The Winner of the 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 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 ’s most famous and beloved illustrators, among others Eva Eriksson, Olof Landström, Eva Lindström, Camilla Engman, and .

Selected awards

2014 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2009 Illis Quorum (golden medal awarded by the Swedish government) 2007 The Selma Lagerlöf Foundation Literary Award 2004 The Evert Taube Scholarship 2004 The awarded by The Society of the Nine 2003 Poetry Prize awarded by the Gustaf Fröding Society 2003 Prize awarded by The World of Astrid Lindgren 2002 The Schullström Prize for Children’s Literature 1999 The Emil Prize 1991 The Swedish Grammis Award 1991 Prize awarded by the Society for Literature Promotion 1989 The BMF plaque (with Olof Landström) for Sunkan flyger 1977 The Nils Holgersson plaque for Lilla sparvel 1976 Literary Award established by the magazine VI 1973 The newspaper Expressen’s Heffaklump 1973 Rabén & Sjögren’s The Astrid Lindgren Prize 1970 The Swedish Grammis Award

Rabén & Sjögren Agency Lillevi Cederin [email protected] Kerstin Öberg [email protected] rabensjogren.se/agency A celebration of play and imagination

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.

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! Illustrations by Camilla Engman 230x260 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years. First published in 2013. Modern classics for the youngest Illustrations by Eva Eriksson

Max bil Max kaka Max nalle Max balja Max boll Max’s Car Max’s Cookie Max’s Teddy Max’s Bath Max’s Ball

Max lampa Max dockvagn Max potta Max blöja Max napp Max’s Lamp Max’s Wagon Max’s Potty Max’s Nappie Max’s Dummy

Modern classics for the youngest children, Here Barbro Lindgren provides us yet The books about Max were first published brilliant in their humorous simplicity. They another example of her perfect pitch: not in the 1980’s. are a new kind of picture book, each only does she speak with a child’s voice, 150x160 mm, 16 pp, 0–3 years. telling a story of high drama in the life of a but she also never fails to see the world small child – in a language so deliberately through a child’s eyes. fragmentary that some educators responded with protest.

Jag föddes den

det var en (veckodag)

klockan var

Mitt stJärntecken är

Min födelseannons

klistra här

Nyfödd Nyfödd

1 måNad 1 måNad

3 måNader 3 måNader

6 måNader 6 måNader

1 år 1 år

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 jag illustrations from the Max books. syskon syskon

215x233 mm, 48 pp. foto First published in 2001. mamma pappa

morfar farfar

mormor farmor Mamman och den vilda bebin Den vilda bebiresan Vilda bebin får en hund The Wild Baby The Wild Baby Goes to Sea The Wild Baby’s Dog

The classic picture books about a mother The humorous pictures are enhanced by and her wild little boy who has adventures Barbro Lindgren’s ingenious rhymes, and that are anything but ordinary. The wild vice versa. baby is hanging from a ceiling lamp one The books were first published in 1980, minute, and taking a bath in the toilet or 1982 and 1985. running off to the woods the next. He does everything a child mustn’t do, and tries his 200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years. mother severely.

Andrejs längtan Stora syster Lille bror Andrej’s Longing Big Sister Little Brother A beloved and debated picture book that captures a Every night Little Brother starts to cry, and every night dreamlike atmosphere in the big city of Saint Petersburg. Big Sister has to comfort him. Helped by kindly neighbors, The two small parentless boys, Andrej and Vova, have Little Brother always gets what he wants. The narrator’s escaped from the orphanage. Andrej is looking for his voice is warm and funny, in spite of the fact that the story mother. She is gone! Andrej thinks back to the time in his is about humankind’s existential solitude and our funda- mother’s stomach. His life was better then. mental need for security. 200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years. 170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years. First published in 1997. First published in 1992. The heartwarming piglet

Illustrations by Olof Landström The books about Benny was first Nämen Benny published in 1998, 2001 and 2007 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. 200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years.

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 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… Nominated for the August Award 2007. 200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years. An absurd tale about a world where anything can happen

Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang Loranga, Loranga

Fore-most among the eccentric cast of and a great-grandfather who has moved The books were first published in 1969 characters are Loranga, a father who loves into a tree, eats birdseed, and thinks he and 1970. bright orange clothes and wears a tea is a cuckoo. They all live a carefree life, Illustrations by the author cozy on his head; his son Masarin, brought untroubled by rules or norms, in a tolerant Approx. 120 pp, 6–9 years. up on sweet buns and love; grandfather – world. In these absurd tales, anything Dartanjang, who emerges from his wood­ can happen—is the garage suddenly full shed every morning with a new identity; of tigers?

An upside down world related to Alice and Winnie-the-Pooh

Vems lilla mössa flyger Korken flyger VLMF Vad lever man för Who’s Little Cap Is Flying The Cork Is Flying What-Are-We-Living-For

Wonderfully quirky and original chapter also includes a champagne cork, a marble, Barbro Lindgren walks a tightrope between books where the toys in Child-Hans’ country and a rubber monkey. Wistfulness, melan­ merry and serious – so sure-footedly that give us an image of the world in miniature choly, and sorrow are counterbalanced we can laugh even at a funeral. – with all its absurdity, cruelty and zest for here by vibrant language and quiet humor. The books were first published in 1987, 1990 living. Their main characters are an old, The tattered elephant is losing sawdust and and 2006. ragged stuffed dog whose eyes are falling in the final book, we witness her funeral. out of its head, a baldheaded teddy bear, an After a refill, however, she returns from the Illustrations by Eva Eriksson elephant and a Russian muskrat. The cast dead. Here, with greater skill than ever, Approx. 150 pp, 6–9 years. A selection of other titles by Barbro Lindgren

Gröngölingen är på väg: Bra Börje Här är det lilla huset dikter för barn och andra Louie Here is the Little House The Green Woodpecker Is On His Way Illustrations by Pija Lindenbaum Illustrations by Eva Eriksson Poems for children and others 200x245 mm, 32pp, 3–6 years, 1992. 170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 1994. Illustrations by Katarina Olausson Säll 150x180 mm, 56pp, 6–9 years, 1974.

Lilla lokomotivet Rosa Julia vill ha ett djur Dollans dagis Rosa, the Little Train Engine Julia Wants a Pet Dollan’s Day Care Illustrations by Eva Eriksson Illustrations by Eva Eriksson Illustrations by Eva Eriksson 195x215 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 1995. 200x254 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 2002. 170x210 mm, 32 pp, 3–6 years, 2009.

Dagbok från hönshuset Journal from the Chicken Coop Illustrations by Kristina Digman 170x210 mm, 64 pp, 3–6 years, 2010.