Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize 2011

As reported in The Guardian Review on Saturday; Australian illustrator Shaun Tan has been presented with The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Stockholm last week. The prize is worth nearly half a million pounds and is awarded to authors, artists, and illustrators for their lifetime achievements in the spirit of Lindgren's famous illustrated heroine Pippi Longstocking.

Tan follows in an illustrious lineage including Maurice Sendak, and Phillip Pullman who were previous winners. He was commended as "a masterly visual storyteller who combines brilliant, magical narrative skill with deep humanism".  A justifiable award for a great, and innovative illustrator, who all in all has had a pretty good year - his picture book "The Lost Thing" was adapted into an animation and won the Oscar for best animated short film earlier this year.