Oskar Kroon does not shy away from difficult and dark subjects. The jury describes his writing as timeless and courageous, “with a language that manages to be both obvious and tortuous at the same time”.
The prize winner himself is both humble and proud, he says in a press release.
“Astrid Lindgren, how I loved being scared by her! As a child, there was always something to be afraid of. I was terrified of the scouts in ‘Mio, min Mio’, the Sparrow in ‘Emil in Lönneberga’, and not least the most terrifying of all Småland ghosts: Skinn Skerping. And yet, as a reader, I was always safe in the hands of the storyteller Astrid Lindgren.”
Oskar Kroon, born in 1980, made his debut with the children’s book "My Window to Space" in 2018. The following year, he received the August Prize for "Waiting for the Wind", and in 2023 he received it for the second time for "Vitsippor och pissråttor".
The Astrid Lindgren Prize was established by her publisher, Rabén & Sjögren, in 1967 as a kind of 60th birthday present to the author. It is awarded for “a meritorious contribution to children’s and young adult literature”, and previous recipients include Barbro Lindgren, Henning Mankell, Jenny Jägerfeld and, in 2025, Ingelin Angerborn.
The prize money is 100,000 kronor.
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