Where does Astrid Lindgren live? Biography of Astrid Lindgren: bibliography, awards and photos

Carlson, Pippi Longstocking, Mio... This writer became the literary mother of heroes who are loved by children and adults all over the world. Astrid Lindgren also had two real, living children - a son and a daughter. In life she was as talented a mother as she was a storyteller in literature.

Astrid Anna Emilia Eriksson was born in November 1907 in Sweden, on the Nes farm. The childhood of the future storyteller was full of closeness to nature, which contributed to the spiritual openness and development of the creative beginning of the young Swede.

" IN parental home Astrid, her brother and sisters lived in an atmosphere of love and harmony.

Astrid's parents met at the market when her mother was 7 and her father 13 years old. Children's friendship grew into sympathy, and later into love. Samuel August and Hannah had four children: the first-born son Gunnar and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Astrid. The children helped their parents with housework, and in their free time rushed around the outskirts of the farm in search of adventure. As Astrid later recalled, adults did not hesitate to show warm feelings towards each other and children, which was rare in peasant families.

On the farm, children were often told folk tales and legends. And the girl first heard the “book” fairy tale at a friend’s house. Her mother read it to her children in the kitchen. The girl liked it so much that, immersed in magical world, it took her a long time to return to reality.

“Soon Lindgren learned to read and write, and reading became her favorite pastime forever.

And already in the elementary grades of school, the future writer demonstrated literary abilities.
After graduating from school, Astrid got a job as a junior reporter at a local publication. Soon she began to live separately from her parents, fell in love with jazz, she liked modern dance, she even got her hair short. At the same time, she had her first romance, a very tragic one. Her lover, editor of Vimmerby magazine Reinhold Blumberg, was 30 years older than the girl and married, although he was in the process of divorce. Enterprising and influential man in 1925, he fell in love with a seventeen-year-old trainee and began to beautifully court her. Astrid had only read about this in books. But she herself was more likely to be amazed by such an extraordinary interest in her “soul and body,” as Reinhold wrote to her, than to be in love. There was something unknown, dangerous and all the more attractive about this relationship, as Astrid Lindgren said in 1993:

“Girls are such fools. No one had seriously fallen in love with me until then, he was the first. And of course, it seemed fascinating to me.”

An 18-year-old journalist became pregnant. And if everyone knew that Bloomberg had cheated on his wife, his bank account would be empty. Therefore, pregnant Astrid left for Denmark. In the country neighboring Sweden at that time, it was allowed to keep the name of the biological father a secret, so the young woman gave birth to a boy, Lars, in Copenhagen. Shortly before giving birth, Astrid met lawyer Eva Anden, from whom she received some practical advice. She also introduced her to the family of Marie Stevens, a smart and caring woman who, together with her teenage son Karl, helped Swedish mothers before and after childbirth.

" Astrid came to the Stevens family with her newborn son and stayed with him there until Christmas 1926. And then she was forced to leave in order to work, leaving her son in the care of a foster family.

The scene of departure was well remembered by the adoptive mother. Never before had Marie Stevens met a woman who, having given birth in such circumstances, was so happy about her child. Many years later, in 1950, when the boy grew up and he himself had a son, the old foster mother from Copenhagen sent Astrid a letter, where, among other things, she wrote: “You fell in love with your baby from the first moment.”
In January 1927, Astrid continued to study at the Bar-lok school in Stockholm, where they taught typing, accounting, accounting, shorthand and business correspondence. After finishing it, she went to work. In photographs from those years, Astrid Erickson is most often sad and unhappy. She missed her son very much. She tried to visit her boy whenever possible:

“I was paid 150 crowns a month. You won’t get fat from that. And you can’t really go to Copenhagen, and most of all I wanted to go there. But sometimes, with the help of savings, loans and mortgages, I managed to scrape together money for a ticket.”

Twenty-four or twenty-five hours of communication, first every second, and then every third to fifth month for three years - that's all Astrid could afford. In those years, she could not be a real mother for Lasse, but thanks to rare trips to Copenhagen, the boy developed the image of a “mother” - a process that Aunt Stevens and Karl tried to stimulate. In the family foster parents Stevenson's Lars was raised until he was 5 years old.

Perhaps the children's books of the famous storyteller Lindgren would not have been so poignant if young Astrid Erickson had not experienced separation from her newborn son. The writer hid these details for a long time for the sake of her first-born Lars, and only now they are published full biography Astrid Lindgren, shedding light on the events of 90 years ago.
In Stockholm, Astrid met Nils Sture Lindgren, director of the Royal Automobile Club. In 1928, he took her as secretary. And two years later he proposed to Astrid:

“He admitted that he fell in love with me at first sight and did not take his eyes off me all these two years,” the writer later recalled. “I told him everything about myself and, of course, about my son. He didn’t hesitate for a second: “I love you, which means I love everything that is part of your life.” Lars will be our son, take him to Stockholm."

After the wedding in 1931, Lindgren took her son, and 3 years later gave birth to a daughter, Karin. Nils adopted Lars and gave him his last name. The couple lived in a happy marriage for 21 years.
Astrid Lindgren was a very unusual, as they would say now, non-standard mother: while other ladies were having decorous conversations, sitting on benches and watching children playing, she took part in the entertainment of her kids and even climbed trees with them.

"The children were always proud of their hooligan mother, who gladly took part in all the games. And one day, in front of their eyes, she jumped onto a tram at full speed (for which she was fined by the conductor).

