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When Lygia Bojunga was small, she had three wishes: to be a boy, to be a grown-up and to be a writer.
She saw how boys had more fun than girls, more freedom and more opportunities. And it was always the grown-ups who decided what children could do, children were never free to do as they wanted. And telling stories was her favourite thing of all: in her stories she was free and could decide things for herself.

Eventually she did become a writer, even though it took quite a long time. She has written about her childhood wishes in a book called The Yellow Bag. The main character Rachel hides all her wishes in a yellow bag, which finally gets so big that it bulges out.

Lygia was born in the countryside in Brazil in 1932 but moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was 8. She liked Rio so much that she still lives there, nowadays just outside the centre on a hillside overlooking the city.

For many years Lygia was an actress, and at one time she worked in television, but didn't like it at all. She has loved books ever since she received her first one as a present at the age of seven. One of her favourite books is Pippi Longstocking, which she likes because Pippi is so strong and independent. As an adult she still reads books for comfort and enjoyment, although it was not until 1972 that she started to write books herself. The first, called The Companions, is about a dog, a bear and a rabbit who are in search of freedom.

At that time Brazil was a military dictatorship, and people weren't allowed to say and write what they wanted since everything was censored. But the military leaders didn't expect children's books to be anything other than harmless and cute, so Lygia Bojunga could write about things other people were not allowed to: about freedom, and the importance of independent thinking. It's something that's impossible if you have your thoughts sewn into your brain like the cockerel in The Yellow Bag has.

Lygia's style of writing is called magical realism, a mixture of magic and reality which makes you uncertain as to which is which. She herself claims simply to write about the reality of life in Brazil, which is a large and diverse country in which lots of amazing things can and do happen.
Lygia writes books both for children and adults, and says that in her homeland there's not such a sharp distinction between adult and children's' books as there is in many other countries. Several of her books have been translated into English.

Lygia Bojunga has said that a book is like a person: "A book needs time to grow, just like a person. A book shouldn't be a shallow, mass-media thing that's extremely popular one day and then is forgotten the next."

A selection of books by Lygia Bojunga

Corda Bamba

Maria, a tightrope walker, is ten years old. But she's no longer with the circus: she's with her grandmother, who's strict and won't let her decide anything. Maria can't understand why she has to live with her grandmother. Something terrible has happened, but she can't remember what.
Her grandmother doesn't approve of her tightrope walking, nor of her talk of the circus, but one night, when nobody's looking, Maria fixes up a rope to the neighbouring house. Once inside, she goes on a tour of the various rooms, and in doing so she regains her memories.
Corda Bamba is both funny and sad, disturbing yet full of hope at the same time.

Seis Vezes Lucas

Lucas' father doesn't have any sympathy with Lucas' fears when he's home alone. And he doesn't think that boys should cry. Lucas' mother has more understanding of how Lucas feels, but she's never willing to go against her husband, always doing what he wants.
There is, however, a female teacher at school that Lucas likes and who seems to understand him. But does she really like Lucas' father more than Lucas himself?
Reading the book, you can often get angry with Lucas' father, who's so unsympathetic, and selfish, and occasionally with his mother too. But as Lucas himself grows in maturity, he finds a way to cope with his immature parents.

The Bed

Can a bed be the main character of a book? Well, in this book it can. And it's not just any old bed: it's enormous, heavy, has lion paw feet, an ornamental headboard and is at least 200 years old. Not only that – there's a curse on it: if the bed ever leaves the family that owns it, terrible things will happen.
And that is, of course, precisely what does happen. The bed gets sold, but it doesn't stay with its new owners for very long. On its convoluted journey it causes love at first sight, joyful reconciliations and some almighty rows.
11 year-old Petunia is another of the book's main characters. She's a girl of action, inventive and tough. And she's also deeply in love.