Kitty Crowther (born 4 April 1970) is a Belgian illustrator and writer of children's books. For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council, the biggest prize in children's literature.
Biography
Kitty Crowther is the Belgian daughter of a British father and a Swedish mother. She was born and grew up in Uccle, part of Brussels, in Belgium. She and her husband now live in Blanmont with their two sons. She studied Graphic Arts at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels. She works mainly in French, occasionally in Dutch, and has as of 2010 created some 35 books of her own, and has illustrated books of others as well, e.g. work by Carl Norac, Bart Moeyaert and Toon Tellegen.Myriam Deru et Mireille Moureau, « Analyse de l'album Mon royaume », dossier « Voyage au royaume de Kitty Crowther », dossier de la revue Cahiers du CLPCF No. 2, 2001 , p. 48-51.
She made her debut in 1994 with Mon royaume (My kingdom). The jury of the Gouden Griffel awarded her a "Vlag en Wimpel" in 1997 for the illustrated book Mon ami Jim.
Further recognition followed in 2003 and 2005, when she received the Silver Pencil for In het pikkedonker (In the pitch dark) and Kleine Dood en het meisje (Little Death and the girl). In 2010 she received the Astrid Lindgren Award, administered by the Swedish Arts Council. In the jury's citation she was described as "the master of line but also of atmosphere".
Works 1994: Mon royaume 1994: Chat-collection, text by Florence Dutruc-Rosset 1995: Un jour mon Prince viendra, text by Andréa Nève 1995: Va faire un tour 1996: Mon ami Jim: translated in English as Jack and Jim in 2000 1997: Copain des peintres: La Boîte à idées des artistes en herbe, text by Geneviève Casterman 1997: Lily au royaume des nuages 1998: Les animaux et leurs poètes, text by Jean-Hugues Malineau 1999: Grote Oma's, text by Bart Moeyaert 1999: La Grande Ourse, text by Carl Norac 2000: Moi et rien 2000: Trois histoires folles de Monsieur Pol 2000: 365 histoires, comptines et chansons. Le Grand Livre des petits by Marie Delafon, Kitty Crowther, Rémi Saillard, and Isabelle Chatelard 2000: Message de bonheur, pour une naissance 2000: 365 histoires pour l'année 2000: Lever de rideau, text by Sophie Dieuaide 2000: Le scoop du siècle, text by Sophie Dieuaide 2000: Ce rat de Custer, text by Sophie Dieuaide 2001: Le père Noël m'a écrit, text by Carl Norac 2001: Tout va très bien, madame la marquise by Paul Misraki, Henri Allum (aka Henry Laverne), Charles Pasquier, and Kitty Crowther 2001: Le Bain d’Elias 2001: Champions du monde, la vie héroïque d'Antoine Lebic, text by Sophie Dieuaide 2002: De verjaardag van de eekhoorn by Toon Tellegen 2002: Scritch scratch dip clapote! 2002: Teri hate tua: L'épouvantable tortue rouge!, text by Jean-François Chabas 2003: L'Enfant racine 2003: La Princesse qui n’existait pas, text by Christian Oster 2004: Petits meurtres et autres tendresses 2004: 365 histoires, comptines et chansons by Jacques Duquennoy, Rémi Saillard, Isabelle Chatelard, and Kitty Crowther 2004: Vingt-neuf moutons, text by Christian Oster 2005: La Visite de Petite Mort 2005: Le grand désordre 2005–2010: Poka et Mine: Le Réveil, Les nouvelle ailes, Au cinéma, Au Musée, Au fond du jardin, Le football 2006: Spinoza et Moi, text by Sylvaine Jaoui 2006: Copain des peintres, text by Geneviève Casterman 2006: Les contes de l'armoire: Trente-cinq contes brefs by Pierre Mosonyi, Kitty Crowther, Eva Almassy, and Fanny Volcsanszky 2006: Les contes des magasins by Aliz Mosonyi, Kitty Crowther, and Eva Almassy 2006: Pas un mot, text by Nathalie Kuperman
2007: Dans moi, text by Alex Cousseau 2007: Un nuage dans le ventre, text by Gilles Abier 2008: Alors? 2009: Petits poèmes pour passer le temps by Carl Norac, Kitty Crowther, and Célestin 2009: Annie du lac 2010: "Le petit homme et Dieu" 2016: Jan Toorop Het lied van de tijd 2018: Stories of the Night, 64pp., (Gecko Press) 2019: The Runaways, text by Ulf Stark 136pp., (Gecko Press)
Awards 2006: Grand Prix triennal de littérature de jeunesse 2010: Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
References
External links
Some examples from her work from The Guardian