Yukiko Hiromatsu (Japan)
Picture Book Author, Critic, Independent Curator; Vice-president, JBBY
After working as an editor, and chief curator of the Chihiro Art Museum, Yukiko Hiromatsu became a freelance picture book writer, critic, and independent curator. Her writings include Japanese Picture books – 100 Years, 100 Illustrators, 100 Books, the series Picture Books of Old Tales for Now Vols. 1-11, Welcome Home Egg, and Tottoko Kuma-kun Way Back Home. She has sat on the international jury of the Bologna llustrators Exhibition (2010), the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (2013, 2015, jury president of 2017), and the Nami Concours (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023). She serves as vice-president of JBBY (Japanese Board on Books for Young People).
®Carson Ellis
Jon Klassen (USA)
Author, Illustrator
Jon Klassen is a Canadian-born author and illustrator. He has worked in animation and design but now focuses mainly on books for children, including “I Want My Hat Back”, “This Is Not My Hat”, and his latest book is “The Skull”. His books have won a Caldecott medal and two Caldecott honors and other international awards. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.
Morgane Vasta (France)
Freelance Mediator; Lecturer, Epigramme & Collegram
Initially a bookseller for children, Morgane Vasta is now a freelance mediator. She trains librarians in the field of children's literature and gives talks on the latest trends. She also runs workshops for teenagers, nurturing their enthusiasm for creative writing and reading.
After completing a master's degree specializing in children’s literature, Morgane Vasta has been a research associate at the French national library. She has published articles on the challenges of translation and the diversity of representations in literature. She currently teaches courses at the University of Sorbonne Paris Nord.
As a member of IBBY, Morgane is interested in the way illustrations for children can bridge different cultures. She is a juror of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Xiao Aozi (China)
Artist; Associate Professor, School of Design and Art, Hunan University
Born in 1971, Xiao Aozi graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Art. In 2010 she went to the University of the Arts London as a visiting scholar. Later she continued her study in Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University, UK between 2017-2019. She now works as an associate professor at the School of Design and Art, Hunan University.
Awards：Blazing City,1938 (2023 Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award, CICLA), Grandma's Magic Patchwork (2018 Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award, CICLA), Frog Laughs Over won the Excellence Award of 2017 Little Hakka International Picture Book Award, and The Story of China won the Bronze Medal of the 9th National Exhibition of Book Design In China. Other works: The Leaf of Happiness, The Little Umbrella, The Big Billed Pelican, The Return of the Crane, Where is Deng Deng, etc.
Yao Hong (China)
Professor, Nanjing University of the Arts
Yao Hong, born in 1961 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, majored in Chinese Painting and graduated from Nanjing University of Arts (NUA) in 1982. She used to be the senior editor at Jiangsu Children’s Publishing House and currently holds the position of a professor in the Illustration Department at NUA. She also works as part-time researcher at the Curriculum and Textbook Research Center of the National Institute of Education Sciences and as guest researcher at the Center for Writing and Research in Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
Her illustrated picture book Teeth Marks has won the Little Pine tree Award; King of Flying Kisses has won the National Book Award; The Grand Fairytale of the Evening has won the Bingxin Book Award; and Enchantment with Peking Opera has received the Asia - Pacific Children’s Book Gold Award, the Feng Zikai Chinese Children’s Picture Book Award, the 26th Japan Picture Book Award, and the Special Prize from the Jiangsu Provincial Government Award on Press and Publication. Enchantment with Peking Opera has also won the support of the government art fund project and has been adapted into a dance drama of the same name.
