It’s the birthday of the first woman—and the first Swede—to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1909), Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940).

Lagerlöf was born and raised in Mårbacka, a mansion located on an estate in Värmland, Sweden. (For crying out loud. Who has time for all these diacritics?) She grew up in a large family, and in spite of an illness that left her lame for a time, she was a happy child though serious. She was also a great reader and grew up listening to her grandmother tell fairy tales. At one point, she made a bargain with God: she’d read the entire Bible if he’d spare her father from a serious illness. She completed the reading and her father lived another 17 years. (Sometimes these things work out.)

Lagerlöf was educated at home and then studied to be a schoolteacher. She taught for ten years and during this time wrote her first novel, Gösta Berling’s Saga (1891), which appeared in two volumes. It tells the story of a charming but dissolute priest who bands together with 12 cavaliers to take on the richest woman in the province. Lagerlöf went on to write many more novels and short story collections, including the collection The Tale of a Manor (1899) and the children’s novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906-1907). This latter was supposed to be a geography textbook for children, but Lagerlöf made it a sweeping, poetic tale that “allows for the naughty spirit of childhood to remain true,” and if you’ve ever had kids, you’re nodding your head vigorously right now. (I mean, who stabs a couch with a pencil over and over for no good reason? My friend’s child, that’s who. Who sticks their finger up their brother’s nose? That was one of mine. I don’t remember which. I’ve blocked it out.)

In short, Nils starts out as a horrible child, mean to his parents and mean to animals, until one day a gnome shrinks him down to the size of an elf. Nils is then spirited away by a gander to have many adventures and generally Think about What He’s Done. Clearly we should all drop everything and read this book, and if they sold it at today’s Scholastic Book Fair, I’d buy a copy.

Lagerlöf used the money from her Nobel Prize to buy back Mårbacka, which had been sold upon her father’s death, and she lived there for the rest of her life.

Have a subdued Wednesday rich in fantastic possibilities and stay scrupulously honest to the data.