Japanese author Eiko Kadono, known for her novel "Kiki's Delivery Service," has won the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, considered the Nobel prize in children's literature, the Swiss-based award organizer said.

"Kadono's books are always surprising, engaging, and empowering. And almost always fun. And always life affirming," the International Board on Books for Young People said on its website.

Kadono, 83, is the third Japanese to receive the award, following Michio Mado in 1994 and Nahoko Uehashi in 2014.

"I am really honored to receive the award named after Andersen, whom I have loved since my childhood," said Kadono.

Kadono has produced a number of picture books and novels, including "Kiki's Delivery Service" which was about a girl named Kiki who in following her mother to become a witch must live by herself in a town and survive by using her powers.

The book was adapted into an immensely popular animated film of the same title in 1989 by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli, and into a live action film as well in 2014. 

"The language in her picture books is notable for its playfulness and use of onomatopoeia. And of course, the beautiful, but simple language in her novels makes them extremely readable," the organizer said.

The board also picked Igor Oleynikov from Russia as the winner of this year's illustration prize, saying, "His versions of the classics are always original and surprising, never obvious or what one might expect. He is equally brilliant with Andersen, Grimm, the Old Testament, and Lear."

An award ceremony will be held on Aug. 30 in Athens.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is given every other year to an author and an illustrator whose works have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature. The author's award has been given since 1956 and the illustrator's award since 1966.

The award winners are picked by an international jury of children's literature specialists. The selection criteria include aesthetic and literary qualities as well as the ability to see things from a child's point of view.