JANUARY 29, 2026 — The International Board on Books for Young People today announced the shortlist for the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
There are two categories, writing and illustration, for the 500,000 Danish Kroner prize (around $90,000US), one of the largest international awards for children’s literature. Acclaimed Egyptian writer-illustrator Walid Taher was listed in the illustration category.
The twelve shortlisted writers and illustrators were chosen from a longlist of 78. The shortlist includes:
Writing: Ahmad Akbarpour from Iran, María José Ferrada from Chile, Timothée de Fombelle from France, Lee Geum-yi from the Republic of Korea, Pam Muñoz Ryan from the United States, and Michael Rosen from the United Kingdom.
Illustration: Beatrice Alemagna from Italy, Linda Bondestam from Finland, Cai Gao from China, Gundega Muzikante from Latvia, Walid Taher from Egypt, and María Wernicke from Argentina.
Nominees are assessed on their “lifetime achievement to date and the continuing relevance of their works to children and young people.”
Although several of Walid’s books have been translated to European languages — particularly into French — few have made it to English, outside of his illustrated book for adults, A Bit of Air, translated by Anita Husen.
Walid has been enormously prolific and has won countless awards. A few of his best-known works as a writer are The Black Dot, winner of the 2011 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature and the fun Fizo series, featuring a mischievous boy named Fizo; while some of his best-known works as an illustrator include I Feel Like. . . أشعر وكأن, a book about a little girl who uses imagination to express her feelings (written by Soheir Abaza), published by Dar Al Balsam in 2020, and I Dream of Being a Cement Mixer (written by Hussain Almutawaa), winner of the 2019 Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
You can read a longer reflection on Walid’s work at the IBBY website.
The two winners will be announced at the Annual IBBY Press Conference on Monday, April 13, 2026 at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair.
Also read:
Walid Taher: ‘When I Write, I Consider Everyone a Child’