American-born, London-based author Meg Rosoff is the winner of the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The award was announced in a broadcast from the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm on Tuesday, which was broadcast live at the Bologna Book Fair, as well as online. The Lindgren Award is the world’s largest children’s book prize, with an award of five million Swedish kronor, currently worth more than $600,000. In Bologna, agent Catherine Clarke accepted a bouquet of flowers on Rosoff's behalf.
Rosoff is the acclaimed author of several young adult novels, including How I Live Now, which won a Printz Award; the Carnegie Medal–winning Just in Case; and Picture Me Gone, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award. She is also the author of three picture books: Meet Wild Boars, Wild Boars Cook, and Jumpy Jack and Googily, all illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
“Meg Rosoff’s young adult novels speak to the emotions as well as the intellect,” read the jury’s citation. “In sparkling prose, she writes about the search for meaning and identity in a peculiar and bizarre world. Her brave and humorous stories are one-of-a-kind. She leaves no reader unmoved.”
The award, which is administered by the Swedish Arts Council, will be presented to Rosoff in a ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on May 30.
