MARSH AWARD FOR CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Anthea Bell’s translation from German of Kai Meyer’s THE FLOWING QUEEN,
published by Egmont Press has won her the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation.


Presenting the Award on 23rd January 2007 at The Arts Club, London, Wendy Cooling, winner of the 2006 Eleanor Farjeon Award and a judge of the Marsh Award said:

"The Marsh Award is in its second decade and now, more than ever, there's a need to offer young people real choice in their reading - a range of books that offers them a view of the whole world. The richness and originality in this year's short-listed titles takes us some way forward in this aim."

Accepting the award and a cheque for £1000, Anthea Bell responded:

“When that archetypal story-teller the Ancient Mariner holds you with his glittering eye and you cannot choose but hear, the tale he is telling wasn't necessarily in your mother tongue to start with. That is where translations and translators come in. The good story, the real page-turner - like Kai Meyer's book - travels easily between languages, and encouraging such books to enter the English-speaking world is what the Marsh Award is all about.”

· Log on to www.booktrusted.co.uk to read interviews with Anthea, Bell, Kai Meyer and an article by Elizabeth Hammill on judging the Marsh Award – with comments on the winner and all the shortlisted titles.

The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer translated from Dutch by John Nieuwenhuizen Young Picador

A Bridge to the Stars by Henning Mankell translated from Swedish by Laurie Thompson Andersen Press
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke translated from German by Anthea Bell The Chicken House
Just Like Tomorrow by Faiza Guène translated from French by Sarah Adams Random House
Mimus by Lilli Thal translated from German by John Brownjohn Allen & Unwin,