The Winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

The Winner of the
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2014
”Barbro Lindgren
is a literary pioneer.
Using adventurous language
and rich psychological nuance, she
has re-invented not only the picture
books for the very young but also the
absurd prose story, the existential children’s
poem, and realistic young adult fiction.
With perfect pitch, she presents to us
both playful shenanigans and moments
of bright joy, the inscrutable nature
of life and the nearness of death.”
The citation of the Jury,
Astrid Lindgren
Memorial Award
A celebration of play and imagination
Barbro Lindgren, born in 1937, is a Swedish author whose innovative and multifaceted
body of work includes picture books for young children, children’s poetry, plays, realistic
fiction for young adults, and more absurd prose stories. In all, she has published over a
hundred titles, translated into more than thirty languages. She has also written a number
of books for adults.
She has a remarkable ability to convey what it was like to be a child. This, in combination
with sensitivity to atmosphere and mood, makes her stories so real, so compassionate,
that they can sometimes be painfully affecting. Her works command a thematic and
stylistic breadth granted to only a few, always with complete trust in the reader’s ability to
see beneath the surface. With seemingly simple means and with all-embracing warmth,
Barbro Lindgren creates characters that live on long after her books are closed.
Her stories are often humorous and always possess a uniquely warm tone of voice that
speaks directly to the child, whether she is offering amusing escapades or more serious
reflections. Her seemingly simple style recreates atmospheres and moods that resonate
with all her readers, regardless of their age.
Barbro Lindgren has co-operated with many of Sweden’s most famous and beloved
illustrators, among others Eva Eriksson, Olof Landström, Eva Lindström, Camilla Engman,
and Pija Lindenbaum.
Selected awards
2014
2009
2007
2004
2004
2003
2003
2002
1999
1991
1991
1989
1977
1976
1973
1973
1970
Nu leker vi den fula ankungen
Let’s Play the Ugly Duck
We all know H.C. Andersen’s classic fairytale about
the baby swan who ends up in a duck family. Let’s Play
Ugly Duckling is an ode to play and imagination. It is
a fun, whimsical and entirely irresistible picture book.
Illustrations by Eva Lindström
200x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
First published in 2014.
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Illis Quorum (golden medal awarded by the Swedish government)
The Selma Lagerlöf Foundation Literary Award
The Evert Taube Scholarship
The Astrid Lindgren Prize awarded by The Society of the Nine
Poetry Prize awarded by the Gustaf Fröding Society
Prize awarded by The World of Astrid Lindgren
The Schullström Prize for Children’s Literature
The Emil Prize
The Swedish Grammis Award
Prize awarded by the Society for Literature Promotion
The BMF plaque (with Olof Landström) for Sunkan flyger
The Nils Holgersson plaque for Lilla sparvel
Literary Award established by the magazine VI
The newspaper Expressen’s Heffaklump
Rabén & Sjögren’s The Astrid Lindgren Prize
The Swedish Grammis Award
Vi leker att vi är pippifåglar
Let’s Pretend We’re Baby Birds
When you pretend that you are baby birds anything can
happen. Two make-believe brothers fly among the clouds,
get attacked by eagles and chased by darkness. Suddenly
they run out of gas… It’s fun, unpredictable and ingenious!
Rabén & Sjögren Agency
Lillevi Cederin lillevi.cederin@rabensjogren.se
Kerstin Öberg kerstin.oberg@rabensjogren.se
rabensjogren.se/agency
Illustrations by Camilla Engman
230x260 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
First published in 2013.
Modern classics for the youngest
Max bil
Max’s Car
Max lampa
Max’s Lamp
Modern classics for the youngest children,
brilliant in their humorous simplicity. They
are a new kind of picture book, each
telling a story of high drama in the life of a
small child – in a language so deliberately
fragmentary that some educators responded
with protest.
Max kaka
Max’s Cookie
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
Max nalle
Max’s Teddy
Max dockvagn
Max’s Wagon
Max balja
Max’s Bath
Max potta
Max’s Potty
Max blöja
Max’s Nappie
Here Barbro Lindgren provides us yet
another example of her perfect pitch: not
only does she speak with a child’s voice,
but she also never fails to see the world
through a child’s eyes.
Max boll
Max’s Ball
Max napp
Max’s Dummy
The books about Max were first published
in the 1980’s.
150x160 mm, 16 pp, 0–3 years.
Jag
det
Mamman och den vilda bebin
The Wild Baby
Den vilda bebiresan
The Wild Baby Goes to Sea
Vilda bebin får en hund
The Wild Baby’s Dog
The classic picture books about a mother
and her wild little boy who has adventures
that are anything but ordinary. The wild
baby is hanging from a ceiling lamp one
minute, and taking a bath in the toilet or
running off to the woods the next. He does
everything a child mustn’t do, and tries his
mother severely.
The humorous pictures are enhanced by
Barbro Lindgren’s ingenious rhymes, and
vice versa.
