IBBY has announced the nominees for the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards.  The awards are given every two years to “an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children’s literature.”  The nominees below are selected by IBBY National Sections from 33 countries. 

I always love seeing the covers of the books, even though I don’t speak many of the languages, so here are a selection of book covers from the nominated authors and illustrators along with the list of nominees:

  

Argentina: Author: Maria Teresa Andruetto; Illustrator: Pablo Bernasconi

  
Australia: Author: Christobel Mattingley; Illustrator: Bob Graham

  
Austria: Author: Monika Pelz; Illustrator: Renate Habinger

 
Belgium: Author: Bart Moeyaert; Illustrator: Louis Joos

 
Brazil: Author: Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros; Illustrator: Roger Mello

 
Canada: Author: Tim Wynne-Jones; Illustrator: Stephane Jorisch

 
Cyprus: Author: Elli Peonidou

 
Czech Republic: Illustrator: Peter Sís

  
Denmark: Author: Lene Kaaberbol; Illustrator: Charlotte Pardi

 
Finland: Author: Sinikka Nopola / Tiina Nopola; Illustrator: Virpi Talvitie

 
France: Author: Jean-Claude Mourlevat; Illustrator: Henri Galeron

  
Germany: Author: Paul Maar; Illustrator: Rotraut Susanne Berner

  
Greece: Author: Christos Boulotis; Illustrator: Effie Lada

Iran: Illustrator: Mohammad Ali Baniasadi

 
Ireland: Author: Eoin Colfer

 
Italy: Author: Bianca Pitzorno; Illustrator: Francesco Tullio-Altan

 
Japan: Author: Masamoto Nasu; Illustrator: Satoshi Kako

 
Republic of Korea: Author: Hwang Sun-Mi; Illustrator: Hong Seong-Chan

 
Latvia: Illustrator: Anita Paegle

 
Netherlands: Author: Tonke Dragt; Illustrator: Annemarie van Haeringen

 
Norway: Author: Bjorn Sortland; Illustrator: Oyvind Torseter

 
Romania: Author: Silvia Kerim; Illustrator: Valeria Moldovan

Russia: Illustrator: Gennadij Spirin

 
Serbia: Author: Ljubivoje Rsumovic; Illustrator: Dobrosav Zivkovic

 
Slovak Republic: Author: Daniel Hevier Illustrator: Peter Uchnár

 
Slovenia: Author: Tone Pavcek; Illustrator: Alenka Sottler

 
Spain: Author: Agustin Fernandez Paz; Illustrator: Javier Zabala Herrero

 
Sweden: Lennart Hellsing; Illustrator: Anna-Clara Tidholm

 
Switzerland: Author: Franz Hohler; Illustrator: Kathrin Scharer

 
Turkey: Author: Sevim Ak; Illustrator: Feridun Oral

 
United Kingdom: Author: Philip Pullman; Illustrator: John Burningham

 
USA: Author: Paul Fleischman; Illustrator: Chris Raschka

Venezuela: Illustrator: Arnal Balleste