This article deals with the Swedish translation of Annie M. G. Schmidt’s novel Minoes (1970). In order to position Schmidt within the literary field of the targetculture, initially similarities between Schmidt and Swedish postwar children’s literature authors such as Lennart Hellsing and Astrid Lindgren are explored. Within earlier research Schmidt is often called ‘the Dutch Astrid Lindgren’ and indeed many resemblances between the works of both authors can be noticed, e.g. withregards to child images and literary style and expression. Furthermore Lindgren,for many years working as an editor for children’s literature at Rabén & Sjögren,functioned as a cultural transmitter or ‘gatekeeper’ and played a direct role in the early introduction of Schmidt in Sweden in the 1950s. In spite of this Minoes was first translated in 1989, one year after Schmidt got rewarded the prestigious H.C.Andersen price.

The translation analysis in this article focusses mainly on the Swedish translation of proper names and place names, both in the book and in the film version. In the book these are mainly translated with target culture-oriented strategies providing dynamic equivalent counterparts for the names adhering to meanings and connotations expressed in the source text but also functional within the target culture. The film version was introduced in Sweden in 2003 but here no references are made to the book. Names remain more unchanged in the dubbed Swedish version which at the same time coheres with the Swedish subtitling, also used for the Dutch spoken version of the film. Only small adaptions, mainly for purposes of pronunciation are made.

Although the book got good reviews, Schmidt never really obtained a central or stable position in the Swedish literary system. This is further confirmed by the fact that the film version in Sweden in no way is connected to the book which was not republished in connection to the film.