Astrid Lindgren Biography Quotes 3 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren was born on November 14, 1907, in Vimmerby in the province of Smaland, Sweden. She grew up on the farm Nas with her parents, Samuel August Ericsson and Hanna Jonsson, whose warm, practical love and everyday storytelling would later echo through her books. The landscape of woods, fields, and small-town life, as well as the mischief and camaraderie of her siblings, remained a vital wellspring for the settings and moods she would recreate for readers around the world. Her family valued stories and song, and she devoured books from an early age, discovering both solace and a quiet rebelliousness in literature.

First Jobs, Motherhood, and Marriage
As a teenager she wrote for the local newspaper, Vimmerby Tidning, and then moved to Stockholm, where she trained as a secretary. A turning point came when, still very young, she became pregnant; her son Lars (Lasse) was born in Copenhagen and spent early years with a foster family there while she built a livelihood in Stockholm and visited as often as she could. The experience deepened her resilience and sharpened her empathy for vulnerable children, a perspective that would become a hallmark of her writing. In Stockholm she worked at the Royal Automobile Club (KAK), where she met Sture Lindgren. They married in 1931, and Sture adopted Lars. The couple later welcomed a daughter, Karin, in 1934. Karin (later Karin Nyman) would become a translator and a close guardian of her mother's literary legacy.

From Stories at Home to Pippi Longstocking
The seed for Astrid Lindgren's international breakthrough sprouted at home. When Karin fell ill and asked for a story about a girl named Pippi Longstocking, her mother obliged, inventing the freest of heroines: superhumanly strong, financially independent, defiantly kind, and uninterested in rules that stifled play or justice. Astrid typed up the tales and sent them to publishers; after an initial rejection she revised the manuscript and, in 1945, Pippi Longstocking was published by Raben & Sjogren. The character struck a chord in postwar Europe, offering an irreverent, joyful counterpoint to adult strictures. Ingrid Vang Nyman's bold illustrations complemented the text, and together author and illustrator helped redefine children's literature for the modern era.

Editor at Raben & Sjogren and Key Collaborations
In 1946 Astrid Lindgren became a children's book editor at Raben & Sjogren, working with founders Hans Raben and Carl-Olof Sjogren and with colleagues such as rights manager Kerstin Kvint. She nurtured Swedish and Nordic writers and illustrators, and her editorial sense was shaped by the same conviction that animated her stories: children deserve literature that respects their intelligence and emotions. She formed long, productive partnerships with illustrators, most notably Ilon Wikland, whose images for books such as Karlsson on the Roof and The Brothers Lionheart became inseparable from the texts. Her collaboration with film director Olle Hellbom later brought many of her stories to screens, while composer Georg Riedel's music helped fix them in the cultural memory.

Major Works and Recurrent Themes
Although Pippi became an icon, Lindgren's fiction ranged widely. The Children of Noisy Village offered affectionate portraits of rural childhood. The Emil in Lonneberga books celebrated a boy's inventiveness and lively scrapes, while insisting that mischief and morality can cohabit in a single child. In Mio, My Son and The Brothers Lionheart she ventured into mythic territory, writing about courage, loyalty, and death with a frankness unusual for children's books. Ronia, the Robber's Daughter placed a fiercely independent girl at the heart of a wild forest world, poised between clan loyalties and personal conscience. Across these works, she returned to certain beliefs: that children understand more than adults assume; that freedom and responsibility can grow together; that humor and tenderness temper hardship; and that the natural world deserves wonder and care.

Screen, Stage, and Music
From the 1960s onward, adaptations expanded her audience. Working closely with Olle Hellbom, she crafted scripts for film and television that stayed faithful to the spirit of the books, notably the series Vi pa Saltkrakan (Seacrow Island), which she wrote directly for the screen. The adaptations of Pippi, Emil, and Ronia proved enduring, aided by memorable songs by Georg Riedel. These collaborations brought her characters to life in new media without sacrificing the moral clarity and playful anarchy that defined their origins.

Public Voice and Advocacy
Lindgren used her public stature on behalf of children and animals. In 1978 she received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and delivered her famous speech Never Violence!, arguing that love and respect, not corporal punishment, should guide adult authority; Sweden soon became the first country to ban all corporal punishment of children. She also pushed for animal welfare reforms, writing a series of articles with veterinarian Kristina Forslund that criticized industrial farming practices and urged humane standards; these efforts contributed to stronger Swedish animal welfare legislation often associated with her name. Earlier, in 1976, her satirical essay Pomperipossa in Monismania exposed absurdities in Sweden's tax system, sparking a national debate that drew responses from leading politicians, including finance minister Gunnar Strang. Though she avoided party politics, her interventions were forthright, witty, and grounded in ethical conviction.

Honors and Reflections
Recognition followed her for decades. In 1958 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing, acknowledging the depth and originality of her contribution to children's literature. Later distinctions, including the Right Livelihood Award in 1994, underscored her broader humanistic influence. She also wrote about her parents in the tender portrait Samuel August from Sevedstorp and Hanna in Hult, a return to the sources of her sensibility: love that is patient, humor that is generous, and an abiding faith in ordinary decency. Through the family company Saltkrakan AB, her children, especially Karin Nyman, helped steward her works and their translations, ensuring that editions around the world retained their integrity.

Later Years and Legacy
Astrid Lindgren lived for many years on Dalagatan in Stockholm, where she continued to write, correspond with readers, and serve as a moral compass in public debate. After the death of her husband Sture in 1952 and, later, of her son Lars, she kept working with a steadiness that friends and colleagues admired. She died on January 28, 2002, in Stockholm. The Swedish government soon established the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award to honor creators who advance the values she embodied. Her hometown of Vimmerby, with Astrid Lindgrens Varld and archival initiatives, became a center for celebrating her art and its roots.

More than any list of prizes can convey, her legacy endures in the trust children place in her books and in the adults who return to them seeking courage and consolation. Through the people closest to her parents Samuel August and Hanna, her husband Sture, her children Lars and Karin and through the artists and editors who worked beside her, from Ingrid Vang Nyman and Ilon Wikland to Olle Hellbom and Georg Riedel she built a creative community that amplified her voice. That voice, clear and unfailingly on the side of the child, still speaks across languages and generations.

Our collection contains 3 quotes who is written by Astrid, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Equality - Grandparents.

Other people realated to Astrid: Stieg Larsson (Author), Lasse Hallstrom (Director)

• 1981 Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (Novel)
• 1973 The Brothers Lionheart (Novel)
• 1955 Karlsson on the Roof (Novel)
• 1954 Mio, My Son (Novel)
• 1945 Pippi Longstocking (Novel)

• Wikipedia