Astrid's daughter, Karin, in an interview, when asked about her mother, said:

“Astrid loved children very much, loved being with children. And we, her own children, felt very good about this, she really loved working with us!.. On the other hand, she made certain demands on us. But they were not rigid, and it was not difficult for us to comply with them. Astrid was not a strict mother!..”

The happy and calm childhood of the son and daughter of the famous storyteller allowed them to grow into successful and harmonious people. Lars was very technically capable and became a good engineer. He died before his mother, and Astrid grieved the loss of her son.
Karin, having matured, became a translator. According to the writer's will, she must monitor the publications and translations of her fairy tales. IN family society“Saltkrokan” includes Karin herself, her husband, son, daughter and granddaughter. They deal, among other things, with the issue of brands. Karin is a kind of guarantor of the preservation of Astrid Lindgren's legacy.

Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (Swedish: Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, née Ericsson, Swedish: Ericsson) - Swedish writer, author of a number of international famous books for children.

As Lindgren herself pointed out in the collection of autobiographical essays “My Fictions” (1971), she grew up in the age of “the horse and the convertible.” The main means of transportation for the family was a horse-drawn carriage, the pace of life was slower, entertainment was simpler, and the relationship with the surrounding nature was much closer than today. This environment contributed to the development of the writer’s love of nature - this feeling permeates all of Lindgren’s work, from eccentric stories about the pirate’s daughter Peppy to Long stocking to the story of Ronnie, the daughter of a robber.
Astrid Eriksson was born on November 14, 1907 in southern Sweden, in the small town of Vimmerby in the province of Småland (Kalmar County), into a farming family. She became the second child of Samuel August Eriksson and his wife Hannah. My father was engaged in farming on a rented farm in Näs, a pastoral estate on the very outskirts of the town. Together with his older brother, Gunnar, three sisters grew up in the family - Astrid, Stina and Ingegerd. The writer herself always called her childhood happy (there were many games and adventures in it, interspersed with work on the farm and in its environs) and pointed out that it served as a source of inspiration for her work. Astrid's parents not only felt deep affection for each other and for their children, but also did not hesitate to show it, which was rare at that time. The writer spoke with great sympathy and tenderness about the special relationships in the family in her only book not addressed to children, “Samuel August from Sevedstorp and Hannah from Hult” (1973).
The beginning of creative activity
As a child, Astrid Lindgren was surrounded by folklore, and many jokes, fairy tales, stories that she heard from her father or from friends later formed the basis of her own works. Her love for books and reading, as she later admitted, arose in the kitchen of Christine, with whom she was friends. It was Christine who introduced Astrid to the amazing, exciting world that one could get into by reading fairy tales. The impressionable Astrid was shocked by this discovery, and later she herself mastered the magic of the word.
Her abilities became obvious already in elementary school, where Astrid was called “Wimmerbün’s Selma Lagerlöf,” which, in her own opinion, she did not deserve.

