Lundberg, Ulla-Lena

The Finnish-Swedish author Ulla-Lena Lundberg spent the first years of her life on the island of Kökar in the Åland archipelago, a place she returns to again and again in her books. Her father, who was a vicar, died early so her mother, a school teacher, had to bring up Ulla-Lena and her older sister Gunilla on her own, and they settled in the Swedish-speaking part of Finland. Ulla-Lena's older sister Gunilla became her mentor during these formative years. She lent her the most important books, the ones that knew and explained everything. Ulla-Lena was only about three years old when her sister told her how these wonderful books came to be – they were written by people. When she asked her sister if she too could write books, she was told that there was no doubt that she could, and from then on Lundberg knew that she wanted to become an author. When she returned to Åland during the summer holidays she soaked up all the tricks and devices of a wild an impassioned oral tradition, and she was able to understand how stories about individuals are set against a background of world events.