Bibliography
In 1996, I wrote my first book about my life, called “Footnotes”. It was published by Libris Förlag in Sweden and translated into 13 other languages.
Later I wrote the book “Happy Days” and in 2010 the book “Dare to dream” was published.
Several books have been written about me and I also participate in other publications.
Dare to Dream
Life rarely goes as planned. Lena Maria never dreamed of becoming an elite athlete, singer, artist, lecturer or writer. She wanted to be an operator or truck driver.
Born without arms and with only one normal leg, she and her parents faced great challenges. But she learned to seize her opportunities and to work hard and purposefully. Today, she has the whole world as her field of work when she sings and talk about her life and the unique value of every person.
In Dare to Dream, we follow Lena Maria from the small farm in the south part of Sweden to the large concert halls in Asia and conventions in USA. Lena Maria tells us in words and pictures about the people, the music and everything else that has given her the energy to take on all of life's challenges - and to get through setbacks with her zest for life intact. She also shows some of her own watercolors and oil paintings and tells us how it came to be that she, in particular, became a manga character in Japan.
“My wish with this book is that it will awaken a zest for life. All people have enormous potential, despite the limitations we live with. I want to encourage you to take advantage of your life and your talents. Try your own wings, think big thoughts – and dare to dream!”
The book has also been translated into Japanese and Thai.
Happy Days
The book is written by Lena Maria, a Swedish female singer with a major disability. Lena is seen as a “successful person” by Japanese fans. In this book, she tells candidly how she established herself, realized her dreams and achieved happiness with humor. The theme is “the importance of family”. Lena Maria describes her two families. One is the family with her father and mother who raised her. The other is the family she has created with her husband Björn. “Family” is the key word to how she is able to work as a singer in Japan and Europe while having a disability. This is a book for young women who want to learn the power behind her smile.
The book was published in 2001 in Japan and 2005 in Thailand (sold out).
(Not available in Swedish)
Fotnoter/Footnotes
She had all the odds against her.
Lena Maria was born without arms and with only one normally functioning leg. It was a shock to those around her.
She could have become bitter, but Lena Maria's parents taught her to see the disability as an surmountable obstacle. She learned to use her feet to write, sew, play the piano and swim. In time, she became a national-level disabled swimmer, something that took her all the way to the Seoul Olympics.
With an iron will, joy of life and a strong faith in God, she turned all the odds in her favor.
Today, Lena Maria is a valued full-time singer, with enormous success in countries such as Japan.
The book about her life, which was first published in 1996 in Sweden and as a paperback later that year. It was translated into 13 languages and published in Norway and Germany (sold out) in 1997, Finland, France and Japan in 1998, Denmark in 1999, England (sold out), Estonia (sold out), Korea (2 editions) and Thailand (2 editions) in 2000, Taiwan (sold out), Singapore (sold out) and the USA in 2001, Serbia (sold out) in 2002 and Poland (sold out) in 2003.
(There are none in Swedish left in stock, also out of stock at the publisher)
Books written about me
In 1992 I did my first concert tour in Japan and in connection with that, the Christian book publisher Word of Life Press published a book about my life called "My Life". It was printed in both paperback and hardcover.
After that, other Japanese publishers made the books "Family Power", "Lena Maria Story" and "A Swedish Gospel Singer".
The books "My Life" are still available for purchase!
In 1999 I had the great joy of becoming a manga character in Japan. The book was published by Shogakukan, one of the largest book publishers in Japan. Every year a book is published about a famous person, people like Mother Theresa, Mozart, Princess Diana are some of those who have become manga characters. The books are extremely popular among young people and many who read the manga book about me in the late 90s now have children who are at the same age as they were then and who also get to share my life in the manga biography.
The book was also translated and published in Thailand in 2002 and Korea in 2014.
In 2013, the book "Lena Maria with John's Gospel" was published in Japan.
In 2016 and 2017, two cartoon books about my life were published in Korea. (sold out)
Böcker där jag finns med
Drottning Silvia - En Jubileumsbok
To highlight Her Royal Highness, Queen Silvia's everyday life as a leader, entrepreneur and professional woman and at the same time to celebrate her 70th birthday, this beautiful book was published.
The initiator of the book was former Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson, the author of the texts was Roger Lundgren and the photographer Richard L Eriksson published newly taken photos of the Queen.
In this book, we get to meet the Queen like never before. Queen Silvia shares openly about her life, her family and her commitment as a protector of children and other vulnerable people all over the world.
In addition to the Queen, a number of other profiles also participate, who in a personal way tell about the Queen and her life's work from different angles. And I got to write one of those chapters! Fantastic and honorable to be part of this celebration!
555 92 Jönköping
Sweden