Willi Wiberg’s creator: Swedish author Bergström has died

In her books she gave disadvantaged children a voice – for example in the Willi Wiberg series, which has been translated into more than 35 languages. The Swedish children’s author Gunilla Bergström has now died.

Gunilla Bergström created the character Willi Wiberg almost 50 years ago. A young boy who lives alone with his dad in an apartment in the suburbs. Depending on the book, Willi is four to seven years old and either cannot sleep, has a secret friend or sees ghosts.

Papa, on the other hand, whom Bergström let smoke a pipe and who usually wears a brown, unattractive sweater, has little in common with modern fathers, Bergström said in an interview with the TV station SVT. “So the look, so jaded and then the big sweater, so that’s not as modern a body image as today’s fathers.”

It is not known who Willi Wiberg’s mother is. Everyone can think of that themselves, said Bergström in several interviews.

Hardly any books about disadvantaged children

Bergström was born in Gothenburg in 1942 and worked as a journalist for several Swedish newspapers. Their life was not always easy, said Bergström. There were many dark periods and periods of depression, especially after the birth of their daughter Boel, who was born with a disability. At the time, she found that there were hardly any children’s books about protagonists with restrictions.

Children’s book series Bill and Bolla

This is how the idea for the series Bill and Bolla, stories about their big son and his infinite love for his little, special sister came about: “I did that for myself too, I felt fine. Everything was so difficult and serious, constant Visits to the doctor. And then I noticed: You can laugh about it too. If you can laugh about something, then I think you’ve won. “

These books meant a lot to her, even more than Willi Wiberg. She was involved in an association for parents with disabled children and was a role model for many in dealing with this difficult situation.

And when the days were dark, says Bergström, one thing was always important to her: “The most important thing is curiosity, because it generates the energy. You get going again when curiosity is back. That happens early in the morning: what What is the weather today? You want to know that. That is the first curiosity of the day and then it goes on. “

Willi Wiberg is still relevant today

What it looks like inside – that is also a leitmotif in the world-famous Willi Wiberg books: When you are afraid of ghosts, get hit or have no boyfriend. The cultural journalist Johan von Sydow from SVT believes motifs that are not lost on topicality. “She let him grow up in an apartment in a suburb with high-rise buildings. That has nothing to do with Bullerbü, which would now be a museum. The boy is still there today. It will still be there in 50 years.”

It doesn’t matter if Willi’s dad is a bit out of date – at least visually. Otherwise it was and is very modern: Cooking and cleaning and reading books to Willi – Dad did that as early as 1972.