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South African organisation PRAESA wins 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

South African reading development organisation PRAESA (Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) is the recipient of the 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s richest prize for children’s and young adult literature. PRAESA is the first African recipient and third organisation to receive the award, following wins by Venezuelan Banco del Libro in 2007 and Palestinian Tamer Institute for Community Education in 2009. Established in 1992 in the struggle against apartheid education, PRAESA aims to highlight the importance of literature in personal and societal development by encouraging South African children to grow their confidence and connect with their native languages through reading. Its three main goals are to provide children’s literature in multiple South African languages; to collaborate with publishers and organisations that promote reading; and to help sustain a culture of reading in vulnerable communities. The judging panel for the prize, which is worth five million Swedish krona (approximately A$760,860), commended PRAESA for ‘[bringing] people together and [bringing] literature in multiple languages alive’ through ‘innovative reading and storytelling projects’. PRAESA will accept the award at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on 1 June. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, also nominated for the 2015 award were: Australian authors Ursula Dubosarsky, Mem Fox, Morris Gleitzman and Libby Gleeson; New Zealand author Joy Cowley; and New Zealand author and illustrator Lynley Dodd. Last year’s winner was Swedish author and illustrator Barbro Lindgren.

 

Category: International news