Astrid Lindgren in 1924
After school, at the age of 16, Astrid Lindgren began working as a journalist for the local newspaper Wimmerby Tidningen. But two years later she became pregnant without being married, and, leaving her position as a junior reporter, went to Stockholm. There she completed secretarial courses and in 1931 found a job in this specialty. In December 1926, her son Lars was born. Since there was not enough money, Astrid had to give her beloved son to Denmark, to a family of adoptive parents. In 1928, she got a job as a secretary at the Royal Automobile Club, where she met Sture Lindgren. They married in April 1931, and after that Astrid was able to take Lars home.
Years of creativity
After marriage, Astrid Lindgren decided to become a housewife in order to devote herself entirely to caring for Lars, and then her daughter Karin, born in 1934. In 1941, the Lindgrens moved to an apartment overlooking Stockholm's Vasa Park, where the writer lived until her death. Occasionally taking on secretarial work, she composed travel descriptions and rather banal fairy tales for family magazines and Christmas calendars, thereby gradually honing her literary skills.
According to Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking (1945) was born primarily thanks to her daughter Karin. In 1941, Karin fell ill with pneumonia, and every evening Astrid told her all sorts of stories before bed. One day a girl ordered a story about Pippi Longstocking - she made up this name right there on the spot. So Astrid Lindgren began to compose a story about a girl who does not obey any conditions. Since Astrid was then advocating a new and hotly debated idea of ​​upbringing based on child psychology, challenging conventions seemed like an interesting thought experiment to her. If we consider the image of Pippi in a generalized sense, then it is based on those that appeared in the 1930-40s innovative ideas in the field of child education and child psychology. Lindgren followed and participated in the controversy, advocating for education that respects children's thoughts and feelings. The new approach to children also affected her creative style, as a result of which she became an author who consistently spoke from the point of view of a child. After the first story about Pippi, which Karin loved, Astrid Lindgren told more and more over the next years. evening tales about this red-haired girl. On Karin's tenth birthday, Astrid Lindgren made a shorthand recording of several stories, from which she then compiled a book of her own making for her daughter (with illustrations by the author). This original manuscript of Pippi was less elaborate stylistically and more radical in its ideas. The writer sent one copy of the manuscript to the largest Stockholm publishing house, Bonnier. After some deliberation, the manuscript was rejected. Astrid Lindgren was not discouraged by the refusal; she already realized that composing for children was her calling. In 1944 she took part in a competition for best book for girls, announced by the relatively new and little-known publishing house Raben and Sjögren. Lindgren received second prize for the story “Britt-Marie pours out her soul” (1944) and a publishing contract for it. In 1945, Astrid Lindgren was offered the position of editor of children's literature at the publishing house Raben and Sjögren. She accepted the offer and worked in one place until 1970, when she officially retired. All her books were published by the same publishing house. Despite being extremely busy and combining editorial work with household responsibilities and writing, Astrid turned out to be a prolific writer: if you count picture books, a total of about eighty works came from her pen. The work was especially productive in the 40s and 50s. Between 1944 and 1950 alone, Astrid Lindgren wrote a trilogy about Pippi Longstocking, two stories about children from Bullerby, three books for girls, a detective story, two collections of fairy tales, a collection of songs, four plays and two picture books. As this list shows, Astrid Lindgren was an extraordinarily versatile author, willing to experiment in a variety of genres. In 1946, she published her first story about the detective Kalle Blumkvist (“Kalle Blumkvist Plays”), thanks to which she won the first prize at literary competition(Astrid Lindgren did not participate in competitions anymore). In 1951, there was a sequel, “Kalle Blumkvist Takes Risks” (in Russian, both stories were published in 1959 under the title “The Adventures of Kalle Blumkvist”), and in 1953, the final part of the trilogy, “Kalle Blumkvist and Rasmus” (was translated into Russian in 1986). With Kalle Blumkvist, the writer wanted to replace readers with cheap thrillers that glorified violence. In 1954, Astrid Lindgren composed the first of her three fairy tales - “Mio, my Mio!” (trans. 1965). This emotional, dramatic book combines the techniques of a heroic tale and fairy tale, and it tells the story of Boo Vilhelm Ohlsson, the unloved and neglected son of his adoptive parents. Astrid Lindgren has repeatedly resorted to fairy tales and fairy tales, touching on the fate of lonely and abandoned children (this was the case before “Mio, my Mio!”). Bringing comfort to children, helping them overcome difficult situations - this task not least motivated the writer’s work. In the next trilogy - “The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof” (1955; trans. 1957), “Carlson, who lives on the roof, has arrived again” (1962; trans. 1965) and “Carlson, who lives on the roof, plays pranks again" (1968; trans. 1973) - the fantasy hero of a kindly kind acts again. This “moderately well-fed”, infantile, greedy, boastful, pouting, self-pitying, self-centered, although not without charm, little man lives on the roof of the apartment building where the Kid lives. As Baby's imaginary friend, he is a much less wonderful image of childhood than the unpredictable and carefree Pippi. The Kid is the youngest of three children in the most ordinary family of Stockholm bourgeois, and Carlson enters his life in a very specific way - through the window, and does this every time the Kid feels left out, left out or humiliated, in other words, when the boy feels sorry for himself . In such cases, his compensatory alter ego appears - in all respects, “the best in the world” Carlson, who makes the Kid forget about his troubles. Film adaptations and theatrical productions In 1969, the famous Stockholm Royal Drama Theater staged Carlson Who Lives on the Roof, which was unusual for that time. Since then, dramatizations based on Astrid Lindgren's books have been constantly performed in both large and small theaters in Sweden, Scandinavia, Europe and the United States of America. A year before the production in Stockholm, the play about Carlson was shown on the stage of the Moscow Satire Theater, where it is still performed (this hero is extremely popular in Russia). If on a global scale the work of Astrid Lindgren attracted attention primarily thanks to theater performances, then in Sweden the writer’s fame was greatly promoted by films and television series based on her works. The stories about Kalle Blumkvist were the first to be filmed - the film premiered on Christmas Day 1947. Two years later, the first of four films about Pippi Longstocking appeared. Between the 50s and 80s, famous Swedish director Olle Hellboom created a total of 17 films based on Astrid Lindgren's books. Hellboom's visual interpretations, with their inexpressible beauty and sensitivity to the written word, have become classics of Swedish children's cinema. Social activities Over the years literary activity Astrid Lindgren earned more than one million crowns by selling the rights to publish her books and their film adaptations, to release audio and video cassettes, and later also CDs with recordings of her songs or literary works in her own performance, but did not change her lifestyle at all. Since the 1940s, she lived in the same - rather modest - Stockholm apartment and preferred not to accumulate wealth, but to give money to others. Unlike many Swedish celebrities, she was not even averse to transferring a significant part of her income to the Swedish tax authorities. Only once, in 1976, when the tax they collected amounted to 102% of her profits, Astrid Lingren protested. On March 10 of the same year, she went on the offensive, sending an open letter to the Stockholm newspaper Expressen, in which she told a fairy tale about a certain Pomperipossa from Monismania. In this fairy tale for adults, Astrid Lindgren took the position of a layman or a naive child (as Hans Christian Andersen did before her in “The King’s New Clothes”) and, using it, tried to expose the vices of society and general pretense. In the year when parliamentary elections were approaching, this fairy tale became an almost naked, crushing attack on the bureaucratic, complacent and self-interested apparatus of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, which had been in power for over 40 years in a row. Although at first Finance Minister Gunnar Strang took up arms against the writer and tried to ridicule her, heated debates followed, the tax law was changed, and (as many believe, not without the help of Astrid Lindgren) the Social Democrats were defeated in the autumn elections to the Riksdag. The writer herself was a member of the Social Democratic Party throughout her adult life - and remained in its ranks after 1976. And she objected primarily to the distance from the ideals that Lindgren remembered from her youth. When she was once asked what path she would have chosen for herself if she had not become a famous writer, she answered without hesitation that she would like to take part in the social democratic movement of the initial period. The values ​​and ideals of this movement played - together with humanism - a fundamental role in the character of Astrid Lindgren. Her inherent desire for equality and caring attitude towards people helped the writer overcome the barriers erected by her high position in society. She treated everyone with the same warmth and respect, be it the Swedish Prime Minister, the head of a foreign state, or one of her child readers. In other words, Astrid Lindgren lived according to her convictions, which is why she became the subject of admiration and respect, both in Sweden and abroad. Lindgren's open letter with the tale of Pomperipossa was so influential because by 1976 she was not just a famous writer: she was not only famous in Sweden, but also enormously respected. She became an important person, a person known throughout the country, thanks to numerous appearances on radio and television. Thousands of Swedish children grew up listening to Astrid Lindgren's original books on the radio. Her voice, her face, her opinions, her sense of humor have been familiar to most Swedes since the 50s and 60s, when she hosted various quizzes and talk shows on radio and television. In addition, Astrid Lindgren won over the people with her speeches in defense of such a typically Swedish phenomenon as a universal love of nature and reverence for its beauty. In the spring of 1985, when the daughter of a Småland farmer spoke publicly about the oppression of farm animals, the Prime Minister himself listened to her. Lindgren heard about animal abuse on large farms in Sweden and other industrialized countries from Kristina Forslund, a veterinarian and lecturer at Uppsala University. Seventy-eight-year-old Astrid Lindgren sent an open letter to major Stockholm newspapers. The letter contained another fairy tale - about a loving cow who protests against the mistreatment of livestock. With this tale, the writer began a campaign that lasted three years. In June 1988, an animal protection law was adopted, which received the Latin name Lex Lindgren (Lindgren Law); however, its inspirer did not like it because of its vagueness and obviously low effectiveness. As in other cases where Lindgren stood up for the well-being of children, adults or environment, the writer started from her own experience and her protest was caused by deep emotional excitement. She understood that at the end of the 20th century it was impossible to return to small-scale cattle breeding, which she witnessed in her childhood and youth on her father’s farm and on neighboring farms. She demanded something more fundamental: respect for animals, since they are also living beings and endowed with feelings. Astrid Lindgren's deep belief in non-violent methods of treatment extended to both animals and children. “Not violence” was the title of her speech when she was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1978 (she received for the story “The Brothers Lionheart” (1973; trans. 1981) and for the writer’s struggle for peaceful coexistence and a dignified life for all living beings). In this speech, Astrid Lindgren defended her pacifist beliefs and advocated raising children without violence and corporal punishment. “We all know,” Lindgren reminded, “that children who are beaten and abused will beat and abuse their own children, and therefore this vicious circle must be broken.” In 1952, Astrid Sture's husband died. Her mother died in 1961, eight years later her father died, and in 1974 her brother and several bosom friends died. Astrid Lindgren has repeatedly encountered the mystery of death and thought about it a lot. While Astrid’s parents were sincere adherents of Lutheranism and believed in life after death, the writer herself called herself an agnostic. Awards In 1958, Astrid Lindgren was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, which is called the Nobel Prize in children's literature. In addition to awards given exclusively to children's writers, Lindgren has also received a number of awards for “adult” authors, in particular, the Karen Blixen Medal established by the Danish Academy, the Russian Leo Tolstoy Medal, the Chilean Gabriela Mistral Prize and the Swedish Selma Lagerlöf Prize. In 1969, the writer received the Swedish State Prize for Literature. Her achievements in the field of charity were recognized by the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1978 and the Albert Schweitzer Medal in 1989 (awarded by the American Institute for the Improvement of Animal Life). The writer died on January 28, 2002 in Stockholm. Astrid Lindgren is one of the world's most famous children's writers. Her works are imbued with fantasy and love for children. Many of them have been translated into more than 70 languages ​​and published in more than 100 countries. In Sweden she became a living legend, as she entertained, inspired and consoled more than one generation of readers, participated in political life, changed laws and significantly influenced the development of children's literature.

