Ryôji Arai
Photo supplied by Ryôji Arai
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2005
Ryôji Arai was born in Yamagata, Japan in 1956. He has an illustrative style all of his own: bold, mischievous and unpredictable. Arai studied art at Nippon University. His art is at once genuine and truly poetic, encouraging children to paint and to tell their own stories. He took the Japanese picture-book world by storm in the 1990s. Since then, he has won multiple awards, including the international Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2005.