Gao Hongbo (China)
Vice President and Director of the Committee for Children’s Literature, China Writers Association
Gao Hongbo is a poet and writer born in 1951 in the province of Inner Mongolia. He graduated in Chinese literature from Beijing University in 1988and later became deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Literature and Art as well as editor-in-chief of the Poetry Periodical. He held several important positions within the China Writers Association, including deputy director of the General Office, member of the permanent committee, Secretary General and Vice President.
Gao Hongbo is also famous for his children’s literature. He is the author of several poetry collections, including Judge Elephant, Goose Goose Goose, The Crocodile who Ate Stones, The Secret of the Crying Spring, and I Love You, Fox. His other children’s writings comprise The Persian Cat and The Words Pouring from my Pen and a children’s literature anthology A Goose Brought me these Stories: World Children’s Literature Observed through the Bamboos. His publications have received several national awards.
© Willy Puchner
Lisbeth Zwerger (Austria)
Book Illustrator
Lisbeth Zwerger (Vienna, 1954) is one of the world’s most acclaimed children’s book illustrators, well known for illustrating classic tales.
She studied at the Vienna University of Applied Arts (Hochschule für angewandte Kunst) from 1971 to 1974. Her first book The Strange Child was published by Neugebauer Press in 1977. Since then she has published more than 40 books. She has brought her brush to The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and The Nutcracker, as well as many Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen fairytales. In 1990 her work was distinguished by the Hans Christian Andersen Award, becoming one of the youngest illustrators to win this prestigious international recognition.
© Sonya Sones
Leonard S. Marcus (USA)
Children's Book Historian and Critic
Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s foremost writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning books, including Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Golden Legacy: The Story of Golden Books; Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter; Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Life; and Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration.
Leonard is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and Horn Book and was Parenting magazine's book critic for 21 years. He is a founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and has curated numerous exhibitions including the New York Public Library’s landmark The ABC Of It: Why Children’s Books Matter. Leonard has judged the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year Award (four times), the National Book Award, the Ragazzi and SM Illustrator Prizes of the Bologna Book Fair, the Fondacion SM's Catalogo Iberoamerica Ilustra, Scholastic Asian Book Award (jury chair), and Chen Bochui Award.
Dolores Prades (Brazil)
Publisher and Consultant, Instituto Emília
Publisher and manager focused on literature and reference books for children and youth since 2000, Dolores Prades has an academic background in Social Sciences, a Master in Political Science and a PhD in Economic History. She has conducted research about Children’s and YA Literature and taken part in the main national and international seminars on children’s and YA literature in the last few years.
Currently, she is Visiting Professor for the Master in Books and Literature for Children and Young People at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and coordinates the Caribbean and Latin American Chair of Reading and Writing in Brazil. She is a founding member and publisher of Emília Magazine since 2012 and has been a curator and coordinator for the ‘Conversas ao Pé da Página’ Seminars since its first edition, in 2011. She served as member of the Jury of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards in 2016 and was a member of the Jury of BolognaRagazzi Award on the same year.
Zhu Ziqiang (China)
Professor, PhD Tutor, Director, Research Centre for Children’s Literature, Ocean University of China
Zhu Ziqiang is a scholar, writer and translator with a PhD in literature. In his career, he gained experience as a visiting scholar at the Tokyo Gakugei University and Osaka Kyoiku University. He also served as a guest researcher at the International Library of Children’s Books (Osaka), a part-time professor at the National Taitung University and a visiting professor at the Education University of Hong Kong.
Zhu is currently the Director of the Research Centre for Children’s Literature at the Ocean University of China and is also Deputy Director of the China Children’s Literature Research Association. Zhu focuses his academic work on children’s literature research, Chinese children’s literature, philology and childhood education. Some of his writings were gathered in Zhu Ziqiang–Academic Essays (10 volumes). He also leads important projects at the China’s Ministry of Education. His research has been recognised by the Jiang Feng Children’s Literature Award for Academic Research and by the Lu Xun Prize for Theoretical Review.
