Astrid - one of our most popular writers!

In our time Astrid Lindgren has become one of the most popular Swedish authors. Her books are in worldwide circulation, and kids of all ages have enjoyed time and again her narratives. Let us briefly encounter Astrid in person during an interview where she reveals the forthcoming of her funny stories and characters...

Astrid Lindgren was born in 1907 at a place call Näs just off smalandic Vimmerby. An area full of adventurous life that was from the beginning bound to be the ideal setting for her books. - One of my earliest and strongest impressions go back to the time when I was five years old. It was at that age when one fine day my elder brother, to everybody´s perplexion, got sight of an aircraft that was about to hover in over the houseroofs. The strange flying object immediately landes at the backside of our barn, and off we rushed to see what had happened! Soon we got hold of Lieutenant Dahlbäck who was crouching on a rock. Sitting there and swearing like a plumber he made a great impression on all of us kids as we all were raised in strict religious homes. The thing was that Lieutenant Dahlbäck was taking part in a flight competition between Stockholm and Copenhagen but unfortunately had come off his course and thus been forced to do an emergency landing, just that he had picked our barn. It was very evident that he was no master flyer as was visible by his emergency crashdown a few miles further near the water tower.

CAPTAIN SONDERS AND MADICKEN
And then there was that completely different story about Captain Sonders... - When I had reached the age of twelve, I happened to meet my second pilot! Captain Sonders was his name, and his job was to do artistic loopings in front of spectators. At a price of 100 crowns he even took you up to the clouds! At that time there was a wholesaler in Vimmerby town by the name of Sjöholm. He had a certain reputation and a charming wife who thought in her way her husband should take a chance to fly! So up Sjöholm flew, against the skies for only a hundred crowns! But his fate stroke badly, and during the speedy flight he wetted himself! As soon as he was back on safe ground he had himself driven to the local bathhouse for cleaning - a quite embarassing story for him! I made use of that same event in my book about Madicken. There was only one little difference - this time it was the mayor of our town that had to put up with the mischief! By the way: There was really a girl by the name of Madicken - she was my best friend and kept that role throughout my whole life. Astrid Lindgren personally thinks that her unique art of story-telling has come, to a certaine degree, from her parentel heritage... - My parents used to tell me a lot about everything. But my father did not tell about dwarfs and goblins, but foremost about real events! Such as what people used to tell them, when they had been young themselves, about normal people's activities and many other happenings. Who knows! In case of Astrid's parents had told her more about dwarfes and goblins, we would possibly never have known any of her characters, such as Emil and all the rest. What a stroke of luck that it never came to be like this. - The real person Madicken was my very best girlfriend, Astrid Lindgren, the world's most read authoress of children-books


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Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren Matts' fort Junedale
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