Edmunds Jansons

Graduated from Riga Professional School of Polygraphy, attended the animation course of the Dauka film studio, the TV directing course of the Latvian Academy of Culture and the animation directing course of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. He has been successful as a director, animator and computer graphic artist. His animated films have been included in the programmes of many international festivals in the USA, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Russia and other countries.

He has received several awards for animated films in various competitions, for example, for the film “Springtime in Vārnu Street” (2009). In 2008, in collaboration with the Latvian National Opera, he created a video and animation for the children’s opera production “Puppet Opera”. His successful collaboration with poetess Inese Zandere and the publishing house liels un mazs has resulted in several children’s books: “Lemonade” (Limonāde. I. Zandere. R.: liels un mazs, 2005), nominated for the 2006 Jānis Baltvilks Prize, “If You Are a Piglet. 25 Riddle Rhymes” (Ja tu esi sivēns. 25 mīklupanti. I. Zandere. R.: liels un mazs, 2006), nominated in the book art competition Zelta ābele 2007, and “Superbaby’s Year” (Brīnumbēbīša gads. I. Zandere. R.: liels un mazs, 2008), nominated in Zelta ābele 2008. The last of these books won E. Jansons a place in the 2010 IBBY Honour List of world illustration. In 2009 he received the Annual Prize for Book Publishing and the Jānis Baltvilks Prize for Book Art for his illustrations to the book “Teacher Jaap” by the Dutch author J. Vriens (1946) (translation: I. Paklone, design: Ū. Laukmane. R.: liels un mazs, 2009).

And children’s books as luxury goods must be the most valuable thing worth keeping in your home. (Edmunds Jansons)