The biography of Astrid Lindgren, the legendary writer (nee Eriksson), began on November 14, 1907. Thanks to her talent, the world acquired the images of Carlson, the detective and the mischievous girl Pippi.

The writer herself was somewhat similar to her characters. According to the recollections of friends, she easily endeared herself to everyone she interacted with. Many people wrote letters to her. Astrid managed to correspond with a great many people, despite her busy schedule, answering each message on her own.

Astrid Lindgren, whose brief biography is described in the article, has spent her entire life worshiping exclusively the religion of childhood, children and their stories.

The Ericssons are a friendly family

The early years of the future writer were spent among the colorful landscapes of the Näs farmstead, near the small town of Vimmerby (Kalmar County), in southern Sweden.

Astrid's parents' names were Samuel and Hannah. They met as teenagers, Hannah was barely 14 by that time. Their childhood romance continued for another 4 years and ended in marriage. According to Astrid, her parents’ feelings were stronger than in book love stories, they lived in perfect harmony, laughed and joked a lot, and never quarreled. Later she would describe her parents’ romance in one of her works.

In the Ericsson family, pampering was forgiven to each of the 4 children, provided that they worked with no less passion. And so it was - the children willingly helped their parents with the housework. Astrid worked on a farm from the age of 6. She devoted her free time to games, later recreating some of her childhood fun in books.

Soon school time began, and study, music and literature became his favorite activities.

Astrid Lindgren: biography

The author of such children's books as "Carlson, who lives on the roof", "Pippi Longstocking", "Mio, my Mio", "The famous detective Kalle Blomkvist", "Emil from Lenneberga", "Katie in Paris" and others, studied at The school is great. She had particularly striking achievements in the field of languages ​​and literature. Her essay was even published in the newspaper. Since then, the girl has been given a playful nickname: “Selma Lagerlöf from Vimmerby.”

The certificate also noted the graduate’s talent in handicrafts, making a pedagogical conclusion that she would become a wonderful wife and housewife.

