Swedish literature is befriended by a boy. Lindgren wrote twelve books about Emil of Maple Hills, a boy living in the Småland countryside in the early 1900s, who continuously gets intro trouble because of his pranks, yet in later life becomes a responsible and resourceful man, and the Chairman of the Municipality Council. One of few fantasy writers in Swedish literature apart from Lindgren was the Finnish writer Tove Jansson (1914–2001), who wrote, in the Swedish language, about the Moomins. The Moomins are trolls who live in an economically and politically independent state, without any materialistic concerns. The Moomins have appealed to
Finland poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Zachris Topelius. After Finland became independent, there was a rise of modernist writers, most famously the Finnish-speaking Mika Waltari and Swedish-speaking Edith Södergran. Frans Eemil Sillanpää was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1939. World War II prompted a return to more national interests in comparison to a more international line of thought, characterized by Väinö Linna. Besides Kalevala and Waltari, the Swedish-speaking Tove Jansson is the most translated Finnish writer. Popular modern writers include Arto Paasilinna, Ilkka Remes, Kari Hotakainen, Sofi Oksanen, and Jari Tervo, while the best novel is annually awarded the