Canada’s Jon Klassen wins Swedish children’s lit prize

The sun sets against a Stockholm skyline on Jan. 7, 2016. (Henrik Montgomery / TT News Agency via AP)

Canadian illustrator and children’s author Jon Klassen on Tuesday won a Swedish children’s literature prize for portraying life’s challenges with emotion and humour, the jury of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award said.

Klassen, 44, is perhaps best known for his 2011 debut “I Want My Hat Back” -- featuring a bear looking for his hat who, when he finally finds it, off-page eats the rabbit who stole it -- and the 2012 follow-up “This Is Not My Hat”.

The latter won the prestigious American Caldecott Medal and the British Kate Greenaway Medal, both awarded by professional librarians.

“Through his subtle and evocative storytelling in words and pictures, Jon Klassen opens new perspectives on our place in the universe,” the jury of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award said in a statement.

“With precision, emotion and inventive wit, life’s challenges of uncertainty and hopefulness are portrayed in an interplay of colour and form,” it said, adding that his “brilliant tales stand out for their effortless elegance and ambiguous depth”.

The award, which comes with a prize of five million kronor ($546,000), was created in 2002 in memory of Swedish children’s book author Astrid Lindgren, most known for creating the mischievous character Pippi Longstocking.

Previous winners include Maurice Sendak, Philip Pullman, Ryoji Arai, Kitty Crowther and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Klassen will receive the award from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria at a ceremony at Stockholm’s Concert Hall on May 25.