Selma Lagerlöf receives the Nobel Prize in Literature
The Swedish 20-krona bill, with Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (November 20, 1858 – March 16, 1940) was a Swedishauthor, known internationally for Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (a story for children), and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings." Most of her stories were set in Värmland.
In 1914 Selma Lagerlöf herself became a member of the body that awards the Nobel Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy.
She was a close friend to Sophie Elkan, and the preserved letters from their correspondence make it hard to believe that this relationship was anything else than homosexual.
She lived in Sunne, where two hotels are named after her.
Her portrait has been featured on the Swedish 20 krona bill since 1991.
Selma Lagerlöf was born in Mårbacka, in the province of Värmland in southern Sweden, where she grew up largely apart from other children in the little family estate.
In the midst of her efforts to provide war relief to the blockaded population of Finland, she died of a stroke at her home on March 16, 1940.
DAGBOK FÖR SELMA LAGERLÖF, 1932 - The Diary of Selma Lagerlöf
Most of her stories were set in Värmland, though a trip through continental Europe inspired such works as her The Miracles of the Antichrist, set in Sicily.
In 1914 Selma Lagerlöf herself became a member of the body that awards the Nobel Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy.
At the start of the Second World War, she sent her Nobel Prize medal to the government of Finland to help them raise money to fight the Soviet Union.
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