born Nov. 20, 1858, Mårbacka, Swed.
died March 16, 1940, Mårbacka
Swedish novelist.
She was working as a schoolmistress when she wrote her first novel, Gösta Berlings saga (1891), a chronicle of life in her native Värmland. Later works include Jerusalem (190102), which established her as Sweden's foremost novelist, and The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and its sequel (190607), a geography reader for children in fantasy form. A naturally gifted storyteller, she rooted her work in legend and saga. In 1909 she became the first woman and the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Selma Lagerlöf, 1909.
Courtesy of the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm