Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Lindgren was born in 1907 as Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson in Vimmerby, where she grew up on a farm. At the age of 18 she got pregnant and left her home to live in Stockholm. Here she met and married Sture Lindgren.  The Lindgrens had two children. She wrote her first story Britt-Mari opens her heart in 1944. Her second book: Pippi Longstocking was published in 1945. She wrote the book as a present for her daughter on her tenth birthday. She received the Raben & Sjögren’s Best Children’s Book prize for Pippi.  She was a book editor for that publisher over a long period of time. Lindgren received many awards for her work, including the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for Pippi Longstocking in 1973, The Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1958; and the international Book Award from Unesco in 1993. Her publisher, Viking Press, received the Mildred Batchelder Award for her books, Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter, in 1984. She received other recognition including honorary doctorates from universities and The Wilhelm Hansen honorary award in 1997. Most of her stories have been adapted for the stage and have been produced world-wide.