Astrid Lindgren With her character as Pippi Longstocking, she is perhaps one of the most recognized writers who has captivated readers around the world.
The truth is that Sweden has produced more than its fair share of internationally renowned writers in the last 100 years. At the turn of the 20th century, Swedish literature was dominated by Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) and August Strindberg (1849-1912), and their influence is still felt today.
Strindberg's The Red Room (Roda rummet), 1879, and Lagerlöf's Gösta Berling saga (Gösta Berlings Saga) from 1891, are considered the first modern Swedish novels.
Pippi Longstocking and a long list of other memorable characters have made Lindgren one of the world's best, beloved children's authors. For the last decade or so, Sweden's best literary exports have been in the crime genre, with Wallander Henning Mankell in the Larsson Millennium series and Trilogy achieving worldwide best-selling status.
Both have also been enjoyed by television and film audiences, in the popular Swedish original and English-language remakes.
The association between Sweden and quality literature is kept fresh by the Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded by the Swedish Academy. The prize, awarded each year in Stockholm by King Carlos XVI Gustavo, is the most prestigious in literature.