Author Nominee: Sweden

Barbro Lindgren
Sweden, Author

As a child I was afraid of so many things. There was so much that was strange and frightening that I didn't understand. And the grown-ups were so unpredictable. Often, I hadn't the faintest idea whether they would laugh or be angry .… Worst of all was that they decided about everything.

- Barbro Lindgren

For many readers outside Sweden the name of Barbro Lindgren is synonymous with the 'Wild Baby' (Vilda bebin) stories, in which Lindgren's wilful baby, sparklingly illustrated by Eva Eriksson, has endeared himself to many readers, both children and adults. Children identify with the rebellious streak in this baby, which they would often like to emulate, and adults see an exaggerated and humorous manifestation of the sort of behaviour which they frequently find wearing in their own children. And indeed perhaps the baby's behaviour is a reflection of the frustration that Barbro Lindgren often felt as a child when confronted with the unpredictability of the world constructed by adults.

The 'Wild Baby' books appeared in the 1980s, but Barbro Lindgren had been a respected children's author for much longer than that. Born in 1937 in Stockholm, Lindgren studied at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in that city. She then worked as a commercial artist, but quickly established herself as an author with Mattias sommer [Mattias's summer] (1965) and its sequels. Her reputation was consolidated in 1971 with Jättehemligt [Big secret], the first part of a trilogy written in diary form. These are based on Lindgren's own days in primary school where she experienced depression that lasted until she was fifteen. These unflinchingly honest confrontations of the tribulations of older childhood and adolescence were followed by another trilogy, the 'Sparval' sequence, based around Lindgren's early years, but this time from age four to seven years, and narrated in the third person.

Barbro Lindgren has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Award in 1973, and her books have been translated into numerous languages.