Swiss artist Albertine honoured for illustrations of children’s books
Albertine, a Geneva-based Swiss illustrator, has won the prestigious 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Prize for her illustrations for children's books.
Albertine, whose family name is Zullo, has shown her work in many exhibitions in Switzerland and France. She has produced numerous children’s books, illustrations, posters and other artwork.
The Hans Christian Andersen award is handed out every other year by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). It is considered to be one of the highest international prizes for authors and illustrators of children’s books.
“Albertine creates books with multiple levels of interpretation, with drawings made with infinite precision that are lively and full of humour,” the NGO said at the beginning of May in a press release. External link
The illustrator told Swiss public television, RTS, that the news had taken her by surprise.
“I was in my garden in my rubber boots and got a call from someone in English. I thought I’d won a mattress from the supermarket Conforama or something like that. It took me several hours to realise. It’s a crazy surprise. I didn’t expect it at all. The best prizes are the ones you don’t expect,” she declared.
Albertine is the fourth Swiss illustrator to be awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize after Alois Carigiet (1966), Jörg Müller (1994) and Jürg Schubiger (2008). An international jury selected her from among 36 candidates from all over the world.
She was the first Swiss artist to be awarded the prestigious Golden Apple in Bratislava, which she received for her Marta et la bicyclette. In 2009 she won the Schweizer Kinder- und Jugendmedienpreis for La Rumeur de Venise. Her Les oiseaux, a collaboration with the writer Germano Zullo, was awarded the Prix Sorcières and was listed by the New York Times Book Review as one of the Top 10 Books of the Year in 2012. Mon tout petit was awarded First Prize at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2016.
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