Johan Rundberg was born in 1973. He is most noted for the historical series about the orphanage child Mika and received the August Prize for The Night Raven in 2021.
Since his debut, Rundberg has written everything from scary suspense novels and romantic comedies to everyday stories for the beginner reader. This autumn, he is up to date with the middle-aged novel Totalvägra.
On Tuesday, it was announced that he will receive this year's Astrid Lindgren Prize.
"It feels overwhelming. I haven't really taken it in yet, but it's of course a great honour and I'm very happy. Writing is a pretty lonely job. It's easy to start doubting your own stuff and if something like this happens, you really get confirmation that 'yes, maybe it's okay', says Johan Rundberg to Kulturnyheter and continues:
Writing about punk dreams
The motivation for Rundberg receiving the award reads:
"He's phenomenal at creating characters that feel like real people, and their interaction and dialogue with each other is something completely unique. Whether he's writing about punk dreams in the present day or children at the bottom of society in 1800s Stockholm, he creates page-turners that are impossible to resist. He writes with great love for people and a low-key sense of humor that shines through everything he does, and he is one hundred percent loyal to the children he writes about and for.", writes the jury in a press release.
"I think it's the case that I write for children because I get to relive that age a little bit and, in the best case, help a child have a reading experience. And that's probably the coolest thing I can imagine, says Johan Rundberg to Kulturnyheterna.
Hear more about how Johan Rundberg is inspired by Astrid Lindgren in the clip.