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Astrid Lindgren- Author; Tire Burn盲s-

10 Amazing Facts about Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, who was born in 1907 and passed away in 2002, was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several popular children’s book series that actually did quite well. These include  Pippi Longstocking, Emil of L枚nneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children (Children of Noisy Village in the US), and for the fantasy novels, those like Mio, My Son, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, and The Brothers Lionheart.

Astrid grew up in N盲s, near Vimmerby, Sweden, and actually, many of her books are based on her family and childhood memories. Thus every creative work of hers has a personal touch.

1. Has written more than 30 books for children

Story Time with Daddy- Photo by Picsea on

Astrid Lindgren had the opportunity to work on the Children’s Literature Editorial Board at the Rab茅n & Sj枚gren publishing house in Stockholm where she wrote more than 30 books solely targeting children.

Due to this accomplishment, in January 2017, she was calculated to be the world’s number 18 most-translated author, and the fourth most-translated children’s writer after Enid Blyton, Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

2. Astrid has sold about 167 million books worldwide

Old books on a shelf- Image by Gerhard from

Believe me, writing isn鈥檛 as easy as it may sound. It isn鈥檛 a walk in the park and more often than not, it can be quite frustrating whether or not you have the talent for it. So to hear that Astrid managed to sell roughly 167 million books, trust me that is no easy feat. It is quite impressive and commendable.

Moreover, in 1994, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award due to her 鈥渦nique authorship dedicated to the rights of children and respect for their individuality.鈥� Goes to show how accomplished she was in this area.

3. Lindgren has quite a story of how she began.

Lindgren as a young girl in 1923- Author; Chr. Wid茅n-

Hers is an interesting story of how she began. Here it is. After finishing school, Lindgren took a job with a local newspaper in Vimmerby, her hometown. She had a relationship with the chief editor of that newspaper. He was however a married man but after falling pregnant, he proposed marriage to Astrid in 1926.

She however turned him down and instead moved to the capital city of Stockholm, where she learnt to become a typist and stenographer. This proved to be handy because later, she would write most of her drafts in stenography.

Within no time, she gave birth to her son in Copenhagen but left him in the care of a foster family. She was poorly paid in that job but still managed to save whatever she could so as to travel to Copenhagen and be with her son.

Eventually, she managed to bring her son home with her, leaving him in the care of her parents until she could afford to take care of him by herself in Stockholm.

4. Astrid worked as a journalist before becoming a full-time author

Press- Image by Alexa from

Before becoming a full-time author, Lindgren worked as a journalist and secretary. She actually served as a secretary for the 1933 Swedish Summer Grand Prix and in the early 1940s, worked as a secretary for criminalist Harry S枚derman. This particular experience has been quoted as the inspiration behind her fictional detective novel, 鈥�Bill Bergson.鈥�

5. She has won a number of awards for her novels

Awards- Photo by Ariel on

In 1944 Lindgren scooped second prize in a competition that was held by Rab茅n & Sj枚gren, with the novel Britt-Marie l盲ttar sitt hj盲rta (The Confidences of Britt-Marie).

A year later in 1945, she won first prize in the same competition with her chapter book, 鈥楶ippi Langstrump,’ which had previously been rejected by Bonniers.

Since Rab茅n & Sj枚gren published it, it ended up becoming one of the most loved children鈥檚 book in the world having even been translated into 60 different languages.

In 1956, the German-language edition of her book, Mio, min Mio (Mio, My Son) won the Children’s book award. Actually, sixteen books of her books made to the Children’s Book and Picture Book longlist, between 1956鈥�1975, but only Mio, My Son won a prize in this category.

In 1958 again, she received the second Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Rasmus p氓 luffen (Rasmus and the Vagabond).

In 1956 again, one of her many novels was developed from her screenplay and was filmed in 1957.

Then in 1995, Astrid was awarded the 鈥業llis quorum鈥� by the Swedish government. On her 90th birthday, she was pronounced International Swede of the Year 1997 by Swedes in the World. This is an association for Swedes that are living abroad.

6. Astrid was sent to the US in 1948 by a women鈥檚 magazine to write short essays

Astrid in her element in 1954- Author; Unknown-

A women鈥檚 magazine by the name, of Damernas V盲rld, sent Astrid Lindgren in 1948 to the United States (US), so as to write short essays.

When she arrived in America, she is said to have been quite devasted by the discrimination against black Americans she witnessed.

A few years later, she published a book by the name, 鈥楰ati in America,鈥� a collection of short essays that had been inspired by the trip.

7. She openly spoke against corporal punishment of children

A child being punished- Photo by Artyom Kabajev on

When receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1978, Lindgren made a speech that came to be known as 鈥楴ever Violence!鈥� where she openly spoke against corporal punishment of children. She even teamed up thereafter with scientists, journalists and politicians to promote non-violent upbringing of children.

Due to her efforts actually, a law was introduced in Sweden in 1979 which was prohibiting violence against children. Up until then, there was no such law anywhere in the world.

Because of this, in 1994, Astrid received the Right Livelihood Award as mentioned above for 鈥渉er commitment to justice, non-violence and understanding of minorities as well as her love and caring for nature.鈥�

8. Astrid was also passionate about animal rights.

Protest advocating for animal rights- Photo by Chuko Cribb on

Between 1985 and 1989, Astrid wrote so many articles concerning animal protection and mass production in Swedish magazines, alongside veterinarian Kristina Forslund.

They wanted to launch an awareness campaign in order to promote better animal treatment in factory farming. In the end, their activities led to a new law called Lex Lindgren which was presented to Lindgren on her 80th birthday.

At the time, it was the strictest law concerning animal welfare in the world although both Lindgren and Forslund were unsatisfied with it. Their argument was that not enough had been done and only minor changes had occurred. The articles Forslund and Lindgren wrote were later published in the book, ‘Min ko vill ha roligt.’

9. An annual literary prize was established after her name

Medal award- Image by Adriano Gadini from

In 1967, the publishing group, Rab茅n & Sj枚gren established an annual literary prize, that was named the Astrid Lindgren Prize, to mark Astrid鈥檚 60th birthday. The prize of this award is 40,000 Swedish kronor, usually awarded to a Swedish language children鈥檚 writer every year on Astrid鈥檚 birthday. What a way to honour someone. Shows how indeed she is a respected legend.

10. After Astrid鈥檚 death, her honour was highly placed and valued.

Award ceremony of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2010 at the Stockholm Concert Hall- Author; Prolineserver –

After Astrid鈥檚 death, the government of Sweden had the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award placed in her memory. This is no small feat as it is the world鈥檚 largest monetary award for children鈥檚 and youth literature. The award is in the amount of five million Swedish kronor.

In addition to this honour, in 2005, a collection of her original manuscripts in the Royal Library of Stockholm was placed on UNESCO鈥檚 memory of the World Register.