Sunday, 19 June 2011

How does an award-winning children's book illustrator answer questions? With drawings, of course. Australian author-illustrator Shaun Tan recently gave SPIEGEL an interview -- and expressed himself using just pen and paper.
Tan, who was born in 1974 in Perth, Australia, lives and works as an artist and author in Melbourne. His books include "The Rabbits," "The Red Tree," Tales from Outer Suburbia" and "The Arrival," an acclaimed wordless graphic novel about a migrant who leaves his home country for a better life. He has also worked as a concept artist on animated films, including "Horton Hears a Who" and "Wall-E."
Tan is the winner of this year's Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, one of the most prestigious prizes in children's literature. The award, administered by the Swedish Arts Council, comes with an endowment of 5 million Swedish krona (about €544,000 or $777,000).

SPIEGEL: Mr. Tan, you recently won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a sort of Nobel Prize for picture book authors. Your success as an an illustrator and author is being celebrated around the world. But you are not yet a household name. Could you please introduce yourself?