The books were first published in 1980,
1982 and 1985.
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
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Min egen bok
My Own Book
A charming book to collect memories with lots of
space to note down all the amazing things that
happen during the baby’s first year. Filled with
illustrations from the Max books.
Andrejs längtan
Andrej’s Longing
Stora syster Lille bror
Big Sister Little Brother
A beloved and debated picture book that captures a
dreamlike atmosphere in the big city of Saint Petersburg.
The two small parentless boys, Andrej and Vova, have
escaped from the orphanage. Andrej is looking for his
mother. She is gone! Andrej thinks back to the time in his
mother’s stomach. His life was better then.
Every night Little Brother starts to cry, and every night
Big Sister has to comfort him. Helped by kindly neighbors,
Little Brother always gets what he wants. The narrator’s
voice is warm and funny, in spite of the fact that the story
is about humankind’s existential solitude and our fundamental need for security.
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
First published in 1997.
170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
First published in 1992.
jag
syskon
215x233 mm, 48 pp.
First published in 2001.
syskon
foto
mamma
pappa
morfar
farfar
mormor
farmor
The heartwarming piglet
Illustrations by Olof Landström
The books about Benny was first
published in 1998, 2001 and 2007
An absurd tale about a world where anything can happen
Nämen Benny
Benny’s Had Enough
Benny’s mother is cleaning up. First it’s Benny’s potatoes
and sticks. She insists on arranging them in neat rows.
Then it’s Benny. She wants to give him a bath! And then
it’s Little Piggy. She wants to put him in the washing
machine. Benny’s had enough. He and Little Piggy run
off to find a more congenial home.
Nominated for the August Award 1999.
Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang
Loranga, Loranga
Fore-most among the eccentric cast of
characters are Loranga, a father who loves
bright orange clothes and wears a tea
cozy on his head; his son Masarin, brought
up on sweet buns and love; grandfather –
Dartanjang, who emerges from his wood­
shed every morning with a new identity;
and a great-grandfather who has moved
into a tree, eats birdseed, and thinks he
is a cuckoo. They all live a carefree life,
untroubled by rules or norms, in a tolerant
world. In these absurd tales, anything
can happen—is the garage suddenly full
of tigers?
The books were first published in 1969
and 1970.
Illustrations by the author
Approx. 120 pp, 6–9 years.
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
An upside down world related to Alice and Winnie-the-Pooh
Jamen Benny
Benny and the Binky
Benny has got a brother. One who is sucking a dummy.
Benny would like to taste it as well. He runs away with the
dummy when Mummy isn’t looking. That’s when he meets
some cool but mean pigs. Benny gets a fright. What luck
that a dog appears to help him just at the right moment,
barking noisily at the cool pigs…
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
Nöff nöff Benny
Oink Oink, Benny
Vems lilla mössa flyger
Who’s Little Cap Is Flying
Korken flyger
The Cork Is Flying
VLMF Vad lever man för
What-Are-We-Living-For
Benny and his brother are tired of being inside. They want
to go snuffling about outside for a bit. Off they go to the
mud pool even though their mother said they mustn’t.
They have a wonderful time and get filthy dirty, but their
mother forgives them of course…
Wonderfully quirky and original chapter
books where the toys in Child-Hans’ country
give us an image of the world in miniature
– with all its absurdity, cruelty and zest for
living. Their main characters are an old,
ragged stuffed dog whose eyes are falling
out of its head, a baldheaded teddy bear, an
elephant and a Russian muskrat. The cast
also includes a champagne cork, a marble,
and a rubber monkey. Wistfulness, melan­
choly, and sorrow are counterbalanced
here by vibrant language and quiet humor.
The tattered elephant is losing sawdust and
in the final book, we witness her funeral.
After a refill, however, she returns from the
dead. Here, with greater skill than ever,
Barbro Lindgren walks a tightrope between
merry and serious – so sure-footedly that
we can laugh even at a funeral.
Nominated for the August Award 2007.
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.
The books were first published in 1987, 1990
and 2006.
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
Approx. 150 pp, 6–9 years.
A selection of other titles by Barbro Lindgren
Bra Börje
Louie
Här är det lilla huset
Here is the Little House
Illustrations by Pija Lindenbaum
200x245 mm, 32pp, 3–6 years, 1992.
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 1994.
Lilla lokomotivet Rosa
Rosa, the Little Train Engine
Julia vill ha ett djur
Julia Wants a Pet
Dollans dagis
Dollan’s Day Care
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
195x215 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 1995.
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 2002.
Illustrations by Eva Eriksson
170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 2009.
Gröngölingen är på väg:
dikter för barn och andra
The Green Woodpecker Is On His Way
Poems for children and others
Illustrations by Katarina Olausson Säll
150x180 mm, 56pp, 6–9 years, 1974.
Dagbok från hönshuset
Journal from the Chicken Coop
Illustrations by Kristina Digman
170x210 mm, 64 pp, 3–6 years, 2010.