“Never will I forget that night, how we sat him up to make it easier for him to breathe, how wretchedly he hung in our arms and the sweat of death on his brow. No, I just can’t write anymore; I miss him so terribly and keep remembering our close bond during my childhood - Lasse of Noisy Village, the very first ‘thing-finder’ is dead.”

Astrid was in great need of comfort herself, in May 1974 her big brother Gunnar died after a few years of illness. Gunnar was the sibling that Astrid had been closest with and his passing affected her deeply.

1974 came to include even further great losses. Her close friends Olle Holmberg, critic and professor of literature in Lund, and Per-Martin Hamberg, author and radio producer, both passed away that year. And so too did Gerda Nordlund, ‘Nolle’, who had worked as Astrid’s housekeeper for 22 years. In February she was run over as she cycled to the cinema from Astrid Lindgren’s flat.

“Yes, 1974 has been a year of death like never before and those four /…/ they are the ones who have left the deepest holes to fill.”

In 1976 Astrid Lindgren also jumped straight into public political debate. She called up Bo Strömstedt, editor-in-chief of the Expressen newspaper, and told him: “This is Astrid Lindgren speaking, former social democrat!”

Astrid wrote a big spread article for debate in the form of a fairytale to which she gave the name, Pomperipossa in Monismania. The article was a blistering attack on the Social Democratic government and its taxation policies.

In the ensuing debate Astrid also articulated her criticism against the dictatorial power which in many people’s opinion was being wielded by the governing party.

For those in power, Astrid Lindgren became the superior opponent in that debate. It had not been her intention, but her articles contributed – together with the film director Ingmar Bergman’s farewell letter to Sweden, which was also published in the evening paper Expressen– to the downfall of the Social Democratic government in the elections that same year. The articles also led to a long-term working relationship between Astrid Lindgren and Expressen.

“If anyone asks me what I remember from my childhood, my first thought is actually not of the people. But of that beautiful environment which framed my days then and filled them with such intensity, that as a grown-up you can hardly comprehend it. Wild strawberries among the rocks, carpets of blue spring flowers, meadows full of cowslips, special places where blueberries could be found, the forest where dainty pink flowers were nestling in the moss, the paddocks around Näs where we knew every little path and every little stone, the creek with the water lilies, ditches, streams and trees – I remember all this more than the people.”

In the autumn of 1985, she entered into a new debate – this time the subject was Swedish animal-treatment policies. She wrote quite a number of articles inExpressen, which raised people’s awareness of how badly pigs, cattle, chickens and other domestic animals were treated in Sweden. The subject was understandably close to Astrid’s heart, being a country lass, and all. Her articles have been assembled into the book, Min ko vill ha roligt (1990).