She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and is best remembered for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils).A visit in 1900 to the American Colony in Jerusalem became the inspiration for Lagerl�f's book by that name. The royal family and the Swedish Academy gave her substantial financial support to continue her passion By 1895, she gave up her teaching to devote herself to her writing. With the help of proceeds from G�sta Berlings Saga and a scholarship and grant, she made two journeys which were largely instrumental in providing material for her next novel. With Elkan, she traveled to Italy, and she also traveled to Palestine and other parts of the East.In Italy, a legend of a Christ Child figure that had been replaced with a false version inspired Lagerl�f's novel Antikrists mirakler (The Miracles of the Antichrist). Set in Sicily, the novel explores the interplay between Christian and socialist moral systems. However, most of Lagerl�f's stories were set in V�rmland.Lagerlof was asked by the National Teacher's Association in 1902 to write a geography book for children. She interestingly combined informative facts of Sweden's geography with a boy named Nils Holgersson. When the boy got in trouble, he traveled to many different provinces, allowing children to learn about Sweden while staying interested.