Happy Times in Noisy Village

Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) was born in Sweden. Her most famous and beloved book, Pippi Longstocking, was originally published in Swedish in 1945 and has since been translated into 80 languages. It was followed by two sequels, Pippi Goes on Board and Pippi in the South Seas. The success of Pippi Longstocking led to a rapid growth of the publishing house Rabén & Sjögren, where Astrid Lindgren took over responsibility for children’s book publishing and thus had dual roles: she was a writer in the mornings and an editor in the afternoons. Astrid Lindgren had a long and prolific career, writing songs, screenplays, 34 chapter books, and 41 picture books. Her works have sold a staggering 170 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 100 languages. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a literary prize established in her memory, has been awarded annually since 2003. The prize is worth five million SEK, making it the world’s largest international award for children and young adult literature.

Mini was born in the front seat of a mini-car in an icy car-park in South Wales. She has two sisters and one brother, and grew up in a village in Buckinghamshire with plenty of places to make camps, climb trees and pretend to be horses. As a child Mini believed no day should pass without making something and created many bizarre objects from cardboard, clay, papier mache, dough, plaster, toilet rolls and crisp packets. After school Mini did a foundation Course in Art, but knew she wasn’t cut out to be a Fine Artist, so did an English degree at University College London. While she was there she became involved with set-building at the Bloomsbury theatre and eventually got asked to design some shows. After finishing her degree Mini worked making latex puppets in a basement in Covent Garden until she was offered a place on a theatre design course. Mini loved theatre designing because she got to make lots of models — and also real things, and paint backdrops, and create costumes. However, she did not earn much money. She trained to be a teacher and worked for six years in South London. She especially liked running after-school clubs in model-making and pottery. Mini had always done bits of illustration in her spare time, and had an ambition to have a book published some day. She did a two-year MA in illustration, and made a strange pop-up book and an animation about it.Mini has had four books published so far; The Pea and The Princess was shortlisted for the Greenaway Award in 2204, and her third book, Biscuit Bear, won the Smarties Prize in 2004.Mini lives in Oxford with her partner Tony and cat Bonzetta. She likes running along the river, cycling, walking up hills, running down corridors, and playing badly on her electric piano wearing headphones.