10 questions · Society & Everyday
Astrid Lindgren grows up as Astrid Ericsson on a farm in Vimmerby, southern Sweden; a childhood full of freedom, play and nature that later echoes through almost all her books. At 18 she becomes unexpectedly pregnant and moves alone to Stockholm as an unmarried mother, scraping by as a secretary. They are hard years that leave the future children's author with a lifelong tenderness towards children in difficult circumstances. The most famous character in children's literature owes its existence to a cold: when Astrid's daughter Karin is ill in bed, she demands a story about "Pippi Longstocking"; a name the girl has just invented on the spot. Astrid conjures up a girl who is superhumanly strong, lives alone, obeys no adult and is good all the same. The book appears in 1945 and becomes a worldwide success: even though some parenting experts at first consider the anarchic child a bad influence. The secretary becomes one of the most translated authors in the world: Emil of Lönneberga, the children of Noisy Village, Ronia the Robber's Daughter, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, The Brothers Lionheart; her stories have appeared in over a hundred languages and sold in the millions. For decades she also worked as a publishing editor. Lindgren used her fame politically too: in 1976 a satirical tax story helped shake a Swedish government, and her years of campaigning led in 1988 to the world's first animal-welfare law, nicknamed "Lex Astrid". When she died in 2002 at the age of 94, a whole country mourned. To this day the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, one of the richest literary prizes in the world, honours the woman who gave children a voice.
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Pippi Longstocking
Pippi is superhumanly strong, lives alone and obeys no adult.
💡 Did you know? Pippi Longstocking (a girl stronger than any man who lets no adult rule her) was revolutionary for the 1940s.
a story for her sick daughter
Lindgren invented Pippi as a bedtime story for her sick daughter Karin, who had come up with the cheeky name herself.
💡 Did you know? The unusual name "Pippi Longstocking" came from Karin: Astrid invented the character to fit it.
Sweden
She grew up on a farm near Vimmerby, which inspired many of her stories.
💡 Did you know? Many settings in her books go back to Lindgren's own childhood on a farm in southern Sweden.
e.g. Emil, Noisy Village, Ronia, Karlsson
Her books have appeared in over a hundred languages.
💡 Did you know? Besides Pippi, Lindgren created Emil of Lönneberga, the children of Noisy Village and the adventurous Ronia the Robber's Daughter.
one of the most translated children's authors
Her books have sold hundreds of millions of copies.
💡 Did you know? Lindgren's books have been translated into over 100 languages and sold well over 100 million copies.
animal-welfare law (Lex Astrid)
Through a public campaign Lindgren moved Sweden in 1988 to a stricter animal-protection law, dubbed „Lex Astrid.“
💡 Did you know? She used her fame politically more than once: also against excessive taxes on the self-employed.
young single mother
Those hard years sharpened her lifelong compassion for children in difficult circumstances.
💡 Did you know? As a young unmarried mother, Lindgren had to place her son in foster care for a time: a formative, painful experience.
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
It is one of the richest prizes for children's and young-adult literature in the world.
💡 Did you know? The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award named after her is the world's most richly endowed prize for children's and youth literature.
Foto: Tire Burnäs · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren (1907 to 2002) was a Swedish writer and, with characters like Pippi Longstocking, one of the most important children's authors in the world.
💡 Did you know? On her 90th birthday Lindgren was revered in Sweden almost as a „national saint“: her image even appeared on stamps and banknotes.
1907
Born: 14 November 1907 in Vimmerby, Sweden
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