Igor Oleynikov wins the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award

Russian illustrator Igor Oleynikov has won the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award during the Bologna Book Fair that closes today, March 29th. Russian illustrator won the award along with and Japanese writer Eiko Kadono.

It's worth mentioning, the Hans Christian Andersen Award is one of the most prestigious international awards for children’s books. There are two awards,for a writer and an illustrator. This year the winners were announced by the Head of Jury Patricia Aldana, who marked that “the judging process had been positive and harmonious among the 12 diverse jury members from 12 countries.”

Igor Oleynikov is famous for illustrating original fiction and fairy tales, as well as Russian classics such as stories by Alexander Pushkin and Nikolay Gogol. “This exceptional illustrator can bring the page alive in a way that must be the envy of his peers. Though he claims not to like illustrating ‘cute’ children, he is more than capable of creating beauty — in his landscapes and in his characters. Beautiful or not, human or not, they burst with life, movement and expression.” - wrote the jury in its award statement.

Born in Moscow in 1953, Oleinikov studied chemistry at the Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering. Later he's started working as an assistant art director and quickly moved up to the position of art director himself, without any formal education in art. During Soviet times he's become a well-known animator for a number of cartoons, including the very popular one called The Mystery of the Third Planet. Oleinkiov has worked for publishers all over the world. He's illustrated for a number of very popular titles by Russian publishing houses, including Lewis Carrolls' Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L. Stevenson, and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.

Russkiy Mir