Sven Nordqvist | |
---|---|
Born | Helsingborg, Sweden | 30 April 1946
Occupation | writer, illustrator |
Language | Swedish |
Nationality | Swedish |
Alma mater | Lund Institute of Technology |
Period | 1982– |
Sven Otto Rickard Nordqvist (born 30 April 1946) is a Swedish writer and illustrator of children's books, best known for his series Pettson and Findus, about the old farmer Pettson and his talented cat Findus. [1] He is also active as a comic artist. [2]
Nordqvist was born in Helsingborg and grew up in Halmstad, Sweden. He originally wanted to be an illustrator but was rejected by several art schools. Instead he studied architecture at Lund Institute of Technology, and worked for a time there as a lecturer in architecture. [3] At the same time he continued to look for work as an illustrator working on advertisements, posters and picture books. In 1983 he won first prize in a children's book competition and since then has worked exclusively as an author and illustrator of children's books.
He is married and has two adult sons.
During his career, he has been given awards in both Sweden and Germany. His Pettson and Findus books are especially popular in Germany, where the characters are known as Pettersson and Findus. In Danish they are called Peddersen and Findus. In Norwegian they are called Pettersen and Findus. In Finnish they are called Pesonen and Viiru. And in English, Festus and Mercury, though English translations of the books exist with the original names kept. Pettson and Findus was adapted for television in 1999. [4]
In 2007 he won the literary award Augustpriset in the children's books category, for his book Var är min syster? ("Where is my sister?"). In 1992 he won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. [5]
Elsa Beskow was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are Tale of the Little Little Old Woman and Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender.
Peter Pohl is a Swedish author and former director and screenwriter of short films. He has received prizes for several of his books and films, as well as for his entire work. From 1966 until his retirement in 2005, he was lecturer in Numerical analysis at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sven Oskar Lindqvist was a prolific Swedish author whose 35 books range from essays, aphorisms, autobiography, and documentary prose to travel and reportage. He was educated at Stockholm University, and spent a year as a cultural attaché in Beijing, but spent most of his life as a writer, known for his persistence and independence. In the 1970s he established the public history movement Dig Where You Stand. From the late 1980s he focused on European imperialism, colonialism, racism, genocide, environmental degradation, and war. Among his best-known and most widely admired works are his 1996 discussion of racism, Exterminate All the Brutes, based on a phrase in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and his 2001 A History of Bombing, an intentionally fractured narrative written in 399 short chapters.
Barbro Lindgren is a Swedish writer of children's books and books for adult readers. For her lasting contribution as a children's writer, Lindgren was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2004. Ten years later she won the annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The biggest cash prize in children's and young-adult literature, it rewards a writer, illustrator, oral storyteller, or reading promoter for its entire body of work.
The Swedish children's literature tradition was initiated by the Swedish-speaking Finn Zachris Topelius in the 19th century. It flourished at the dawn of the 20th century with Elsa Beskow (1874–1953), who wrote and illustrated some 40 children's stories between 1897–1952. Her books were beloved and have continued to be reprinted in Sweden and many other languages.
Mona Elisabet Seilitz née Alexandersson was a Swedish film and television actress and entertainer. Born in Malmö, she was considered to be a veteran of both Swedish dramatic and comedic television.
Pettson and Findus is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist. The books feature an old farmer (Pettson) and his cat (Findus) who live in a small ramshackle farmhouse in the countryside in around the 1950s. The first of the Pettson och Findus books to be published was Pannkakstårtan in 1984.
Junibacken is a children’s attraction, founded by Staffan Götestam, Fredrik Uhrström and Peder Wallenberg. It is situated on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden.
Lars Ingvar Hirdwall was a Swedish actor. In Sweden he is best known for his role in the Martin Beck film series; internationally he was perhaps best known for his role as the lawyer Dirch Frode in the Millennium films.
Gunilla Elisabet Dukure Bergström was a Swedish author, journalist, and illustrator. She is best known for her series of children's books about the character Alfie Atkins, which she wrote and illustrated. Books about her character were translated into many languages, and some were adapted into film, television and theatre plays. She received several awards, including the royal Litteris et Artibus.
Pettson och Findus – Kattonauten is a Swedish children's film from 2000, based on the books Pettson and Findus by Sven Nordqvist.
Anders Ingvar Kjell Kjellson was a Swedish stage and film actor. Kjellson was born in Kärna, Östergötland County. He was accepted at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1946. He worked as an actor at various theatres, and was part of the permanent ensemble at the Royal Dramatic Theatre from 1964. He had notable roles in a number of plays including Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, The Beggars' Opera and Twelfth Night. In 2013, he played the old servant Firs in The Cherry Orchard at Stockholm City Theatre.
Per Staffan Götestam is a Swedish actor, director, theatre chief, playwright and founder of Junibacken. He is best known as Jonatan in The Brothers Lionheart. He is brother to Birgitta Götestam. Götestam started playing amateur theatre with Örebro Student Theatre. He was educated at Skara skolscen and Statens scenskola, Stockholm. He played a role in the musical Godspell, in 1974.
Stina Wirsén Hedengren is a Swedish author and illustrator.
Pettson & Findus: Fun Stuff is a 2014 live-action/animated film about the characters, Pettson and Findus created by Sven Nordqvist. The film was released theatrically in Sweden on August 1, 2014.
Tomtemaskinen was the Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar in 1993. The story is based on Sven Nordqvist's books about Pettson and Findus.
Skymningssagor was a children's programming originally airing over SVT's SVT 1 between 24 October 1988 – 16 November 1998. Every episode includes a story-tale usually told by silent pictures and narrator. Among the stories were the Sven Nordqvist books about Pettson and Findus. The intro and outro scenes showed a model-landscape with a town and a rural district at twilight, and a model train travelling across model railway tracks. The picture would them zoom in and out the location where the story was set. It was accompanied by a melody played on the piano.
Pernilla Stalfelt is a Swedish children's writer and illustrator. She has gained a reputation for successfully explaining difficult concepts to children in their own language, for example by presenting the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Hurrraa!!! All barns rätt. The Death Book, presenting death in children's terms obtained positive reviews when published in English in 2003.
Anna Höglund is a Swedish writer and illustrator, considered to be one of Sweden's best illustrators.
Sami Said is an Eritrean-born Swedish writer. His novels, which frequently draw from his own immigrant experience, have received critical acclaim in his adopted country. Människan är den vackraste staden, his third novel, was one of Sweden's nominees for the 2019 Nordic Council Literature Prize.