Astrid Lindgren is Sweden's most famous and most widely-translated author. It is possible to read her books for children and young adults in about ninety languages. When Astrid Lindgren died in 2002, the Swedish Government established an annual prize of five million Swedish kronor to honour her and to create an international awareness of literature for children and young adults - thus promoting, within a global context, children's rights to reading and culture.
The jury is charged with choosing award recipients who work is not only of the "highest artisic quality" but also "in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren". To understand what is meant by this second phrases, one might look at the history of Swedish literature for children and young adults from the middle of the last century and onwards.
Sweden has many first-rate authors of children's and young adults' literature. With their books constituting a major export item of this country, one may indeed ask why? A myriad of answers exists. Here are just two of them:
When ten or so authors made their debut during the 1940s, one of whom was Astrid Lindgren, Swedish books for children and young adults were revitalized. These authors became models for writers of subsequent generations.
Significant investments have been made by Swedish publishers in books for children and young adults. There have also been knowledgeable editors, e.g. Astrid Lindgren. Between 1946 and 1970, she was editor at Rabén & Sjögren on a part-time basis.
Books for children and young adults play a major role in Sweden nowadays. They are read at home, in kindergartens and schools as well as by and for children. Such books engender in children a sense of joy in reading. Children gain happiness from them too. They stimulate their linguistic development; they give children knowledge of contemporary society, of bygone days and foreign countries. Astrid Lindgren used to maintain all this and yet the most critical point for her was the ability of books to evoke children's fantasy. In 1958, she was presented with the H.C. Andersen Medal. Her speech of thanks, a tribute to fantasy, closes like this:
"Alone with a book, a child creates images somewhere within the secret chamber of the soul that surpass anything else. Such images are crucial for human beings. The day children no longer manage to imagine these images will be the day when mankind becomes impoverished. Everything big that occurred in the world occurred in someone's imagination. The state of tomorrow's world relies, to a high degree, on the imaginative faculty of those currently learning to read. Therefore, children need books."
Astrid Lindgren spoke for life, for peace and for democracy. She also spoke against all forms of violence. This she did in her books. Furthermore, as a creator of public opinion, she participated in debates about Swedish society in speeches and newspaper articles in her unpretentious, crafty and quick-witted way. She protested against USA's war in Vietnam, raised the alarm about neonazis in Sweden and protected the Swedish environment. Above all, she spoke on behalf of those who could not make their voices heard - animals and children. She initiated a debate about agriculture's large-scale animal husbandry, a debate that gradually enforced a new animal protection law. She fought for vulnerable children throughout the world; those in children's homes in Russia; children in war-torn countries; refugee children who face being exiled from Sweden.
When Astrid Lindgren in 1978 was presented with the German booksellers' peace prize, she maintained in her publicized speech of thanks (under the heading Never Violence) that all work for peace begins at home, in parents' child-rearing skills.
"We currently have - even without war - unimaginable horror, violence and repression in the world of which children are certainly not unaware. As they see and hear and read about it daily, they will come to believe that war is a natural state of affairs. Is it not for us, at least in our homes and through our own example, to show that another way of life exists? Maybe then there is still a small chance to contribute, little by little, towards world peace."
Astrid Lindgren's deed ceased in 2002. Her work lives on. In the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature ordinance, it is stated that the prizewinners' work shall not only be "of absolutely the highest artistic quality", it shall also "be characterized by the humanistic spirit associated with Astrid Lindgren". As a result, the award will draw attention to other small contributions to world peace.
Text: Janne Lundström (edited)
Former member and chairman of the Jury