Linnea finds an orphan dog

Kirsten Boie, one of Germany’s best-known authors of modern children’s and young people’s novels, was born in Hamburg in 1950. Her years at school and university were also spent in Hamburg, with the exception of her year at Southampton University in England on an International Scholarship from Hamburg University. As a student, she earned her living working as an assistant at the library of the Literary Studies Department. After graduating in German and English, she gained a doctorate in literary studies, writing her thesis on the early prose of Bertolt Brecht. At the same time, she taught at a private school of commerce, completed her practical teaching training, married and then worked as a teacher at a grammar school in Hamburg. At her own request, she switched to a full-day comprehensive school. In 1983 came the adoption of her first child. At the request of the responsible youth welfare office, she had to give up her teaching job and subsequently wrote her first children’s book. In 1985, she adopted her second child. Over sixty Kirsten Boie books have since been published and translated into several different languages. Her books leave the reader in no doubt that the author is definitely on the children’s side. That she doesn’t forget about the adult, either, is what makes her characters so true to life and likeable, her books so lovable and readable. In addition to her books for children and young people, Kirsten Boie also writes short scripts for children’s television, lectures and essays on different aspects of children’s and youth literature and she has also written a children’s play. In recent years, she has travelled increasingly around Europe and the world on behalf of the Goethe Institute. Kirsten Boie lives with her husband and two children within the Hamburg catchment area.