However, she was in no hurry to get married and, after graduating from school, she went to work as a reporter for a local newspaper. At the same time, cinema, jazz and a short haircut appeared in the life of young Astrid, which outraged the Puritan society of the Nas farm. A truly shocking event for local neighbors happened a little later: the girl, who had barely reached the age of 18, told her family that she was pregnant. The biography of Astrid Lindgren (then Ericsson) took a sharp turn.

Stockholm period

Astrid did not like to dwell on the identity of the father of her child; she never spoke about it. There is a version that he was the editor of the newspaper where the girl worked - Axel Bloomberg. Whether this is true or fiction, Astrid did not get married, preferring to leave her disgraced family and move to Stockholm. Although her parents took her side and did not want to let her go, declaring that they were ready to help the young mother in everything and already loved her future grandson.

The new owner, out of sympathy for Astrid, left the born child with her for a while until his mother got back on her feet. Under the pressure of circumstances, Astrid was forced to leave for Sweden to earn money, but she rushes to her little Lars every time she manages to find some time.

Marriage

In a series of endless travels from one country to another, in 1928, Astrid got an interview at the Royal Automobile Club and was accepted for the position of secretary. Now her financial situation was stable, but her baby son still remained in Denmark. Samuel and Hannah suddenly came to the rescue, having long been looking for how to contact their daughter. This is how baby Lars met his grandparents and began to live in the same country with his mother.

Having received a temporary respite, Astrid did not even have time to come to her senses when a terrible danger loomed over her son. He needed special treatment, for which the Ericssons simply did not have the money. To save the child, Astrid humbled her pride and went for help to her boss named Sture Lindgren, and he did not refuse. And Astrid, in return, immortalized his name.

The biography of Astrid Lindgren was replenished with a new event: she became Sture’s wife. After her marriage, she left the service and plunged headlong into family troubles, as predicted for her in her pedagogical conclusion. Sture officially registered paternity for Lars, and Astrid gave birth to a daughter, Karen, some time later.

Pippi treats Karen

In 1941, Astrid moved with her husband and children to a new apartment, and Karen suddenly fell ill with pneumonia. The therapy did not give a positive result. Astrid sat with her daughter all night long and, out of despair, began telling her stories. Karen suddenly became interested and even named the heroine Pippi Langstrump, which when translated into Russian would be called Pippi Longstocking. Astrid easily complemented the image and introduced several new characters - friends for Pippi. Karen ate, took pills, and her cheeks turned pink, and Astrid Lindgren's biography took another sharp turn. Astrid came up with more and more stories about Pippi, and the unusual remedy bore fruit. Karen began to recover, and her mother, who became close to the restless Pippi, began to transfer her fairy tales to paper.

Copies of the completed manuscript ended up on the editors' desks. Everyone, as one, was horrified by the bad manners main character and hastened to refuse the author. This did not break Astrid. She continued to create and with her work “Brit Marie pours out her soul” she was awarded the second prize of the famous publishing house and the right to publish the story.

The first part of the Pippi trilogy appeared to the world later, in 1945. This event became the triumphant entry of Astrid Lindgren (biography, the author's books are described in the article) into literature for children.

In the prime of his creative career

Since their first publication, books have been published with enviable consistency to the delight of fans. 10 years after the release of “Pippi...”, in 1955, the first book of the trilogy about Carlson appears on book shelves. Astrid was ready to swear on the fairy tale about Pippi that she personally knew the funny little man with the propeller. Karen recalls that the story about Carlson grew out of a short story, in which the flying Mr. Schwarb met a boy to brighten up the gray days of his serious illness.

In 1957, Astrid Lindgren received the award for literary achievements. She is the first of the children's book authors.

Life after creativity

By the 1980s, Astrid had ended her writing career, but did not retire. Her son Lars said that not only in her youth did her mother prefer noisy games with a gang of kids to formal conversations on a bench in the company of other parents, but she retained her habits even in old age. One day, puzzled onlookers found Astrid in a tree, and she calmly noted that there was no official ban on this type of leisure activity for old people.

Charitable activities

But besides entertainment, Astrid had a lot of worries. All her funds, accumulated over the years of creative activity, went to the fight against injustice and the connivance of the government. By corresponding with fans, she found out who needed help.

Astrid sponsored the opening of a specialized center for children with disabilities disabilities. At her initiative, the “Lindgren Law” was adopted in 1988, protecting animals, and a law on the protection of minors was adopted in Europe.

The writer’s charitable activities could not remain without a response from society. Astrid reacted to all the encouragement of her merits with kindly irony. For example, already suffering from deteriorating hearing and vision, she, studying the monument erected in her honor with her hands, summed up at the end: “They are similar.” When the small planet was given her name, Astrid even jokingly stated that she could now be called Asteroid. Fellow citizens recognized their favorite Person of the Year almost before her death, and she gave them advice to think another time about who to choose for this role, so that no one would think that everyone in Sweden is old, deaf and blind.

Astrid Lindgren passed away from this world at the age of 94, in 2002, on January 28. She ended her long life in an empty apartment, having managed to bury not only Sture, but also Lars.

The writer was posthumously nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Life after Life

For achievements in the professional field, a prize from her native publishing house was named after Astrid Lindgren, whose biography is described in the article. Her daughter continues to develop her mother's social ideas.

Even after death, the writer gives her magical world - in Stockholm there is a museum called “Junibacken”, where, among other things, you can look into Carlson’s house while he flies away to fool around.