Chau Matmat (Hong Kong, China)
Director of Children’s Literature and Culture Association of Hong Kong, Associate Director of Hong Kong Writers Circle
Chau Matmat is a writer, playwright, literary editor and a writing tutor. She is the author of several children’s radio plays, TV scripts, novels and essays. She was entrusted by the Hong Kong government and other public organisations to compile teaching materials in several domains, including Mandarin Chinese language, civic education, law, music and sex education.
Her works have won several awards, including the Young Writer’s Prize, the Zhang Tianyi Fairy Tale Prize, the National Excellence Award—for both novels and poetry— the Hong Kong Book Prize, the Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature and the Bing Xin Children’s Book Award. Some of her works are published in English, Japanese, Korean and German. Chau currently serves as Director of the Children’s Literature and Culture Association of Hong Kong, Associate Director of the Hong Kong Writers Circle, Associated Editor-in-Chief at Writers Publishing House (Hong Kong). She is also a committee member of the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, a member of the China Writers Association, a consultant of Radio Television Hong Kong and a member of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Tang Sulan (China)
Writer, PhD Tutor and Professor, Faculty of Literature, Hunan Normal University
Tang Sulan is a professor and a PhD Tutor at the Hunan Normal University Faculty of Literature. She is also a prolific author of children’s literature. Tang is recognised by the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China as a leading figure in the country’s cultural development, notably in the fields of philosophical and social studies. Her contribution grants her a special annuity from the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Tang is mostly known as a children’s book author. She has published over 60 books, some of them recognised by important awards, including the National Outstanding Children's Literature Award, the Song Qingling Children’s Literature Award, the Bing Xin Children’s Book Award, the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award, the Hunan Literary Award for Young Authors and the Mao Zedong Literary Award. Among her most representative works are Stupid Wolf Story, Where Should Grace the Witch Live?, Attic Wizard, The Red Shoe and A-Lian. Her books have been translated into English, Korean, Arabic, Nepali and Singhalese.
Yan Xiaoli (China)
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Dandelion Children’s Book House
Yan Xiaoli has been a dedicated researcher and editor in children’s literature for many years and was named “Best Editor of 2014” by Phoenix Publishing. Yan Xiaoli is the publisher of many famous Chinese children’s titles such as Sweetheart Xiao Mi, and also introduced a number of international bestsellers into China, including the Magic School Bus series, Maps, and Where the Wild Things Are. In 2016, Yan Xiaoli contributed to bringing the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition to China, providing a platform for the local industry to better understand the value of illustration. Her editorial work on Maurice Sendak’s books led her to undertake a thorough study of Sendak’s stunning style, which she later presented at Beijing Normal University in a conference titled Intensive Reading on Maurice Sendak.
Yan Xiaoli and the books she published won numerous awards including the National Book Award; the Sichuan Top-Five Project Award; the China Outstanding Children’s Book First Prize; the Bing Xin Children’s Book Award and the China Best Seller Award.
Zhang Hong (China)
Children’s Book Author, Founder, Magic Reading
Zhang Hong is a journalist, a senior editor and a children’s book author. She is the founder of the non-profit digital platform for reading promotion Magic Reading, which earned her title of “Reading Promotion Trailblazer” in 2018. She is the author of over 10 children’s books, including Doudou and Magic Auntie; Map of the English Fairy Tales; Happy Crayon; Golden Beard and Red Jumper; Huo Qubing’s Horse; and E Girl from Class E. Moreover, Zhang translated into Chinese over 30 children’s novels and picture books, including the series Alfie the Werewolf, Charlotte’s Web, Bizzy Mizz Lizzie, Dogosaurus Rex, À quoi rêvent les crayons le soir au fond des cartables and much more. She is the translator into Chinese of renowned international authors such as David Shannon, Tomi Ungerer, Michael Morpurgo and Quentin Blake.
Zhang is a three-time winner in the Chen Bochui Children’s Literature Awards where she also won the Special Contribution Award in 2011. She was also awarded the Song Qingling Children’s Literature Award and the Bing Xin Children’s Book Award. Zhang was also named among Shanghai’s “Top 10 Cultural Personalities” and “Emerging Children’s Literature Writer”.
