From the Washington Post (”Australian Author Wins Lindgren Award,” by Malin Rising):
STOCKHOLM, March 12 — Australian author Sonya Hartnett is the winner of the $818,000 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature, the largest children’s book award in the world.
Hartnett, 39, published her first novel, “Trouble All the Way,” at the age of 15 and since then has written 18 novels for children, young people and adults.
The jury praised her “linguistic virtuosity and brilliant narrative technique” and said her works are “a source of strength.”
According to the jury’s citation, “Sonya Hartnett is one of the major forces for renewal in modern young adult fiction. With psychological depth and a concealed yet palpable anger, she depicts the circumstances of young people without avoiding the darker sides of life.”
Recent books by Hartnett include The Silver Donkey (2006), the Printz Honor Book Surrender (2006), and Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf (2005).
