Kirsten Boie: Anthology for the "German Astrid Lindgren"
11/11/2025Kirsten Boie is one of the best-known authors of children's and young adult books in the German-speaking world. Researchers from the Universities of Würzburg and Eichstätt-Ingolstadt have now published an anthology of her work.
With her works, which include series such as King Kong, The Travelling Pig, Möwenweg and The Little Knight Trenk, Kirsten Boie has been shaping the German-language children's and young adult literature landscape for 40 years. The media like to refer to her as the "German Astrid Lindgren". In addition to her 40th anniversary as an author - her first book, Paule ist ein Glücksgriff, was published in 1985 - Boie also celebrated her 75th birthday in 2025.
Dr. Christine Ott, Dr. Roberto Hübner and Professor Cornelia Rémi took this double reason to celebrate as an opportunity to dedicate an anthology to Kirsten Boie: Kirsten Boie. Reading Perspectives and Learning Potentials (1985-2025) is published by Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier (wvt).
18 Contributions from Experts
Christine Ott and Roberto Hübner work at the Chair of the Didactics of the German Language and Literature at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), while Cornelia Rémi is a professor in the same department at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
Over 300 pages, the anthology sheds light on Boie and her work from a variety of perspectives. The individual contributions outline the wealth of narrative genres in which Boie moves, shed light on narrative processes and show the thematic diversity of her books. In doing so, it becomes clear what influence Boie's innovative texts have had on German-language children's and young adult literature, both in terms of content and form.
"Kirsten Boie likes to break out of categories and role models. She reaches a wide variety of readers with her diverse work," explains Christine Ott.
The anthology not only explains how children can be led to literature, but also how poetic texts can inspire learning - about language, media, history and literature itself.
It also portrays Kirsten Boie as a staunch lobbyist for reading and a committed participant in socio-political debates; her work, which comprises over 100 titles, combines literary quality with social commitment. In recent years in particular, she has increasingly devoted her books to contemporary historical themes relating to the Nazi and post-war period (e.g. Dark Night).
Multiple Awards
In addition to a wide audience, Kirsten Boie also regularly wins over expert juries with her texts. During her long career as an author, she has been honoured with the German Youth Literature Prize (2007 and 2022), the Zurich Children's Book Prize (2018), the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize (2011) and the Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature (2008), among others.
"Kirsten Boie creates narrative worlds that broaden horizons and help us to encounter life in all its fullness. This volume honours the great storyteller and confirms that her texts offer plenty of space, material and inspiration for literary learning," say the publishers.
