Guest of the ilb 2007
Moni Nilsson, author of
children's books and screenwriter, was born in Bandhagen in 1955 and
spent her childhood in the Stockholm district of Kungsholmen. She grew
up in an unconventional family where tolerance and trust were
cherished. Her mother was a Jewish refugee who fled to Sweden as a
child during World War II, and to the Jewish community's dismay she
married a non-Jew. The conflicts between Jewish and non-Jewish
relatives and friends led to Moni Nilsson receiving a free upbringing;
the family travelled a great deal and artists came and went in her
parents' house. This childhood was to lend Moni Nilsson's later texts a
special tone. Following a baffling time at school she graduated and met
her future husband. When the eldest of her three sons started
kindergarten, Moni Nilsson's first book for children came into being.
It was years before the five-part »Tsatsiki« series made her one of the
most important authors of children's books in her native country. To
this point she was, in her own words, »the most frequently spurned
author« in Sweden and worked as an airplane cleaning woman, supply
teacher, kindergarten teacher, translator and editor of a radio station
for children. In 1995 »Tsatsiki och morsan« (t: Tsatsiki and mother)
came out, the prelude to one of the most successful series of
children's books in the nineties, widely translated and also extremely
effective in its film versions.
From book to book, Nilsson narrates episodes in
the life of eight-year-old Tsatsiki-Tsatsiki Johansson who lives in
Stockholm with his mother, an over-the-top rock musician, while his
father lives in Greece. Jaunty and full of wit, Nilsson plumbs the
depths of the mother-child relationship and the aspects of adolescence.
In ridiculous scenes she depicts Tsatsiki's first trip to Greece where
his father, a calamari fisherman, immediately faints and how Tsatsiki
and his friend Per cause a furore with their band »The Blaring
Tailcoats«. Through loving detail and unspoken messages the »Tsatsiki«
novels mirror Moni Nilsson's desire to awaken an understanding of
different cultures and lifestyles, grasping the wonder of childhood in
all its magic and seriousness. »Reading should be an adventure«, the
author says. »I want to shatter all prejudices. I want to inspire
children and adults, encouraging them to think in new ways.« Tsatsiki
grows up in a modern patchwork family caught between two cultures. In
»Tsatsiki och Retzina« (2001; t: Tsatsiki and Retzina) the idea of the
fragility of democracy is put forward when Tsatsiki's mother receives
threat letters when planning to take part in a concert against racism.
With »Hoppet« (2007; t: The Jump), a story about
two young Kurdish refugees in Stockholm, Nilsson presented an imposing
project as scriptwriter and author of books for young adults. Moni
Nilsson has been awarded the Nils Holgersson Plaque (1998) and
continues to live in Kungsholmen.
© international literature festival berlin
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