J. K. Rowling Receives Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in Denmark, Updated: Video and Images
J.K. Rowling
Posted by: Edward
October 19, 2010, 04:02 PM
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling was on hand in Odense, Denmark today to be the first recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature prize. The BBC has video online from the event, which features Ms. Rowling receiving the award as well as her acceptance speech. Watch right here!
Update 2: J. K. Rowling's full speech can now be
viewed via this link.
The first set of photos from the event are starting to appear online and can be seen
via this link to our Image Galleries.
She is the first recipient of the 500,000 kroner ($93,352) award, which was handed out Tuesday at a ceremony in Odense, Andersen's hometown.
The prize is given to a person who can be compared with Andersen, the Danish writer who was born in 1805 and wrote some 160 fairy tales and poems before his death in 1875.
As we reported
previously, this honor is given in the name of the prolific author of classic fairy tales such as The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling and many more beloved stories. We expect more online from the event shortly, so please stay close to Leaky for the latest.
1061 Points
Congratulations Jo, a very very very well deserved award!
God i love that woman! I agree with everything she said, childrens literature should not be watered down. I spent a few months working in a school and i was the one the children read their books to everyday, and my god the mindless and thoughtless things they read to me! It was just words on a page, not a world to lose yourself in, not characters to fall in love with, just words.
I struggle with the whole “well as long as they’re reading something, it doesn’t matter what it is” thing, is it unreasonable to want childrens stories to be engaging, challenging and captivating? climbs down from soap-box
Anyway, congrats Jo, please keep writing, i don’t mind if its not Harry Potter!
1061 Points
The point i was trying to get across is that, if people go down the, ‘as long as children are reading it doesn’t matter what it is’ route, then you might as well hand them the phone book! climbs down from soap-box again :D
9300 Points
There’s no doubt that JKR is deserving of this honor, and it is especially prestigious to be the first one ever selected for it. But I’m a little perplexed about the cash award that goes with it. It seems to me that anyone whose body of work is demonstrably comparable to that of Hans Christian Andersen is very likely someone who doesn’t really need the money. Certainly for JKR, $93K is chump change (and my guess is that she will punt it to one of her favorite charities). For a writer trying to get established, on the other hand, having such a sum fall into your lap would mean two or three years of having the luxury of enough time to crank out a novel instead of having to piece together other bits of journeyman work in order to make ends meet. But such a person would by definition not even be considered for an award like this. I’m thinking that the Hans Christian Andersen Literary Prize makes more sense as being an honor only. Then the organizers could find some poor-but-talented zhlub to support with the money they’ve raised while he or she gets that great first novel written.
Congratulations J.K. Rowling!