A very special visitor

We had a very special visitor
to the House of Onion today.

He was small.

And gold.

And extraordinarily heavy.

And he came wrapped in an Ikea* pillowcase inside Shaun Tan's backpack.

So, of course, there was cake.

Oscar was very pretty.

And seemed to have a healthy appetite.**

But Shaun had all the good stories - about the lead-up to the big moment and the actual big moment and the moments after the big moment, and the Vanity Fair after-party,*** and Billy Crystal, and what it felt like to receive this rather exciting phone call.

An assortment of Pippi Longstockings were also in attendance,
to honour the Astrid Lindgren Award.

All in all it was a very pleasing morning.
Yes. A very pleasing morning indeed.

* Yes. Oscar was cloaked in a pillowcase of Swedish origin. As is fitting for the Oscar of an Astrid Lindgren Award winner.

** That's our story and we're sticking to it.

*** Apparently just like CBCA events... no really, actually just the same.

And the Oscar goes to... UPDATED

We're sure we were not the only ones squealing with delight when Shaun Tan & Andrew Ruhemann won the Oscar for The Lost Thing yesterday. As Shaun said: Wow! This is quite surreal.

Oh, how we loved seeing Shaun up there on that Oscar's stage accepting the award for the little Lost Thing that could. It's possible we got a little teary. And maybe even a bit over-excited when we saw the back of Shaun's head in the background of the red carpet segment.

For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the trailer.

Meanwhile, far far from the glitz and glam of Hollywood, Shaun was the recipient of another award. On Saturday night in the tiny hamlet of Riddells Creek, the children's book community gathered to celebrate the Dromkeen Medal, which is presented by the Governors of the Courtney Oldmeadow Children's Literature Foundation for "significant contribution to the appreciation and development of children's literature in Australia".

Unfortunately, Riddells Creek is a world away from L.A., so Shaun was unable to attend, but he was there in spirit and was indeed proud to have Ann James accept the Dromkeen Medal on his behalf.

Thanks ABC Central Victoria for sharing with us Shaun's Dromkeen Medal acceptance speech.*

Huge congratulations, Shaun!**

Now all this winning of items has put us in the mood for a competition.

A Shaun Tan*** related competition.

Stay tuned later in the week...

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Edited to add this photo of SHAUN standing next to JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE.

ST and JT = Best. Thing. Ever.

Photo via.

*It's a wonderful speech. It's possible we got a little teary again reading it.

**Now all we need are pics of Inari's dress, please.

***That's Academy Award Winner Shaun Tan