“Khanian has been selected for the substantial role he has played in the formation of modern fiction for young adults in Iran,” the council wrote in a press release published on Tuesday.

He received the nomination for “his regard for some humanitarian issues such as peace, respect for others, friendship and love, as well as his care for humanitarian crises such as all types of discrimination, wars, immigration, loneliness, death, identity, generation gap…”        

Bahar was nominated for the award for his great motivation for reading promotion in Iran’s remote areas.

Khanian and Bahar were also nominated for the prestigious Swedish honor to promote children’s and youths’ literature in the world by the Children’s Book Council of Iran in 2021.

Khanian is the author of “A Half Day in the Interrogation Room” and “Compass”. He has also written several other stories, including “Money” and “Where Is My Joseph”, which have been translated into English, Russian and Polish.

The Institute for Research on History of Children's Literature, the Iranian Association of Writers for Children and Youth and the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults are allowed to select Iran’s nominations for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Previously on Monday, the Iranian Association of Writers for Children and Youth announced writer Fereidun Amuzadeh-Khalili and book reading promoter Shahla Eftekhari as its nominees for the award in 2022.

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 writer Astrid Lindgren and to promote children’s and youths’ literature from around the world.

Source:Tehran Times