Klara Bartilsson

Klara Bartilsson is educated at HDK in Gothenburg and Camberwell College of Arts in London. She is an artist, illustrator and pattern designer. She debuted as a children’s book illustrator in 2021 with The Expedition, an adventure about the human body. The picture book Mom is in Trouble was awarded the prestigious Swedish Academy children’s book prize Spårhunden in 2023. Her book The Pine Needle Child was nominated for the August Prize in 2024.

From the Jury’s motivation: “Bartilsson masters the story’s inherent power to make the abstract fully visible and intelligible. The entourages’ empathy is brought to life through The Pine Needle Child, whose endless pine shedding is both threatening and touching. To open Bartilsson’s picture book is to climb into a world of mirrors, seemingly unlike ours but with the same game rules. Both here and there, one can never underestimate the significance of a hug.”

Books by Klara Bartilsson