Due to her parents' early separation, she grew up at her maternal grandparents and at foster care in Vällingby, Stockholm.

She debuted as author in 1970 together with Peter Csihas (1945–2011) with their children's book Ludvig åker.

In the novel, having decided to pack up and leave her country of birth, she recounts the story her settling into her new home in the Finistère département, in Brittany.

It is told in a series of vignettes about gardening, learning the language, dealing with French bureaucracy, and struggling with writer's block.

She was awarded a doctorate honoris causa ad gradum (honorary degree) by the Faculty of Human Sciences at the Mid-Sweden University in Östersund in 2006.