Elisabeth "Ellis" Kaut (17 November 1920 – 24 September 2015) was a German author of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, best known for her creation of

Pumuckl ''Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl'' (English: ''Master Eder and his Pumuckl)'' is a German children's series created by Ellis Kaut. Originally a radio play series of the Bavarian Radio in 1961, the stories were later adapted into books, a successf ...

, a

kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ger ...

appearing in radio plays and TV series. She also published novellas and some illustrated books.

Life

Ellis Kaut was born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. Her parents moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with her when she was two years old. In 1938, aged 18, Ellis Kaut was elected the first official

Münchner Kindl Münchner Kindl, meaning "Munich child" in the Bavarian dialect, is the name of the symbol on the coat of arms of the city of Munich. History This symbol has been the coat-of-arms of Munich since the 13th century. The figure portrayed was origin ...

for that year. In 1939 she married author Kurt Preis, continuing to live in Munich. They had a daughter, Ursula, born in March 1945. Ellis Kaut received actor's training, then studied sculpting. From 1948 she was a freelance author and also had some speaking parts in radio plays in the 1950s and 1960s. She supervised children's programmes at

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

, but was also active as a painter and photographer. In a 2010 interview, Ellis Kaut said that writing was always hard work for her. Ellis Kaut's husband died in 1991. Her last place of residence was in the district of

Pasing Pasing is a district in the city of Munich, Germany, and part of the borough Pasing-Obermenzing. Overview Pasing is located west of the Munich city centre, at the north-western edge of the city's innermost traffic zone. The district is mainly res ...

in Munich. She died after a long illness on 24 September 2015, aged 94, in a nursing home near

Fürstenfeldbruck Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, located 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it has a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s, Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base. Th ...

Honors and awards

* 1938: First

* 1955: Bayerischer Hörspielpreis * 1971: Schwabinger Kunstpreis * 1980: Cross of Merit 1st Class of

Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 1980: Medal „

München leuchtet Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

“ * 1984: Ernst-Hoferichter-Preis * 1985:

Bayerischer Verdienstorden The Bavarian Order of Merit (german: Bayerischer Verdienstorden) is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria ...

* 1992:

Bayerischer Poetentaler Bayerischer Poetentaler is a Bavarian literary prize of the writers guild ''Münchner Turmschreiber''. Winners Source: 1961–1969 * 1961: Joseph Maria Lutz – Eduard Stemplinger – Alfred Weitnauer * 1962: Benno Hubensteiner – Ernst H ...

* 1999: Oberbayerischer Kulturpreis * 2001: Pro meritis scientiae et litterarum * 2002:

Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille The Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille (Bavarian Constitution Medal) is an award by the German state Bavaria, which is awarded annually by the Bavarian state parliament to persons who have rendered outstanding services to the Bavarian constitution. ...

in silver

References

External links

Ellis Kaut's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaut, Ellis 1920 births 2015 deaths 20th-century German writers German children's writers German women children's writers German women illustrators German children's book illustrators Photographers from Munich Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Writers from Munich 20th-century German women