15. Chinese writer Cao Wenxuan won the 2016 Hans Christian Anderson Award (奖项). He became the first Chinese writer to win this prize for children's books.
Cao's works are mostly about two themes (主题) — social reality (社会现实) and the world of fantasy (幻想). His novel Bronze and Sunflower, for example, tells readers the lives of two lonely children who make friends with each other.
Patricia Aldana, president (主席) of Awards team, told Xinhua News, "Cao is great. His works win the heart of thousands of child readers by writing stories about children facing great difficulties."
In a talk with China Daily, Cao said. "When I was a child, my life was full of sadness and hunger (饥饿). So I hope to help young readers to understand them better by writing stories."
He also said, "From the difficulties the country had, I got to know how important it was to keep smiling and truly love people around. I believe that's how Chinese people went on with their lives at difficult times."
Cao not only writes about social reality, he also makes his readers think freely. In A Feather (羽毛), he tells the story of a feather's trip to a mother bird by using the voice (声音) of a child.
Speaking to China Daily, he said that "quite a few ideas are about where it came from and where it was going."
Cao's works take us to different places and open our minds in different ways. It's no surprise that his novels are best-sellers.