Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was born in her family estate Mårbacka in Värmland, Sweden. She was a quiet child who spent most of her time reading and listening to her grandmother’s fairy tales and fantasy stories. From an early age, Lagerlöf wrote poetry but didn’t publish it. She received her early education at home and, at 24, left for Stockholm to attend the Royal Women’s Superior Training Academy and became a teacher. In 1885, at 27, Lagerlöf began to work as a country schoolteacher. There, she developed her story-telling skills to teach her students about the different countries in the religious scriptures. At the time, she began to work on a novel. In 1890, She submitted her first chapters to a magazine literary competition and won first prize – a publishing contract for a book. The following year, she published her first novel Gösta Berling’s Saga. Although it later became one of Swedish literature’s greatest classics, in the beginning, it went unnoticed and received few reviews. That changed when its Danish translation received critical acclaim, and Lagerlöf gained acknowledgment for her work. With the financial support of the philanthropic feminist Fredrika Limnell, Lagerlöf could concentrate on her writing, and by 1895 she stopped teaching. Together with her friend and companion Sophie Elkan, Lagerlöf made two journeys that influenced her literary future. While in Italy, she heard a legend about a Christ Child figure that was replaced with a false version. This story inspired her 1897 novel Antikrists Mirakler (The Miracles of the Antichrist). In 1900, her visit to Jerusalem resulted in her most acclaimed work, a two-volume book titled Jerusalem, about several generations of pilgrims who moved to the holy land. Published in 1901, the book became a best seller in Sweden and abroad, and Lagerlöf was compared to Homer and Shakespeare. In 1902, at 44, Lagerlöf accepted the National Teachers’ Association’s request to write a geography book for children. Published in 1906, Nils Holgerssons Underbara Resa Genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils) follows a boy from the southernmost part of Sweden who travels across the country on a back of a goose. By mixing historical and geographical facts, Lagerlöf created an educational adventure story appealing to children and adults. The two-part novel became Lagerlöf’s most famous work, and it has been translated into over 30 languages and adapted into various films and TV shows worldwide. On 10 December 1909, 51 years old Lagerlöf was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first female Nobel laureate in Literature. Over the years, Lagerlöf became involved with the women’s suffrage movement and was a speaker for the National Association for Women’s Suffrage while continuing to publish her work. However, the outbreak of WWI disturbed her deeply, and during those years, she focused her time and effort on raising funds for charitable causes, especially for refugee children. When the war ended, Lagerlöf returned to writing and published the novel Mårbacka in 1922, named after her childhood home; this book was the first of three autobiographical books. Three years later, she began publishing her historical trilogy – Löwensköldska Ringen (1925), Charlotte Löwensköld (1927), and Anna Svärd (1928). When WWII erupted, Lagerlöf’s creativity once again declined. In March 1940, she suffered a stroke and died a few days later at 81. Read more...