Eiko Kadono (left) and Igor Oleynikov
Eiko Kadono won the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award — considered the Nobel Prize for children’s literature.
Kadono, a Japanese children’s author, used to work in the publishing department at Kinokuniya in Japan.
Kadono received the prize for writing, and Russian artist Igor Oleynikov was awarded the honor for illustration.
One of Kadono’s most famous works is Kiki’s Delivery Service — about a young witch in the town of Koriko — which was originally published in 1985 in Japan and translated in the U.S. in 2003. The book, which launched a series, was adapted into an animated film.