Kitty Crowther wins Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for children’s literature

Crowther wins lit award

Belgian illustrator and author Kitty Crowther won the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for children’s literature Wednesday for her ability to express deep humanism in all her work.

Crowther, 39, has written more than 30 titles, most of which were first published in Belgium and France.

The annual $620,000 award is named after late Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, creator of the Pippi Longstocking book series. It was established by the Swedish government in 2002 and will be handed out by Princess Madeleine in a ceremony June 1.

-- associated press Stolen Klee art is recovered

A painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee that was stolen from a New York gallery in 1989 has been recovered after a Montreal gallery owner became suspicious and turned it over to U.S. authorities.

Robert Landau turned over the 1930 painting “Portrait in the Garden” by the Neo-impressionist artist to U.S. authorities after a Florida art dealer tried to sell it to him. It had been stolen from the Marlborough Gallery.

U.S. authorities then handed over the painting to the London-based Art Loss Register, which maintains a 350,000-item database of stolen artworks.

A spokeswoman for the Marlborough Gallery, Janis Gardner Cecil, said the $100,000 painting is now owned by Marlborough’s insurer, Lloyd’s of London, which will auction it.

-- associated press Broad museum site isn’t set

Despite rumors to the contrary, the final destination for Eli Broad’s proposed art museum still appears to be up in the air.

The Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday evening to approve agreements in principle with the Broad Foundations. The 5-1 decision means the city has approved a preliminary framework that enumerates obligations for the city and Broad, but it doesn’t mean that the museum will end up in Santa Monica.

Other locations in competition for Broad’s museum include Beverly Hills and downtown L.A.’s Grand Avenue project.

Earlier this month, a report in the Architects Newspaper stated that Broad was set to choose Grand Avenue as the site for his museum. A spokeswoman for the Grand Avenue Committee said Wednesday that the report was inaccurate.

-- David Ng Akon delays Sri Lanka concert

R&B star Akon has postponed a planned concert in Sri Lanka following angry protests over a music video he is in in which scantily clad women dance in front of a Buddha statue.

Akon, who expressed regret and said he was not previously aware of the statue in the video, “Sexy Chick,” would have been the highest profile international singer to come to this predominantly Buddhist, Indian Ocean island since the end of a brutal 25-year civil war last year.

Sri Lanka said Wednesday it would not issue Akon a visa for next month’s concert, and his booking firm confirmed the show had been postponed amid growing outrage at the singer.

A mob on Monday hurled stones at a private broadcaster that was helping sponsor the event, and a “We Hate Akon” page on Facebook had attracted more than 12,000 members by Wednesday evening.

-- associated press ‘Schindler’s list’ to be auctioned

A New York memorabilia dealer is selling what he claims is the last privately owned copy of a World War II manuscript of Jewish names known as “Schindler’s list” and made famous in a 1993 movie of the same name.

The list was kept by German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved more than 1,000 Jewish lives from the Holocaust by employing them in his factory during World War II.

New York memorabilia dealer Gary Zimet, who is seeking $2.2 million for his list, said three others are owned by museums, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Zimet, who is representing the manuscript’s seller, said it had been held for more than 55 years by the family of Schindler’s accountant, Itzhak Stern. The Stern family recently sold it to the current, unidentified owner, Zimet said.

-- reuters ‘Fred’ to star in own movie

Lucas Cruikshank’s hyperactive, high-pitched Internet child persona “Fred” will appear in his own movie on Nickelodeon.

The 6-year-old character premiered on YouTube in 2008. Fred’s hyperkinetic video exploits, which follow his crush on Judy, his dealings with his nemesis Kevin and his awkward attempts at dancing and working out, regularly attract millions of online viewers.

Fred made the leap from the computer screen to the TV last year, when the character appeared on “iCarly.” The episode drew such large numbers -- 5.1 million viewers -- that Nickelodeon was receptive to a bigger project. “Fred: The Movie” will air later this year.

It’s quite a coup for Cruikshank, a 16-year-old high school student from Nebraska who, on his Facebook page, said he created Fred as a satiric sendup of self-absorbed video bloggers.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski