I shall never forget the day Mr Lilyvale came to get me for the first time. There was a knock on the window. “My name’s Mr Lilyvale”, he said, “I’m just tiptoeing about on the window-sills to see if there are any children who might want to come along to the Land of Twilight. Perhaps you’d like to?” Of course I would!Mr Lilyvale ("Herr Liljonkvast") was a friendlier predecessor to Karlsson on the Roof. Astrid Lindgren’s daughter Karin thought up the name. The story from the Nils Karlsson-Pyssling collection is published here as a picture book with illustrations by Marit Törnqvist.Translator: Polly Lawson
Fakta
The first to bring Astrid Lindgren's books abroad was the publisher Damm & Søn in Oslo, with their Norwegian edition of "Pippi Longstocking" already appearing in 1946. This marked the beginning of a long-standing relationship. Today, most of her books in Norway are published by Cappelen Damm, a publishing house formed through the merger of Cappelen and Damm. Astrid's book adaptations into films also became popular in Norway, as did her famous songs. One of Astrid Lindgren's favorite books was "Hunger" by the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun; she often mentioned it as one of her greatest reading experiences.