James Krüss Prize 2022

Jella-Lepman-Hall

The James Krüss Prize for International Children's and Young Adult Literature, established in 2013, will be awarded for the sixth time. The author's community of heirs has offered the award in memory of the writer, language artist and citizen of the world James Krüss and has commissioned the International Youth Library with the content and organisation. The award recognises and promotes the work of a living author of children's and young adult's books that is distinguished by linguistic brilliance, originality, imaginative storytelling and cosmopolitanism.

The James Krüss Prize 2022 will be awarded to the British author David Almond.

Almond's texts stand out for their idiosyncratic narrative style and a keen sense of language. Imbued with empathy and humour, they show Almond’s great pleasure in wordplay and metafiction. His complex stories portray our reality and are, at the same time, located on the border to the magical realm. On the path towards happiness, Almond as well as his stubborn, autonomous child characters tackle big existential questions.

Together with David Almond, his current main translator, Alexandra Ernst, is awarded. With subtlety and elegance, Ernst turns the imaginative language explorations, witty puns, and atmospheric condensations of Almond’s novels into literary German texts that are totally on par with the original ones.

Please find the jury statement here.

Previous winners include Joke van Leeuwen, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Andreas Steinhöfel, Frida Nilsson and Tamara Bach.

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