Two books on grandmothers win Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award
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Both books are on an awards streak as they recently won at the 2023 Singapore Book Awards, organised by the Singapore Book Publishers Association.
PHOTOS: STRAITS TIMES PRESS, DIFFERENCE ENGINE
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SINGAPORE – A picture book about a grandmother who encounters a tiger on Pulau Ubin was one of two titles to win the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award at the National Library Building on May 23.
Written by former Straits Times journalist Alan John and illustrated by former ST artist Quek Hong Shin, Grandma’s Tiger (2022) took home the top prize in the picture book category. The book, inspired by a reported tiger sighting in Singapore in 1997, is published by Straits Times Press.
The winner of the middle grade category is Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma 2: Coming Of Age (2022), written by Melanie Lee and illustrated by Arif Rafhan. The comic book, which follows a superhero grandmother with dementia and her granddaughter, is published by Difference Engine.
Arif told ST: “We’re overjoyed that our effort to create awareness on dementia in a comic form receives validation from readers and literary bodies as a whole.”
To write the book, Lee spoke to social workers, caregivers and a person with dementia. She also went on a volunteer attachment at the Asian Women’s Welfare Association’s dementia daycare centre in Yishun.
She said: “These experiences shaped our creative decision to portray Ah Ma as someone with agency and having so much to offer in spite of her condition.”
The biennial book prize, organised by the Singapore Book Council, recognises outstanding children’s books written by Singapore citizens or permanent residents. Each winning title was awarded $3,000 at the presentation, which was part of the Asian Festival of Children’s Content that runs till May 26.
Both books are on an awards streak as they won at the 2023 Singapore Book Awards, organised by the Singapore Book Publishers Association. Grandma’s Tiger won for best picture book and Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma 2 won in the best young person’s title category.
The award is named after Mrs Hedwig Anuar, the first Singaporean director of the National Library who laid the foundations for a modern library system in Singapore.
This latest award has a special significance for John. He said: “I have a personal connection to Mrs Anuar, because my wife Hedwig is named after her and is her godchild. So I’m especially happy that Hong Shin and I now have a Hedwig prize.”
One of the challenges for John and Quek is meeting deadlines as a duo. John says: “The deadlines are a bother because sometimes I’m slow when he’s ready to go, and sometimes it’s the other way around. But we both agree we are the best collaborators, so our next book is in the works already.”
The duo have collaborated on other children’s books featuring animals, such as The One And Only Inuka (2018) and Ubin Elephant (2021).
The 2024 Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award judging panel comprises chief judge Myra Garces Bacsal, an academic and a registered clinical psychologist; Dr Eugene Evasco, an award-winning poet and essayist; and Priscilla Tey, an educator and author.
The judges, who evaluated more than 70 submissions, said the wide range of the entries “reflects how much Singaporean children’s literature has evolved in quality and sophistication over the years”.
