Johanna Hurwitz's Presentation

A SPECIAL VISIT
by Johanna Hurwitz

In the spring of 1987, I received a telephone call from Deborah Brodie, an editor at Viking Press. She asked if I'd be interested in writing a children's biography about Astrid Lindgren. Because I was a children's librarian as well as an author myself, the thought of learning more about this very special woman appealed to me. Furthermore since they had published her work in the United States, Viking promised me full access to all their files about Astrid Lindgren. This
meant that I would be able to read every piece of correspondence that the famed Swedish author had ever written to them or they to her. The latter letters were carbon copies because their history together predated photocopy machines and computers.

When I agreed to write the book, Ms. Brodie apologized that Viking could not afford to pay for me to travel to Sweden. However, they had the permission of Astrid Lindgren for me to write about her life and they thought we could communicate by letters. I decided that I wanted to meet Astrid Lindgren face to face. I wrote to the Swedish Institute in New York City and asked if they had any money for a small grant to help pay my expenses. I explained my goal was to make the name Astrid Lindgren as well known in this country as that of her character Pippi Longstocking.

To my delight, the Swedish Institute gave me enough money to pay my fare to Sweden. So in June of 1988 I went to Stockholm. It was arranged that on the morning of June 29th, Astrid Lindgren's secretary Kerstin Kvint would pick me up in front of my hotel at 9AM and we would take the hour and a half drive to Astrid's summer house in Furusund.

Astrid's bright red frame house has a storybook setting on the Baltic Sea. "Here we are," Kerstin shouted in Swedish as she opened the front door. A cheery voice responded in English, "Here I come!" And down the stairs came Astrid Lindgren. She was eighty years old and her weathered face showed its age. She wore dark glasses to protect her sensitive and failing
eyes against the bright sun that filled the house. Her hearing was not as good as it once was. But her mind was sharp and her sense of humor was quickly evident.

"I heard you on the radio this morning reading about Rasmus," Kerstin announced.

"I did too," I said in amazement because before I left my hotel room I had turned on the radio. I can't understand Swedish but I could tell from the measured speech that someone was reading aloud. "I heard the name Rasmus," I said, "But where was Oscar?" Because his name was missing I hadn't realized that it was Astrid's voice I had heard. She explained that there are several books about Rasmus and that only one, Rasmus and the Vagadond, has been translated into English. I thought it quite amazing that I had heard Astrid's voice even before I met her in person.

I spent the morning interviewing her. She told me that when she was a child one of her favorite books was Anne of Green Gables.. "Do you think that is why Pippi has red hair?" I asked thinking of the red headed Anne. Astrid shrugged her shoulders. It had never occurred to her. I asked if Astrid thought that when she was writing about Pippi in the early 1940's
it was a form of escapism during the tense period of World War II. Astrid admitted that it was a very tense and hard time yet she insisted that the story was written for her daughter who had made up the name. She had never thought of the story as a form of escape.

"I heard that the King and queen of Sweden came to visit you on your 80th birthday," I said.

"Why no," said Astrid. "The Swedish Prime Minister came. The Soviet Ambassador came. The Ambassador from the United States came. But the King and Queen didn't come."

Embarrassed by my gaffe, I said, "In the United States, the President sends a telegram when you celebrate your 100th birthday. Perhaps the King and Queen are waiting for your 100th birthday. Astrid Lindgren laughed. "Yes, perhaps you are right," she said.

Unfortunately, Astrid Lindgren didn't live to see her 100th birthday. But she knew she was greatly loved and honored by her country and the world. The day following my visit to her home, I discovered a set of ten postage stamps each featuring a different character from her books. Modestly, she didn't even mention them to me.

The 100th birthday party at the House of Sweden was a delightful experience. Astrid Lindgren would have loved the speeches and the music. I have a feeling she was there after all.