Bridge of Ajia

January 28: Today in the history of children’s books

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⚰️ January 28, 2002 — Passed away Astrid Lindgren

Famous Swedish chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture authorAstrid Lind­grenShe died in 1907–2002. She was one of the great­est chil­dren’s book authors of the 20th cen­tu­ry, and her works com­plete­ly changed the way chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture viewed “chil­dren”.

  • High­est Hon­or:
  • Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA): At 1958 Award­edInter­na­tion­al Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award for Writ­ers(Sec­ond-year win­ner). In her hon­or, the Swedish gov­ern­ment estab­lished a memo­r­i­al hall after her death.Lind­gren Memo­r­i­al Award (ALMA)This is cur­rent­ly the world’s high­est-pay­ing chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture award.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works:
  • Pip­pi Long­stock­ing（Pip­pi Long­stock­ingThat incred­i­bly strong, freck­led, uncon­ven­tion­al red-haired girl became an eter­nal sym­bol of free­dom and inde­pen­dence.
  • Emil the Naughty（Emil of Lön­neber­ga）、Carl­son the Fly­ing Man（Karls­son on the Roof(and Lion­heart, etc.)

| Death Astrid Lind­gren | Astrid Lind­gren (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 28, 1927 – Birth: Vera B. Williams

Amer­i­can author and illus­tra­torVera WilliamsBorn in 1927–2015. Her works often focus on the lives of work­ing-class fam­i­lies, full of warmth and opti­mism.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Calde­cott Hon­or:
  • 1983: Moth­er’s Red Sofa（A Chair for My Moth­erThe sto­ry tells of a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly who, after los­ing every­thing in a fire, work togeth­er across three gen­er­a­tions to save up coins to buy a com­fort­able red sofa. It is rich in col­or and deeply mov­ing.
  • 1991: I want more, I want more!（““More More More,” Said the Baby).

| born | Vera B. Williams | Vera B. Williams (Wikipedia) |

🎂 January 28, 1874 – Birth: Mary Tourtel

British illus­tra­tor and car­toon­istMary Tut­tleBorn (1874–1948).

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Rupert the Bear（Rupert the BearIn 1920, she cre­at­ed the image of Rupert, a lit­tle bear wear­ing a red sweater and a yel­low plaid scarf, for the Dai­ly Express. Rupert became an icon­ic sym­bol of British cul­ture, and his adven­ture sto­ries accom­pa­nied gen­er­a­tions of British chil­dren as they grew up, and he was includ­ed in “1001 Chil­dren’s Books”.

| born | Mary Tour­tel | Mary Tour­tel (Wikipedia) |

🎂 Born January 28, 1969: Iku Dekune

Japan­ese illus­tra­torIzuku NeiyuBorn in Prague. She lived in Prague for many years, and her paint­ing style was deeply influ­enced by East­ern Euro­pean art.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • BIB Grand Prix: She 2003 With the work “Ame­frasi-Ame­furashi(Also trans­lat­ed as “The Rain Mon­ster”) won an awardGrand Prix at the Bratisla­va Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Illus­tra­tion (BIB)Her paint­ing style is del­i­cate and mys­te­ri­ous, often pos­sess­ing a unique tex­ture rem­i­nis­cent of tem­pera paint­ing.

| born | Iku Dekune | Iku Dekune (Inter­net Search) |

⚰️ January 28, 1972 – Died: Dino Buzzati

Famous Ital­ian writer, jour­nal­ist, and painterDino Buz­za­tiHe died in 1906–1972.

  • Impor­tant works and con­tri­bu­tions:
  • Bears Invade Sici­ly（La famosa inva­sione degli orsi in Sicil­ia(1945): This is a clas­sic fairy tale he wrote and illus­trat­ed him­self.
  • con­tent: The sto­ry tells of King Lyons, a bear who, in search of his son kid­napped by humans, leads his pack down the moun­tain to invade Sici­ly, where he estab­lish­es a king­dom. How­ev­er, he is ulti­mate­ly forced to return to the moun­tains due to the influ­ence of human vices. The book fea­tures unique illus­tra­tions and pro­found mean­ing, and is includ­ed in the “1001 Chil­dren’s Books” series.

| Death | Dino Buz­za­ti | Dino Buz­za­ti (Wikipedia) |

⚰️ January 28, 2025 — Passed away: Marina Colasanti

Brazil­ian writer and jour­nal­istMari­na Cor­lastieHe died in 1937–2025.

  • Impor­tant works and achieve­ments:
  • Inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion: She was short­list­ed 2024 Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen Award (HCAA) for Best WriterShort­list.
  • Rep­re­sen­ta­tive works: Com­plete­ly Blue IdeasUma ideia toda azulHer fairy tales, includ­ing “A Short His­to­ry of Love,” are char­ac­ter­ized by con­cise, poet­ic, and sym­bol­ic lan­guage, explor­ing themes of female iden­ti­ty, love, and free­dom.

| Death Mari­na Colas­an­ti | Mari­na Colas­an­ti (Wikipedia) |

🗓️ Other Important Person Briefings

eventfig­ureDetails/AwardsMain Ref­er­ence
bornPer­cy Trezis (Per­cy Trezise)Aus­tralian writer and painter. His rep­re­sen­ta­tive work is *The Quin­cy*.The Quink­insHe col­lab­o­rat­ed with Indige­nous artist Dick Rough­sey to doc­u­ment Aus­tralian Indige­nous myths and leg­ends.Link
DeathSteve Thorn­field (Steve San­field)A renowned Amer­i­can sto­ry­teller and folk­lorist. His mas­ter­piece, *The Adven­tures of John the Con­queror*, focus­es on com­pil­ing and retelling African Amer­i­can folk tales.Link

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