The children’s Nobel is on the new Robinson

They call it the Children’s Nobel. Did you know that there is an award for children’s literature that is as good as that of adults? It is theAstrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of the author of Pippi Longstockingthe most prestigious and richest award for authors of children’s books, and is awarded every year to Stockholm: this year on April 9th, precisely on the days when the event takes place in Italy Bologna Children’s Book Fairthe international children’s book fair which sees 1,500 publishers from over 100 countries and regions of the world arrive in our country from 8 to 11 April, with Slovenia as guest of honor for 2024.

And it’s right there children’s literature that we dedicate the cover of Robinson on newsstands Sunday 31 March. In fact, we went with Raffaella De Santis to look behind the scenes of theAstrid Lindgren Memorial Awardwhich Swedes simply call by the acronym Alma, name that sounds great to us Latins because thealma is the soul and this recognition was created to honor the spirit of Astrid Lindgren. This year there are 245 candidates and there is one of the most popular David Almond, British writer beloved by children and teenagers; the French Timothée de Fombellewhich in 101 positions to read passionately frees children from the tyranny of composed reading, and the bestseller Katherine Rundell.

While Claudia Mregolane interviewed Bart Moeyaert, great Belgian writer, who won the Alma in 2019 and tells us the emotion he felt. And above all how the recognition changed his life. Finally, with Ilaria Zaffino we take a (reasoned) preview look at the themes and trends that will emerge in Bologna. There Children’s Book Fair in fact it contains the best of children’s publishing and so come and discover which authors and trends not to be missed, starting with Julia Donaldson, Mac Barnett e Neil Packer.

And to stay on topic also the pages of TikTok this week are dedicated to Pippi Longstockingthe most famous anti-heroine of children’s fiction, whose author is in fact named after the children’s Nobel Prize, who together with her soul sisters – from Alice in Wonderland a Anne of Green Gables, and No Little Women a Mary del Secret Garden – is one of the most beloved protagonists of Booksas their fans tell Sara Scarafia.

For the reading of the week we offer you a story by Shai Baitel, curator and director of international artistic projects, which traces all the ways in which, since the time of hieroglyphics, men have invented visual languages ​​to describe the range of feelings: from Caravaggio’s painting to Kenny Scharf’s murals up to the “smilies” of cell phones, the latest way to show empathy.

As always, there are many reviews of the upcoming books, starting with Do you remember Mattie Lantry?, latest novel by William Wall brought to Italy by Guanda: a story set during the pandemic, with a mystery at the center. She read it for us, and she tells us about it, the great Irish writer Catherine Dunne. While with Felicia Kingsley we discover a novel published in 1910 by the Swedish writer and activist Elin Wägner, The nib (HarperCollins), which recounts, in brilliant and very current tones, the fight for the female vote.

Finally, Nadeesha Uyangoda reviewed the poetic and allegorical debut text of Aliyeh AtaeiIranian-Afghan author, published for the first time in Italy: it’s titled Buried belly (Utopia). The author to be rediscovered by popular demand from readers this week is the poet Umberto Bellintani, dreamlike and visionary, in the portrait of Maurizio Cucchi.

For comics Valerio Bindi interviewed the American author Chris Ware, protagonist of a major exhibition in Pordenone, who says: “Lines give meaning to chaos: I want the drawing to be clear while, on the contrary, I try to make history as confusing as life is.”

In art we take you to Doha where theArab Design Now gathers in the M7 building, the epicenter of the local creative industry, over 70 emerging names from the Middle East and the majority are women, as Brunella Torresin tells us.

Luca Valtorta interviewed for the shows Ravi Coltrane, son of John and Alice Coltrane. Finally, this week’s Straparlando is with Stefano Bonagaphilosopher who still believes in the utopia of communism.