2019-11-20 Wed

Selma Lagerlof, a Swedish author, and teacher was born today on 20th November 1858. In 1909 she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature.

She was born in Ostra Emterwik, Varmland, Sweden to Erik Gustaf Lagerlof, a lieutenant in the Royal Varmland Regiment. She had been writing poetry ever since she was a child. In 1885 she became a teacher at the girls’ secondary school in Landskrona.

She published her first novel, Gosta Berling Saga, at the age of 33. Some of her notable works are – Antikrists miracle (1897; The Miracles of Antichrist), En herrgardssagen (Tales of a Manor). She was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings."

To honor her Soviet Union Postal Department has issued a commemorative postage stamp in 1959.

Image Source: wikipedia.org

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