Iran’s Association of Writers for Children and Youth announces nominees for 2023 ALMA

Writer Farhad Hassanzadeh and reading promoters Nushafrain Ansari and Nader Musavi will be competing for the prestigious Swedish prize for children’s literature in the world.
In a press release, the association said, “With a professional career spanning nearly four decades, Farhad Hassanzadeh has produced amazing stories for children and young adults, which have been acclaimed by readers and received Iranian and foreign prizes.”
He has been selected for his concern for the environment, issues on women and girls in the modern world, and human values such as peace, friendship and children’s rights as well as his different view of wars.
Ansari received the nomination “for about six decades of activities in librarianship and as a reading promoter, and her contributions to reading culture and the Iranian Children’s Encyclopedia, and the establishment of numerous cultural organizations such as the Children’s Book Council of Iran.
As an Afghan immigrant, Musavi was picked as the association’s foreign nominee for the award.
As a writer and teacher, Musavi has made great endeavors for over 20 years to promote reading among the children of Afghan expatriates living in Iran.
He is the author of several books carrying materials for Afghan migrant children about their motherland.
He also travels across Iran every year to run reading programs in over 350 schools for Afghan migrant children.
Musavi and Iranian writers Ahmad Akbarpur and Ali-Asghar Seyyedabadi have also been nominated for the 2023 ALMA by the Children’s Book Council of Iran.
The Institute for Research on History of Children’s Literature, and the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCY-Kanoon) are other Iranian cultural centers allowed to select Iran’s nominations for the ALMA.
Kanoon has previously announced writer Hamidreza Shahabadi and illustrator Reza Dalvand as its nominees for the 2023 ALMA.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award amounts to SEK 5 million (about €570,000), making it the world’s largest award for children’s and young adults’ literature.
The award was established in 2002 by the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs to commemorate Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren and to promote children’s and youths’ literature from around the world.
Source:Tehran Times