Wissenswertes

Her most popular character was Pippi Longstocking, which was an instant hit among children when she first appeared in 1945. But parents often were shocked by the unruly Pippi, who rebelled against society and happily mocked institutions like the police and charity ladies.

Lindgren was immensely popular in her home country. Few Swedes will ever forget her restful voice reading the stories that have become an integrated part of Swedish culture and collective consciousness. A theme park, displaying several of the settings from her books, opened in 1989 in her hometown, and attracts about 300,000 visitors yearly.

Her book "Karlsson on the Roof" is exceptionally popular in Russia. Boris Pankin, the Soviet Ambassador in Stockholm, told her in the early 1980's that this book was right behind the Bible as the two most commonly found books in the country. Lindgren responded "How remarkable. I had no idea the Bible was that popular".

She defended children's rights and animal welfare, lobbying an animal rights bill into law in 1998. That year the Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital opened, one of the biggest children's hospitals in northern Europe.

Her son Lars 'Lasse' Lindgren once said about his mother: "She wasn't the kind of mother who would sit quiet on a park-bench, watching her children play. She wanted to play herself and I suspect she found it as much fun as I did!"

Wrote all first drafts of her novels and scripts in stenography.

At times, Lindgren voiced political concerns. In 1976 she received a tax demand that outstripped her income, and criticized tax legislation in the fierce satire "Pomperipossa In the World Of Money". The law was changed.

Her first book was published in 1944, a story for teen-age girls called "Britt-Mari Opens Her Heart". It won second place in a literature competition sponsored by the publisher. Pippi Longstocking took first prize the next year.

Lindgren wrote about what she later called her own happy childhood in stories about the Noisy Village, where children romped through green forests in summer, skated on a frozen lake in winter and went fishing for crayfish in the fall.

She was awarded dozens of Swedish and international prizes for her books, among them the Hans Christian Andersen medal in 1958, which is considered the ultimate accolade for an author of children's books.

Lindgren's works were translated into dozens of languages, ranging from Azerbaijani to Zulu, and sold more than 130 million copies worldwide. About 40 films and television series were based on her stories.

Had a son, Lars 'Lasse' Lindgren (born December 4 1926), from her relationship with Reinhold Blomberg. He was 30 years older than her and when she became pregnant he wanted to marry her, she refused and the boy lived with foster parents until she married Sture Lindgren in 1931.

Lived in the same apartment on Dalagatan in Stockholm from 1941 until her death.

Had a daughter, Karin Lindgren (born May 21, 1934), with Sture Lindgren.

She wrote her last piece, a short mystery story, in 1987.

She spent her last years in a modest apartment in Stockholm where she had lived all her adult life.

Lindgren invented the character "Pippi Longstocking" to amuse her 7-year-old daughter Karin while she was ill in bed with a fever.

The father of her son Lars, Reinhold Blomberg, was married at the time of their son's birth.

Received the Hans Christian Andersen medal in 1958.

It wasn't until Lindgren was bedridden with a badly twisted ankle that she decided to put the stories on paper and give them to her daughter. She sent the manuscript to a publisher, who turned it down. But by then she had rediscovered the joy of writing.

Mother of translator Karin Nyman.