Shortlists have been released for the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Awards, sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People. The awards "recognize lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature." The two winners will be announced March 26 at the IBBY press conference during the Bologna International Children's Book Fair.
The shortlisted authors are Marie-Aude Murail (France), Farhad Hassanzadeh (Iran), Eiko Kadono (Japan), Joy Cowley (New Zealand) and Ulf Stark (Sweden).
The shortlisted illustrators are Pablo Bernasconi (Argentina), Linda Wolfsgruber (Austria), Xiong Liang (China), Iwona Chmielewska (Poland), Igor Oleynikov (Russia) and Albertine (Switzerland).