Husband-and-wife-team Inger and Lasse Sandberg are arguably the most successful Swedish authors and illustrators of children's picture books during the post-war era, jointly producing more than 100 titles, some of which having been translated into 33 languages. Among their most classic creations are Little Spook Laban and Little Anna, each the main character in a number of books loved by generations of children. Adding to its portfolio of timeless children's book properties, Plus Licens now represents Little Anna and Little Spook Laban throughout Europe (excl. the Nordic countries), the US and Japan.
Says Louise Lindquist, New Business Director at Plus Licens: - While the Sandbergs' books and movies are instantly loved by today's pre-schoolers, Lasse Sandberg's unique drawing style also gives his characters timeless qualities as design icons. Throughout their career as children's book creators, Inger and Lasse Sandberg expressed a unique presence in the world of children, combining word magic and the joy of being together with a playful pictorial language adapted for children without losing artistic expressiveness or creative imagination.
Says Niklas Sandberg, Managing Director at Tre Sandberg AB: - Tre Sandberg AB have professionally been building our brands on the Nordic and the Japanese markets, and we have for a long time received indications of interest for our brands also on other markets. We have deliberately held back the brand development on these remaining markets while looking for a company that has the will, the competence and the high level of ambition to represent us outside the Nordic countries. We are now fully convinced that we together with Plus Licens will have a very exciting future journey and that these markets no longer will have to wait for our beloved characters. Congratulations Europe, US and Japan, here we come!
Little Spook Laban and Little Anna both debuted in children's picture books in 1965, and several titles in each series have been published over the years. During recent years, Little Spook Laban has also become the hero of animated theatrical films, the fourth title opening in the fall of 2009. Each consisting of six animated segments, the Laban films have become very successful also abroad - not least in France where "Laban, le petit fantôme" drew 45.000 visitors only in the first month!
Inger and Lasse Sandberg's first book together was Ullrik the sheep receives a medal and the couple have themselves received numerous awards throughout the years - the Heffaklump in 1969, the Nils Holgersson plaquette in 1973, the Astrid Lindgren Award in 1974 and the royal medal Litteris et Artibus, awarded for outstanding service to the arts, in 2006. They have also both been members of the Swedish Academy for Children's Books.
As picture book creators, Inger and Lasse Sandberg came to further develop the modernistic poetic-pedagogic picture book tradition developed in Denmark in the 1940s by artists like Arne Ungermann and Mogens Hertz. Inger Sandberg (1930-), originally a school teacher, carefully adapts her storylines to the tastes and needs of modern children, stimulating them to creativity, playfulness and discovery. A graduate from Beckmans school of arts (today Beckmans College of Design), Lasse Sandberg (1924-2008) began his career as a newspaper cartoonist under the pen name "Herr Sandberg" in publications like the classic satire magazine Sondagsnisse-Strix and the weekly magazine Vi. His picture book characters are prototypes for children to identify themselves with, often personified through attributes from Inger Sandberg's text. The main purpose of the illustrations is to enlighten the storylines from the perspective of a child. Lasse Sandberg's naivistic character drawing style is often accompanied by complex backgrounds and environments in different techniques like ink, crayon, oil and collage utilizing materials like tapestry, laces, passementerie, ribbons, scraps, cut-outs, textile remnants and golden paper.
Visit the official Little Spook Laban web site (Swedish language)
