Jon Klassen, pictured at his Los Angeles home in a 2014 file photo, is the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award's first Canadian laureate.JILL CONNELLY/The Globe and Mail
Canadian children’s book illustrator and author Jon Klassen won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, worth 5-million Swedish krona, or about $750,000.
Klassen, 44, is the prize’s first Canadian laureate. The award is given annually to one author, artist, storyteller or promoter of children’s literature.
The Winnipeg-born Klassen is best known for his Hat Trilogy series – I Want My Hat Back (2011), This Is Not My Hat (2013) and We Found A Hat (2016). The author, who is now based in Los Angeles, won the 2013 Caldecott Medal and the 2014 Kate Greenaway Medal (now known as the Carnegie Medal for Illustration) for This Is Not My Hat.
“Jon Klassen’s body of work forms a subtle, astute and humorous investigation into existential questions, where feelings of anticipation, suspense and shock play a central role,” wrote jury chairperson Boel Westin and jury member Per Gustavsson. “His books open new perspectives on life’s challenges of uncertainty and hopefulness.”
Earlier this month, Klassen’s illustrations were published in the Now I See series, four board books focusing on the seasons, written by American author Mac Barnett.
In addition to his work as a children’s writer and illustrator, Klassen worked as a concept artist and illustrator for films such as 2009’s Coraline and 2011’s Kung Fu Panda 2. His next book, The House With Nobody In It, will be released July 14.
From 2014: How Jon Klassen became one of the most sought-after children's book illustrators
In a phone interview with The Globe, Klassen said “the monetary value of the award hasn’t really become real yet.”
“What you can immediately process and feel appreciative of is this recognition, that the work was valued and deemed to deserve it,” he added.
Klassen says catharsis is the main theme that connects many of his books. He writes to evoke strong emotions from the reader and give them relief by the end of the story – even if he doesn’t neatly resolve the problems his books present.
“It’s not necessarily an examination of how we ought to act or how I wish we would act or how I wish the world was, so much as the building-up of some sort of a feeling that you recognize as a reader,” he says.
The Swedish government founded the award in 2002 to commemorate the late Astrid Lindgren, best known for her Pippi Longstocking books. Its first winner was the late Maurice Sendak, the author of Where the Wild Things Are. Other past winners include Japan’s Ryôji Arai in 2005, Belgium’s Kitty Crowther in 2010 and the late Wolf Erlbruch from Germany in 2017.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will present the award to Klassen on May 25 at the Stockholm Concert Hall.