Kitty Crowther (Belgium)
Picture Book Artist and Illustrator, Winner of the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Kitty Crowther writes and illustrates children’s books. She was born and raised in Belgium by a Swedish mother and an English father. As a child she spent her summers in a small Dutch village by the water, and she always felt a strong connection to nature.
Born with hearing difficulties, Kitty struggled to communicate through her childhood – so she dived into the world of books. And since 1994 she’s been making her own books, communicating her thoughts, ideas, questions and emotions with a unique, honest and powerful voice. She says: “I don’t try to make pleasant books, but stories that fascinate me deeply. I don’t have the impression that I choose my stories; I think they choose me.”
She has written and/or illustrated more than forty books which have been translated into about thirty languages. She also works on a variety of other projects including theatre productions and live drawing events. She travels widely, giving conferences and workshops to children and adults all around the world.
She has won a large number of awards for her work, and in 2010 she received the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).
Dong Hongyou (China)
Writer, Member of the Children's Literature Committee of the Chinese Writers Association
Dong Hongyou graduated from the Chinese Department of China East Normal University where he was recognised as a National First-Class Writer. He is a member of the Children's Literature Committee of the Chinese Writers Association and Vice Chairman of the Wuhan Federation of Literary and Art. His novels include The Dream of One Hundred Chinese Children, The Forest of Fourteen Years Old, and Ghosts.
He has been awarded the National Five-One Project Award by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee three times and the National Outstanding Children's Literature Award of the China Writers Association four times. His works have won numerous awards in Taiwan and many of them have been translated overseas.
Gao Hongbo (China)
Children’s Writer, Poet and Essayist, Vice President of the China Writers Association
Gao Hongbo is a poet and essayist born in 1951 in Inner Mongolia. In 1988, he graduated in Chinese literature from Beijing University and 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 its General Office, member of its permanent committee, Secretary General and Vice-President.
Gao Hongbo is also famous for his children’s writing. 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, 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 Excellence Awards
Liu Ting (China)
Literary Critic, Director of the Review Department of the Literature and Art Newspaper
Born in 1969 in Changsha, Hunan province, Liu Ting graduated in Chinese language and literature from Beijing Normal University. He currently serves as the book review chief editor at the Literature and Art Newspaper. His is the author of a book review and critic collection—The Feelings of Literature—and published the novel collection At the End of the Road, Novels for the End of a Century.
Liu Ting has received many significant awards and accolades, including the National Children’s Literature Award of the China Writers Association, the Critic Prize of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Lu Xun Literary Award in the critic category.
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.
Pan Xiangli (China)
Writer, Doctor of Literature, Chief Editor of Wenhui Newspaper
Pan Xiangli holds a Ph.D. in literature. He is the chief editor of the Wenhui Newsletter, deputy chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, member of the Shanghai Writers Association and director of the Prose Committee. He has served as the judge of the 12th National Outstanding Children's Literature Awards.
He has won many awards himself including the 4th Lu Xun Literature Award, the 10th Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award and the 5th Bingxin Prose Award. He was also awarded the title of Second Shanghai Cultural Newcomer.
Song Yirui (Hong Kong, China)
Writer of Children's Literature, Consultant and Honorary President of the Hong Kong Children's Literature Association and Supervisor of the Hong Kong Writers Association
Writer of children's literature, consultant and Honorary President of the Hong Kong Children's Literature Association and Supervisor of the Hong Kong Writers Association.
Born in Shanghai, Song Yirui is a Hong Kong-based children’s book writer and language mentor. Since the 1980s, she has been active in the Hong Kong Children's Literature Corner and is dedicated to the creation and writing of children's literature in Hong Kong. She has published more than 150 books, stories, fairy tales, translations and adaptations of world famous literary works. Her works are deeply loved by children in Hong Kong and have won many awards including being the three-time recipient of the Children's Story Group of the Hong Kong Municipal Council's Chinese Reading Creation Awards, our Merit Awards, and a Third Runner-Up award.
Sophie Van der Linden (France)
Children’s Book Critic and Novelist
Sophie Van der Linden is a novelist and critic, specialising in the book album for youth. She is also editor (De Facto), editor of the Hors-Cadre[s] review, a trainer and a speaker. Her latest book, Album[s], in collaboration with creator and editor Olivier Douzou sums up her theory of the album (De Facto—Actes Sud, 2013).
She is the editorial director of I’m looking for a book for a child (“Je cherche un livre pour un enfant")—a series of guidebooks co-published by Gallimard Jeunesse and De Facto, of which she also penned the first volume dedicated to 0–7year olds.
Besides articles and contributions, she also wrote Claude Ponti (2000 Editions Être) and Read Albums” (Lire l’album) (2006, L'Atelier du Poisson soluble), to be released in China in the Fall of 2018 by Everafter Books .Since 2007, she has been Editor of the magazine Hors-Cadre(s) about picture books for youth and graphic literature for adults.
As a trainer and speaker, she also teaches children's literature at universities and art schools in France and Spain. She received the 2001 Critics' Prize in Literature for Youth.
XIONG Liang
Chinese Picture Book Artist and Writer, Shortlisted in the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award
XIONG Liang was born 1975 in Jiaxing, a small city in Southern China. As a child, he developed an interest in traditional Chinese ink and brush painting. He is completely self-taught and learnt from classic works of art and literature from inside and outside China.
His creations span a diverse variety of genres, including novels, children’s books, plays, modern ink brush painting and works of illustration for adults. His first illustrated children’s book was The Little Stone Lion in 2007. He has since illustrated a three-book collection of nursery rhymes and games entitled Children at Large (2013) and several other books where nature, weather and the seasons play a powerful role. These include The Solar Terms (2015), Monster of the Monsoon (2015) and Wandering with the Wind (2016). In 2018 he became the first Chinese artist to be shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
