Norsk versjon.

The Icelandic author and illustrator Rán Flygenring is this year’s winner of the Nordic Council’s Children and Young People’s Literature Prize for the picture book Eldgos.

The award ceremony took place in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday night in connection with the Nordic Council’s annual session, which has taken place at the Norwegian Storting this week.

Eldgos (“volcanic eruption”) offers a playful and humorous depiction of a motley crowd of tourists meeting with an awakening volcano.

“The story bursts with power, both capturing and propelling our fascination with extreme natural phenomena. Yet it also touches on conflicting emotions that arise as the land collapses, lava flows, and new mountains emerge, as well as the emotions connected to more mundane matters such as a lice epidemic or seeing your surroundings being flooded with tourists,” writes the jury.

This children’s book is inspired by Flygenring’s many trips to lively volcanoes on the Icelandic peninsula Reykjanes. There are around 30 larger volcanoes and 700 craters there.