Jon Klassen, the Winnipeg-born children’s book author and illustrator of I Want My Hat Back, has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is worth nearly $750,000.
The award, administered by the Swedish Arts Council, is handed out annually to a person or organization for their contribution to children’s and young adult literature.
Jurors praised Klassen’s body of work as a “subtle, astute and humorous investigation into existential questions.”
His books include I Want My Hat Back, the tale of a bear searching for his missing pointy red hat, along with This Is Not My Hat, which follows a tiny fish wearing a bowler hat and the much bigger fish he stole it from, We Found a Hat, about two turtles who find a cowboy hat they both want, and the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning Cats’ Night Out.
He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2018 for “his transformative contributions to children’s literature.”
Klassen, who now lives in Los Angeles, is the first Canadian laureate of the prize.
The award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002, and is worth five million kronor, which is roughly $744,000 Cdn.
