When Kulturnyheterna reaches Laurie Halse Anderson, she feels "damn happy" and says that the award is a dream come true, especially considering Astrid Lindgren's importance to children all over the world.

- I feel a child's unreserved joy now, it feels like everything is magical and that everything is possible, says Anderson.

She made her debut in 1996 and broke through with the novel "Say something" ("Speak") in 1999, a book that has been translated into several languages ​​and has been made into a movie.

Her novels often deal with difficult subjects, which the jury also noticed.

In the justification for the award, they write, among other things:

"With gentle intensity, Laurie Halse Anderson conjures up states, moods and emotions and never settles for the most difficult."

Anderson tells Kulturnyheterna that she found shelter and hope in books and libraries in her childhood, when the family was having a hard time.

As an author, she writes about racism, sexual violence, eating disorders and bullying, among other things.

- We have always told stories to feel connected with each other and children need stories about the difficult and the easy, to get ready for the world, to learn about themselves and about others.

Occurs on "banned books" lists

Several of Anderson's own books appear on lists of so-called "banned books", books that in some states and districts in the USA are prohibited in schools and are not purchased by libraries.

Two of these titles are, for example, "Säg something" (1999) and "Twisted" (2007).

Anderson says this is due to a vocal extremist minority.

- That extremists should decide what children can read is not right.

"Kids have a right to read and explore what they want and this kind of censorship is archaic," Anderson said.

The Alma prize is awarded in memory of Astrid Lindgren and, in addition to the honor, also means a sum of five million Swedish kronor.

She hasn't had time to think about what the prize winner will do with these yet.

- My children probably have many opinions about how I should spend the prize money, says Anderson and laughs.