Swedish · 1858–1940
Selma Lagerlöf won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909—the first woman laureate—for "the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings." The Swedish author's "Kristin Lavransdatter" spans medieval Norway across three volumes. "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" became a children's classic. Lagerlöf brought Swedish landscape and legend to international literature.