The winners of the 2017 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have now been announced, with both winners coming from the United States for the first time.
The Carnegie award goes to American Ruta Sepetys for her New York Times-bestselling novel Salt to the Sea, following four fictional characters aboard the real ship the Wilhelm Gustloff during its sinking. Over 9,000 people, most of them refugees, died in the disaster; not, however, Sepetys’ cousin who decided last minute not to take her scheduled trip. It was this connection that started Sepetys down a three-year research project that culminated in Salt to the Sea.
Artist and author Lane Smith was the winner of the Kate Greenaway award for his illustrations in There is a Tribe of Kids, following a child’s journey through the world of collective nouns, navigating families of stars, pods of whales and more. Although American himself, his inspiration comes from the quirky style of various British artists, and he stated “to be acknowledged from the land of many of my favourite illustrators is an enormous honour.”
For more details on the winners, shortlists and the awards, see the CILIP website.
