Taiwanese illustrator Animo Chen's (阿尼默) Taiwanese-Hokkien language book "Love Letter (情批)" received a special mention under the Poetry category of the 2021 edition of the BolognaRagazzi Award(BRAW) on occasion of the Bologna Children's Book Fair (BCBF). BolognaFiere, organizer of the book fair, announced winners of the categories of fiction, nonfiction, comics, opera prima, and poetry on May 26.
This is the second consecutive year for Animo Chen to be honoured by the BolognaRagazzi Award.
According to the organizer's website, the jury pointed out that the mysterious series of poems in "Love Letter" is accompanied by exquisite illustrations. Each poem is accompanied by an evocative and striking illustration which does not simply reflect the text but encourages the reader to think and wonder. The quality of the art work almost takes the reader's breath away.
The Ministry of Culture (MOC) lauded that Chen is good at presenting stories of inner self and integrating the elements of Taiwan's culture in his creations. Specializing in the fields of illustration, manga and animation, the award-winning illustrator also won first place in the Comics-Young Adult category in 2020 Bologna Children's Book Fair, as well as the 44th Golden Tripod Awards under Children and Juvenile category.
Culture Minister Lee Yung-te (李永得) said he is pleased to see works of Taiwanese recognized by international awards, and Chen’s work, which combines the essence of poetry and image aesthetics and is presented in Taiwanese language signifying a tribute to our native language, is special.
The minister said Chen was a grant recipient under the Comics Fund Project supported by MOC, and he will be a writer-in-residence at Literarisches Colloquium Berlin in Germany next year. MOC will continue to offer support to outstanding Taiwanese literary creators and promote their works to the world, he added.
The Bologna Ragazzi Award is a highly regarded international prize, and it acknowledges the best and most innovative illustrated books published worldwide. There are four main award categories this year for Fiction, Non Fiction, Opera Prima, and Comics. A special category is dedicated to Poetry this year. A total of 210 books from 28 countries were evaluated by the jury.