Cao was lauded by the jury for crafting children's stories that acknowledge the hardships that children also experience in life. (Photo : Getty Images)
At the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy, Cao Wenxuan, a Chinese children's fiction writer, bagged the Hans Christian Anderson Prize 2016, according to an article by China Daily. He is the first Chinese writer to be shortlisted and win the highly coveted prize awarded to authors and illustrators of children's literature.
"The unanimous choice of the jury, Cao writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges," said Patricia Aldana, the Hans Christian Jury President 2016.
Aldana mentioned "Bronze and Sunflower" and the "Dingding Dangdang series" as "deeply humanistic books" for telling a moving story of how tragic life can also be for children.
"Cao is a great example of how writing wonderful prose and telling stories about brave children facing tremendous difficulties and challenges can attract a very wide and committed child readership as well as helping to shape a literary tradition in China that honors the realities of children's worlds," Aldana said during the awards ceremony.
Cao was born in 1954 in a small rural village in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, where he spent his childhood deep in poverty. He was able to rise above the challenges and study at Peking University, where he eventually became a professor of Chinese literature and children's literature.
Cao, in an interview with Xinhua, attributed his success to the fact that he has a background.
"And my background is China," said Cao. "All of my stories are set in China, all of them are Chinese stories, but at the same time they are the stories of humankind."
Former colleagues and collaborators attest to Cao's storytelling ability.
"I met Cao two years ago here in Bologna, he saw my works and liked the style, because he likes a realistic interpretation of stories, and so he thought that my style could be suitable for his books," said Sonja Danowski, a German illustrator who drew pictures for Cao's "Grass Hut."
Recently, Cao's books have been gaining readership outside China, particularly in Italy, Britain, Germany and France.
Cao's success may very well open the doors for other Chinese authors.
"There will certainly be other Chinese authors who will win the Hans Christian Andersen Prize in the future," said Cao.
