The Miracles of Antichrist was written following a trip to Sicily. While there, Selma Lagerlof heard and was inspired by a Sicilian legend: "When Antichrist comes, he shall seem as Christ. There shall be great want, and Antichrist shall go from land to land and give bread to the poor. And he shall find many followers." Lagerlof was the first woman and the first Swedish author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1909. She was considered one of Sweden's most beloved authors; the Swedish Academy declared that their recognition of her was "for reason of the noble idealism, the wealth of imagination, the soulful quality of style, which characterize her works."