Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was born in Mårbacka, in the province of Värmland in southern Sweden. Lagerlöf's work is deeply rooted in Nordic legends and history. She rejected the dominating realistic movement and wrote her novels in a romantic and imaginative style about the peasant life and landscape of Northern Sweden. She wrote several books for children, the most popular of which is The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. In 1909, she became the first woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and, in 1914, she was appointed a member of the Swedish Academy.