Mirjam Pressler, born Mirjam Gunkel (18 June 1940 – 16 January 2019) was a German novelist and translator. Being the author of more than 30 children's and teenage books, she also translated into German more than 300 works by other writers from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, English, Dutch and

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. She is also known for translating a revision of

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

's diary, ''

The Diary of a Young Girl ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', commonly referred to as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch language, Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Neth ...

'', in 1991, thus renewing its

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

. Born to a Jewish mother, Pressler was raised in a

foster home Foster care is a system in which a underage, minor has been placed into a ward (law), ward, group home (Residential Child Care Community, residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, ref ...

. She studied painting at

Städelschule The Städelschule, full name Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule, is a tertiary school of art in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It accepts about 20 students each year from around 500 applicants, and has a total of approximately 150 ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

as well as English and French literary studies at

LMU Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. Before becoming a writer, she was a jeans shop retailer for eight years, who, as a single mother, raised three daughters. Later, she became a member of the

PEN Centre Germany PEN Centre Germany is part of the worldwide association of writers founded in London in 1921, now known as PEN International. One of over 140 autonomous PEN centres around the world, PEN Centre Germany is based in Darmstadt, Hesse. Work PEN Ce ...

Bibliography

* '' Bitter Chocolate'' (1980), written by Mirjam Pressler, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, published by Beltz & Gelberg * '' Scratches in the Paint'' (1981), written by Mirjam Pressler, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, published by Beltz & Gelberg * '' Time on a Stick'' (1982), written by Mirjam Pressler, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, published by Beltz & Gelberg * '' The Story of Anne Frank'' (1992), written by Mirjam Pressler, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, published by Beltz & Gelberg

Awards

* Carl Zuckmayer Medal (2001) * Corine Literature Prize (2009) *

Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal The Buber-Rosenzweig-Medaille is an annual prize awarded since 1968 by the Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (DKR; German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation) to in ...

(2013) * Leipzig Book Fair Prize (2015) for translation of

Amos Oz Amos Oz (; born Amos Klausner (); 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a pro ...

's ''

Judas Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of ...

'' * Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2018)

References

External links

* (in German) 1940 births 2019 deaths German children's writers German women novelists Jewish German writers Jewish novelists German women children's writers Writers from Darmstadt Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German translators 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German novelists 21st-century translators 21st-century German women writers {{Germany-translator-stub