Countless numbers of children around the world continue to discover amazing world Astrid Lindgren. Brief biography it will be just as interesting for children as for adult admirers of her talent. Despite the difference in tastes, everyone in her books finds a character for themselves. So, for example, in Russia Carlson is the most popular, but in Sweden he is not loved half as much as Pippi.

The biography of Astrid Lindgren for children and adults contains a lot interesting facts. For example, once the creator of both of these characters was asked what it takes for the reader to like the book. Astrid replied that she did not have any special recipes, a book for children should simply be good. She just wanted the children to laugh and have fun.

Astrid Lindgren, a biography whose books will be of interest to her fans for many years to come, left behind a rich legacy: 52 works, many of them were filmed.

The writer, who gave children the amazingly charming character Carlson and the cute extravagant Pippi Longstocking, became dear to all the children of the world. It’s hard to find a family where they haven’t read Astrid Lindgren’s kind and fascinating books. The Swedish writer, like no one else, unraveled the child's soul and found a path to it. In simple words she outlined the main problems and fears of little people, reminding adults of what they once knew but forgot.

Childhood and youth

Astrid Anna Emilia Eriksson, that's what it sounds like full name writer before marriage, born in November 1907 in Sweden, on the Nes farm. The future writer spent his childhood years on the farm estate. Closeness to nature, the measured age of “horse and convertible” contributed to the spiritual openness and development of creativity of the young Swede.

Love and harmony reigned in the Ericsson house. Astrid's parents met at the market when her mother was 7 and her father 13 years old. Children's friendship grew into sympathy, and later into love. Samuel August and Hannah had four children: the first-born son Gunnar and three daughters, the eldest of whom was Astrid Anna Emilia.

The children were surrounded by peasant life and pristine nature. The children helped their parents with housework, and in their free time rushed around the outskirts of the farm in search of adventure. In the family, according to Astrid Lindgren, a surprisingly kind atmosphere reigned: adults did not hesitate to show warm feelings towards each other and children, which was rare in peasant families.

Little Astrid Lindgren loved listening to folklore - stories and legends that were often told to children on the farm. Astrid, who had not yet learned to read, first heard a “book” fairy tale at a friend’s house. Her mother read it to her children in the kitchen. The impressionable girl listened, plunged into the magical world and took a long time to return to reality. Soon Lindgren learned to read and write, and reading became her favorite pastime forever. Already in elementary school, the future writer demonstrated literary abilities, for which she was jokingly called Selma Lagerlöf (the first Nobel laureate according to literature).

After graduating from high school, the 16-year-old girl got a job as a junior reporter at a local periodical. Two years later, Lindgren, pregnant by a married man, left Vimmerblue and went to the capital, wanting to get lost in a city of millions where no one knew her. In Stockholm, Astrid Lindgren trained as a secretary and worked at the Royal Automobile Club before the birth of her child.

Literature

After 5 years, Astrid Lindgren, now a married lady, became a housewife. In 1941, the family, which now had two children growing up, settled in an apartment in Stockholm, from the windows of which the picturesque Vasa Park was visible. This is where the woman wrote all her works. At first, Astrid Lindgren sharpened her pen while working as a secretary. Then she became interested in writing short fairy tales and short guides for family and children's magazines.

According to the storyteller, the first character in the children's adventure story was born thanks to little Karin. The daughter, who was ill with pneumonia and accustomed to her mother's bedtime stories, asked Astrid to tell the story about Pippi Longstocking. The girl made up the name of the character. Lindgren fulfilled the baby's wish and composed a fairy tale. Her daughter liked it so much that her mother extended the continuation to dozens of other evenings.

At this time, Astrid Lindgren's thoughts were occupied by heated discussions about raising the younger generation. One part of society advocated respect for the child’s personality and the necessary freedom of action, the second – for classical, puritanical education and restriction of freedom. Astrid was on the side of the “liberals” in pedagogy, which dictated the character of her Pippi.

Each subsequent short story about a freedom-loving red-haired madwoman in multi-colored stockings demanded a continuation. Over the course of five years, the short stories “grew” into a novel. When Astrid Lindgren's daughter turned 10, her mother gave her an anniversary gift: she illustrated a manuscript of several stories about Pippi and turned it into a book.

Lindgren took the handwritten duplicate with the adventures of the red-haired daredevil to the large Swedish publishing house Bonnierkoncernen. But the publisher was in no hurry to publish a book that went beyond the usual boundaries of children's literature. After thinking, Bonierconcern returned the manuscript to Astrid. The writer was depressed, but did not give up: she saw the impression the stories about Pippi made on her daughter, and she knew for sure that she would continue to write for children.

In 1944, a Swedish writer heard about a competition held by the newly established publishing house Raben and Sjögren. The authors were given the task of writing a book for girls. Three best essays The publishers promised to publish it. Astrid Lindgren presented the story “Britt-Marie pours out her soul” to the jury and took second place. This is how her creative biography began.

The following year, Raben and Sjogren invited Astrid to work. Lindgren gladly took the chair of editor of children's literature and worked in this position until 1970, leaving it upon reaching retirement age.

In the same happy year for the writer, 1945, Raben and Sjögren published the first book about Pippi - “Pippi Settles in the Chicken Villa.” The young Swedes liked the story so much that it was immediately sold out. Soon the work was translated into dozens of languages ​​and sold millions of copies around the world. In 1946 and 1948, children's audiences waited for continuations of the story.

In 1946, Astrid Lindgren gave young readers a story about the adventures of detective Kalle Blumkvist. In 1951, children read the second part of Kalle’s adventures, and 2 years later the final part of the trilogy, called “Kalle Blumkvist and Rasmus,” was published. Having invented a good detective, Lindgren offered an alternative to the thrillers that had become fashionable, to which the younger generation was also drawn.

