Kirsten Boie (; born ) is a German

children's author 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 ...

and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Having worked as a teacher, she began publishing in 1985 and is the author of more than 100 books. Among her best-known works are ''Paule ist ein Glücksgriff'', the ''Kinder aus dem Möwenweg'' series, and ''Ritter Trenk''. She has been recognised with the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 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 ...

and an honorary citizenship of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Biography

Kirsten Boie was born in 1950 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. Between 1969 and 1974, she read

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. She then worked as a teacher at a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

before starting her publishing career in 1985.

Career

In 1985, Boie published her first children's novel, ''Paule ist ein Glücksgriff'', about an ethnic-minority child

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

into a German family. She went on to publish more than 100 books in the genre. Her best-known works include ''Ritter Trenk'' (2006) and the ''Kinder aus dem Möwenweg'' series (from 2000). Her contributions to the field of children's literature have been recognised on numerous occasions: among other awards, Boie received the Großer Preis der Deutschen Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (2008) and the

(2011). In December 2019, Boie was named an honorary citizen of her native Hamburg. In 2020, an award (''Kirsten-Boie-Preis'') for children's literature was named in her honour. Its inaugural recipient was the German author Julia Blesken.

Activism

In 2018, Boie joined an initiative of German authors, ''Hamburger Erklärung'', advocating for a greater emphasis on the acquisition of reading skills in

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

pupils. In reaction to the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

of 2015, she published ''Everything Will Be Alright'' about a child fleeing the Syrian city of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

. Boie said that the book was intended to raise awareness for the situation of Syrian refugee children in German schools, and it is published in both German and Arabic. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

she participated in a campaign by the newspaper ''

Hamburger Abendblatt The ''Hamburger Abendblatt'' (English: ''Hamburg Evening Newspaper'') is a German daily newspaper in Hamburg. The paper focuses on news in Hamburg and area, and produces regional supplements with news from Norderstedt, Ahrensburg, Harburg, and ...

'' that encouraged children to read books while in lockdown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boie, Kirsten 1950 births Living people Writers from Hamburg German children's writers German women children's writers 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German women writers University of Hamburg alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany