The poem Tomten was written by Viktor Rydberg in 1881. In 1957, it was published in the children's magazine Klumpe Dumpe with illustrations by Harald Wiberg. At the time, Astrid Lindgren worked as an editor at the book publishing company Rabén & Sjögren. She wanted to publish the poem and the illustrations in a book form and tried to convince the company to do so. In 1960, the book with the illustrations by Wiberg was published by Rabén & Sjögren and was an immediate success.
