Astrid Lindgren was born in 1907, and grew up at a farm in the south of Sweden. She began her writing career in 1944 after she won a children's book competition, with Pippi Longstocking published a year later. She wrote 34 chapter books and 41 picture books, that all together have sold a staggering 170 million copies and been translated into more than 100 languages. Astrid Lindgren died in 2002.