In the mid-1950s, Astrid Lindgren presented readers with the first part of the trilogy “Mio, my Mio!” This is a fabulous and sad story about a boy who was left without parental warmth. There were many orphaned children after the war, and Astrid’s mother’s heart was concerned about their fate. With her writing, she gave such children hope and consolation, helped them cope with difficulties and instill faith in a happy tomorrow.

A year later, in 1955, the first book of the trilogy appeared about the “moderately well-fed” attic tenant Carlson and the sad Kid, a boy from an ordinary family, whom his busy parents cannot get around to. An infantile sweet lover with a propeller on his back flies in to entertain and console the Baby.

The book was a resounding success, comparable to the adventures of Pippi. In 1962, the second part of the trilogy was released, and 6 years later the third. The translation of the fairy tale story about the Kid and Carlson for Russian readers was done by Lilianna Lungina. The first part appeared 2 years after publication in Sweden, the third - in 1974.

From 1963 to 1986, Astrid Lindgren wrote a series of 6 books for children about the little tomboy, stubborn and resourceful Emil Svenson. The 6-year-old prankster regularly gets into trouble, but he is incredibly smart and often suggests unexpected decisions to his father in the household and business.

Another striking work by Lindgren, beloved by millions of children, is the fantasy fairy tale “Roni, the Robber’s Daughter”, which appeared in the early 1980s. This is an instructive and good story about children's wisdom that adults should learn from. Roni is the daughter of Ataman Mattis, who is at odds with and competes with the robber Borka, whose son Birk is growing up. The offspring of sworn enemies develop sympathy and become friends. And when their warring parents forbid them to be friends, they run away from them into the forest.

Works Swedish storyteller have been filmed dozens of times and staged on theater stages in Europe, America and Asia. The story about Blumkvist appeared on screens for the first time: the film premiered in 1947 during the Christmas holidays. Two years later, little TV viewers saw a film adaptation of Pippi’s adventures.

In the Soviet Union, Astrid Lindgren's work was widely known and loved. In 1976, the children of the USSR saw on the screens the film “The Adventures of Calle the Detective”, in 1978 – the film “Rasmus the Tramp”, 6 years later – “Pippi Longstocking” and “The Tricks of a Tomboy”. Cartoons about Carlson were released in 1968 and 1970.

Astrid Lindgren was showered with all sorts of awards during her lifetime. In 1958 she was awarded a medal, which is equivalent to Nobel Prize in children's literature.

Personal life

Astrid Lindgren's first love turned out to be unhappy. Her lover, editor of Vimmerby magazine Axel Blumberg, was married. An 18-year-old journalist became pregnant by a man 30 years older when he was getting a divorce. And if at the trial they found out that Bloomberg had cheated on his wife Olivia, his bank account would be empty. Therefore, pregnant Astrid left the city.

In Denmark, it was allowed to keep the name of the biological father a secret, so the young woman gave birth to a boy, Lars, in Copenhagen. Until the age of 5, Lars was raised in the family of adoptive parents, the Stevensons.

In Stockholm, Astrid met Nils Sture Lindgren. After the wedding in 1931, Lindgren took her son, and 3 years later gave birth to a daughter, Karin. Nils adopted Lars and gave him his last name. The couple lived in a happy marriage for 21 years.

Death

In 1952, the writer's husband died. In 1961, my mother passed away, and 8 years later my father passed away. 1974 turned out to be tragic for Astrid: her brother and childhood friends left forever. And real grief befell the woman in 1986, when her son died.

Lindgren often thought about the mystery of leaving for another world, but, unlike her Lutheran parents, who believed in eternal life, Astrid was a supporter of agnosticism. Astrid Lindgren died in January 2002 at the ripe old age of 94.

Memory

• In the year of Astrid Lindgren's death, the Swedish government established a prize in memory of the famous writer in the amount of 5 million crowns, which is awarded every year to the best children's writer. In 2016, it was awarded to Briton Meg Rosoff.
• In the spring of 2015, the Swedish bank released a new series of 20-krona banknotes, which feature Astrid Lindgren.

• The Swedes carefully protect the apartment in Stockholm where the famous writer lived and died for 60 years. The home became a museum in the winter of 2015, when Sweden celebrated Astrid Lindgren's 108th birthday.
• The apartment-museum contains a souvenir dish, which was presented to Astrid in 1997.

Bibliography

• 1945 – “Pippi moves into the villa “Chicken””
• 1946 – “Pippi hits the road”
• 1948 – “Pippi in the Land of Merry”
• 1946 – “The famous detective Kalle Blumkvist”
• 1951 – “The famous detective Kalle Blumkvist takes risks”
• 1953 – “Kalle Blumkvist and Rasmus”
• 1947 – “We are all from Bullerby”
• 1949 – “Again about the children from Bullerby”
• 1955 – “The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof”
• 1962 – “Carlson, who lives on the roof, has arrived again”
• 1968 – “Carlson, who lives on the roof, plays pranks again”
• 1963 – “Emil from Lenneberga”
• 1966 – “New tricks of Emil from Lenneberga”
• 1954 – “Mio, my Mio”
• 1981 – “Roni, the daughter of a robber”

The writer, whose centenary was celebrated last year, was born on November 14, 1907 in southern Sweden, in the small town of Vimmerby, into a farmer’s family. “There were four of us,” Astrid wrote about her childhood, “and we lived in Naes happy life, exactly the same as the children in my stories about the Shumny farm.” All neighbors and acquaintances were amazed at what a loving family they were; the parents remained deeply attached to each other and to their children until the end of their lives.

