Laurie Halse Anderson Wins the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Laurie Halse Anderson, photo credit: Randy Fontilla
New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson is the recipient of the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The award is given annually to a person or organization for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature.
The Citation of the Jury reads: “In her tightly written novels for young adults, Laurie Halse Anderson gives voice to the search for meaning, identity, and truth, both in the present and the past. Her darkly radiant realism reveals the vital role of time and memory in young people’s lives. Pain and anxiety, yearning and love, class and sex are investigated with stylistic precision and dispassionate wit. With tender intensity, Laurie Halse Anderson evokes, moods, and emotions and never shies from even the hardest things.”
Tamar Brazis, Vice President & Publisher, Viking Children’s Books said, “Laurie is a brave and inspiring force, both due to her important, brilliant novels and also her tireless work to combat book banning in this country. We’re extremely proud to count her among our Viking authors and congratulate her on this well-deserved honor.”
Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults. Her 2019 memoir-in-verse, SHOUT, about surviving sexual assault at the age of thirteen and a manifesta for the #MeToo era, has received widespread critical acclaim and is Laurie’s eighth New York Times bestselling book. SHOUT was named a Best Book of the Year by TIME and NPR, among others. Her titles also include the groundbreaking National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor Book Speak as well as the critically acclaimed novels Wintergirls and The Impossible Knife of Memory. Anderson has received both the Margaret Edwards Award and the ALAN Award for her contributions to young adult literature. She has also been honored by the National Coalition Against Censorship in recognition of her fight to combat the censoring of literature.