The James Krüss Award for International Children’s Literature was established in honour of the German author James Krüss (1926-1997), a cosmopolitan and master storyteller with a knack for using language creatively.
Established in 2013and donated by the heirs of James Krüss, the biennial prize is awarded to a living author whose work stands out for its linguistic brilliance, originality, imaginative narrative, aesthetic diversity, and humanity.
The 2019 James Krüss Award will be presented to Swedish writer Frida Nilsson during a prize ceremony held at the International Youth Library in Munich.
Past recipients were Dutch author Joke van Leeuwen (2013), British author Frank Cottrell Boyce (2015) and German author Andreas Steinhöfel.
James Krüss’s literary estate is housed in the archives of the International Youth Library and is available for research.
A small permanent exhibition in the International Youth Library’s James Krüss Tower invites visitors to take a glimpse into the life and work of this famous author, poet, storyteller, and translator, whose books have been translated into numerous languages.