Hans Christian Andersen Award: russian Arkhipova resigned from post of chairman

russian Anastasia Arkhipova has resigned from the position of the head of the jury of the competition for illustrators named after Hans Christian Andersen.

This is reported in the press release of the World Congress of the International Board of Children's Books (IBBY), Rubryka writes.

As Rubryka wrote, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark will not patronize the children's book award named after Hans Christian Andersen after the controversy over the appointment of academician of the russian Academy of Arts Anastasia Arkhipova to the position of the head of the award jury.

Arkhipova was elected to this position in September 2022 at the World Congress of the International Children's Book Council. Several countries, including Sweden and the Baltic states, were against such a decision because of russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"She (Arkhipova — ed.) has submitted a statement of resignation from the position of chairperson of the jury of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award, which the IBBY Executive Committee accepted. The Executive Committee has also appointed former IBBY Executive Director Liz Page to lead the 2024 Jury as Interim Chair," IBBY said.

They note that IBBY strongly and unequivocally condemns russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. The global IBBY community supports the Ukrainian National Office of IBBY in its work to serve children and families.

"To date, IBBY has published two public statements confirming this position and has also actively participated in supporting projects related to Ukrainian refugees in Poland. More projects will follow," the press release emphasized.

Earlier, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko spoke out in favor of removing Arkhipova from her post.

Award named after Andersen is given to the best children's writers and illustrators. It is awarded once every two years.