Children’s writer dies in Sweden

    KRT—STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Popular children's writer Astrid Lindgren, creator of the braided, freethinking Pippi Long-stocking, has died at the age of 94, the Swedish news agency TT reported Monday.

   Reaching into her childhood memories of the Swedish countryside, Lindgren wrote more than 100 works, including novels, short stories, plays, song books and poetry.

   Her most popular character was freckled Pippi Longstocking, with her unmistakable red hair and mismatched stockings, a favorite of children all over the world.

   Lindgren died Monday at a nursing home in Stockholm after several days of illness, her friend Margareta Stroemstedt told the newspaper Expressen.

   Lindgren's works were translated into dozens of languages, ranging from Azerbaijani to Zulu, and sold more than 130 million copies worldwide. About 40 films and television series were based on her stories.

   She was awarded dozens of Swedish and international prizes for her books, among them the Hans Christian Andersen medal in 1958.

   Lindgren wrote about what she later called her own happy childhood in stories about the Noisy Village, where children romped through green forests in summer, skated on a frozen lake in winter and went fishing for crayfish in the fall.

   King Carl XVI Gustaf and Prime Minister Goran Persson were among Swedes who expressed sorrow at the death of their beloved storyteller voted most popular Swede of the century in 1999.

   Flowers and candles piled up outside the front door of the downtown Stockholm apartment building that was Lindgren's home.

   Her daughter Karin Nyman, who as a child dreamed up the name of her mother's most famous character, told Swedish media Lindgren died after a brief illness caused by a viral infection.