Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2009
March 25, 2009
I know, I'm supposed to be taking a short break. But I couldn't let this news pass. Via Bookwitch:
"This year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award goes to the Tamer Institute for Community Education in Ramallah. They have been working for twenty years to get children and teenagers in Gaza and the West Bank to read.
It was founded to help children read and receive an education when the unrest meant that they couldn’t go to school. They hold writing workshops, and help train librarians and they supply libraries with books. Since the start they have also published over a hundred books, as there were practically no Palestinian children’s books at the time."
Like Bookwitch, I think that a literacy organization like this will be able to do great things with this money (5 million kroner ~= $600,000), and I'm happy to hear about this selection. See more details in the School Library Journal article and on Bloomberg.com. I love this award, which demonstrates such a strong appreciation for children's literacy!