Moeyaert wins lucrative Astrid Lindgren gong

Flemish author Bart Moeyaert has won this year’s £430,000 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Moeyaert published his début novel, Duet met Valse Noten, at the age of 19 in 1983 and has since published more than 50 titles, including picture books, YA novels and poetry. He also writes scripts for TV and theatre, and his books have been translated into more than 20 countries.

The jury for this year’s prize, which comes with the largest cash prize for any children’s book award in the world, said: "Bart Moeyaert’s condensed and musical language vibrates with suppressed emotions and unspoken desires. He portrays relationships at crisis point with a cinematic immediacy, even as his complex narratives suggest new ways forward."

Moeyaert’s latest novel, Tegenwoordig Heet Iedereen Sorry (Everybody’s Sorry Nowadays), was published in October 2018 by Querido.