Johan Palmberg

Astrid Lindgren was your great-grandmother on your father’s side. Do you have any special memories of her?

"She was getting on in years when I came on the scene, so I don’t have too many memories of games and tree-climbing and such. That kind of thing I mostly heard about from my father. But I do remember that she loved to tell family stories, often with my grandmother eagerly filling in the details. She didn’t mind if the stories were a bit scary or sad. Also, every year we went to her apartment on Dalagatan for Boxing Day dinner. It all had a quite elegant and important air, yet we were given perfect freedom to play however we wanted, and I still remember how exciting that felt. She also had the world’s best library, and it was fascinating to look through her shelves."

Kvinna sitter vid ett skrivbord och pratar i telefon

Jury with extensive knowledge

Rewarding the highest-quality work demands an expert knowledge of international children’s and YA literature as well as children’s rights and children’s reading. The twelve-member expert jury has the challenging but pleasant task of evaluating some of the world's most prominent candidates each year and selecting a laureate.

Find out more about the jury