April 1, 2011

Australian artist Shaun Tan, fresh off his Oscar win for short film The Lost Thing and the announcement of his Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award with its 5 million krona cash prize, has been signed to this season's cast of the ABC TV series Dancing with the Stars. He joins fellow luminaries including Kirstie Alley, Sugar Ray Leonard, and supermodel Petra Nemcova.

"Despite the last-minute scheduling and the lack of rehearsal time," said show host Tom Bergeron, "we're confidant that Shaun will bring an artistic flair and a unique sensibility to his interpretation of our many dances. We think his presence will make a fabulous season even more exciting."

In other Shaun Tan news, Locus is closely following rumors from Stockholm and reports from odds makers that increasingly favor the writer/artist for this year's Nobel Prize for Literature.