{"id":5721,"date":"2020-09-08T11:06:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T10:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.florisbooks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5721"},"modified":"2020-09-08T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T11:17:19","slug":"astrid-marit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.florisbooks.co.uk\/blog\/2020\/09\/08\/astrid-marit\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrid & Marit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Astrid Lindgren<\/a> (1907\u20132002) was a multi-award-winning Swedish author and creator of many bestselling books, including Pippi Longstocking. Her books have been translated into over a hundred languages and are still adored all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marit T\u00f6rnqvist<\/u><\/a> was born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1964. She has won a Golden Plaque, one of the most prestigious children\u2019s illustration awards, and the 2020 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award<\/a>. Her many books include Charlie\u2019s Magical Carnival<\/u><\/a> and Wake Up, Let\u2019s Play<\/u><\/a>. Marit now divides her time between the bustle of Amsterdam and serenity of Sweden\u2019s forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Astrid and Marit first met when Marit\u2019s mother translated Astrid\u2019s books into Dutch. When Marit was just one year old, Astrid wanted her to star in the Swedish TV series Vi p\u00e5 Saltkr\u00e5kan<\/em>\u00a0(which later became the novel Seacrow Island), but the idea did not work out in the end, as Marit didn\u2019t learn to walk in time for the filming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Astrid visited the T\u00f6rnqvist family at their farmhouse in Sweden throughout Marit\u2019s childhood, where Marit has memories of the famous author jumping in the hay with the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After her graduation from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, Marit was commissioned to illustrate Astrid\u2019s picture book A Calf for Christmas<\/u><\/a>. It went on to sell 30,000 copies in its first month!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marit illustrated several more of Astrid\u2019s stories and they developed a close friendship. Astrid visited Marit every time she was in Stockholm and their exciting adventures included a hot-air balloon ride over the city so Marit could research a scene for In the Land of Twilight<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1994, Marit and Astrid began a two year journey to turn some of their best-loved stories into a three-dimensional journey for the Junibacken <\/u><\/a>museum devoted to Swedish children\u2019s literature. Marit won several awards for her work there, and is still responsible for the scenery in the story-train ride today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Astrid passed away in 2002, the thousands of wreaths and flowers sent by her fans from across Sweden and beyond were laid down at Junibacken. At her funeral, a school choir sang the classic lullaby that Astrid wrote for The Children of Noisy Village<\/em>, and Marit was inspired to illustrate it for her latest book, Now That Night is Near<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe song really touched me, not just because I was sad about Astrid\u2019s passing, but because she managed to capture the whole world with those few words. It was as though our childhood memories came together in this book.\u201d – Marit T\u00f6rnqvist<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Books by Astrid and Marit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n