In the Erickson family (Astrid's maiden name), children were not scolded for numerous pranks, but idleness was not encouraged either - from the age of six, Astrid, her sisters and brother were already working hard - helping their parents work on the farm.

The girl studied well, especially excelled in languages ​​and literature, once her essay was even published in a local newspaper, after which Astrid was jokingly called “Selma Lagerlöf from Vimmerby.”

It is noteworthy that, having matured, the whole family lived by a community of interests.

One of her sisters became a translator, another became a journalist, her brother became a politician, a member of the Swedish parliament - to which Astrid’s father, who himself was an excellent storyteller, said: “My children are amazing! Everyone works with words..."
Meanwhile, having matured, the young girl, who had been distinguished by a stubborn and wayward character since childhood, decided to leave her parental care, got a job as a journalist, got a short haircut like a real “informal girl,” and became interested in jazz and fashionable dancing.

And suddenly - a disaster - nineteen-year-old Astrid became pregnant, having previously separated from the child’s father. In a small Protestant town in the 20s, this seemed an unheard-of shame, and Astrid went to Stockholm, where no one knew her.

The new life was full of difficulties, moreover, due to the instability of the newborn son, he had to be placed in a foster family, and later both of them experienced this as a difficult drama.

Astrid worked as a secretary in an office for a long time, until a turning point came in her fate - she met a man whose name later became world famous. They got married in 1931, and only after that Astrid was able to take her son Lars.

Soon, Astrid and her husband Sture give birth to a daughter, Karin, and, probably, from that moment she herself was born as a writer. When the baby got sick, Astrid told her extraordinary stories every night before bed, and this is how Pippi Longstocking appeared - one of the most famous little heroines of children's literature. “The girl in different stockings very much reminded me of myself,” Lindgren admitted, perhaps that’s why children always adored the pranks of the red-haired rebel, and experts wrote about the beneficial effect of the heroine on the mental health of children: “Pippi - fictional character, embodying a childhood dream of breaking all prohibitions, feeling your power and doing anything as soon as it comes to mind. The book became an escape route from the everyday and authoritarian regime - this is the secret of the book’s unprecedented success among children.”

Lindgren advocated an education that took into account and respected the thoughts and feelings of the child, this affected all of her work. Perhaps that is why her manuscript “Pippi” was initially rejected by publishers, and she received a publishing contract award only in 1944 for her second book “Britt-Marie Pours Out Her Soul.”

Between 1944 and 1950, Astrid Lindgren wrote a trilogy about Pippi Longstocking, two stories about children from Bullerby, three books for girls, a detective story, two collections of fairy tales, a collection of songs, four plays and two picture books. As this list shows, Astrid Lindgren was an extraordinarily versatile author, willing to experiment in a variety of genres.
In 1945, Astrid Lindgren became editor of children's literature at the Raben and Sjögren publishing house, where her books were published.

A few years later, the writer published the first of three books about the adventures of the young detective Kalle Blumkvist, which brought her first place in a literary competition, and in 1955 the first story about a “moderately well-fed” man named Carlson appeared on the roof. Few people know that the mischievous, slightly selfish Carlson had amazing prototypes - the little gnome - Little Nils Carlsson and the flying Mr. Liljonkvast (literally "broom of lilies") from the fairy tale "The Country Between Light and Darkness" ("Country of Twilight") - one of her most poetic creations, reminiscent of Lewis's Narnia, where magical heroes appear to sad, lonely children and take them to a fantasy land. Mischief and pranks are, as it were, the other side, with which children, like herself, try to isolate themselves from the cruel world.

Mio finds herself in magical land, only when he freezes in the park, knight Nils from Oak Grove recovers when his head is cut off in a fairy kingdom, Carlson flies to the Kid because he lacks love, Mr. Liljonquast flies with the boy in the air because he is disabled and cannot walk , the future Carlson could only be recognized in him by the constant phrase: “This has no of the slightest significance. Not the slightest significance in the Land between Light and Darkness,” in which one can already discern the famous “Trifles, an everyday matter.”

Throughout her life, Lindgren, despite the fact that she became a wealthy writer, remained a humble person; until her death, she lived in the same house in which her family settled during the war.

Her opinion was very important in areas of public life,
In Sweden, under the influence of her speeches, the first law in Europe on the protection of children's rights was adopted.

The eldest son Lars was proud of his mother even as a child and, having already matured, loved to talk about her hooligan actions. One day Astrid jumped onto a tram at full speed. Not only did she lose her shoe during the jump, but the conductor also fined her. They say that the writer, even at an advanced age, retained the habit of climbing trees. “She was not the kind of mother who sat on a park bench watching her children play. She got to participate in all the games herself, and to be honest, I suspect she enjoyed it as much as I did!” - Lars recalled.

Lindgren gives children a fairy tale even after his death. In Stockholm there is the Astrid Lindgren Museum “Junibacken”. The fairytale train will take you to the world of the famous Swedish writer: you can visit the house of Carlson, who lives on the roof, attend a holiday on Emil’s farm, meet the girl Madiken before she flies from the roof, then you suddenly become very short, like little Nils, and come face to face with... a huge rat! !! The journey ends with the Lionheart brothers in a battle with the Dragon.
“We will celebrate her birthday by raising money to create orphanage in the Central African Republic,” says the writer’s daughter Karen, continuing her social work“This, without a doubt, would be the best gift for mom.”

Prepared from open Internet sources