools in the remote rural areas,” the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature wrote.

“In his works, Moradi Kermani creatively represents the behavior of Iranian families with their children at home and outside during a certain period of the social history of his country,” it added.

Photo: Writer Hushang Moradi Kermani poses beside his picture at his 72nd birthday celebration at the Imam Ali (AS) Religious Arts Museum on September 10, 2016. (Tehran Picture Agency/Ahmad Aghasian). 

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