Selina Chönz or Selina Choenz (4 August 1910 – 17 February 2000) was a Swiss children's author. Her most famous work is ''A Bell for Ursli'', a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

illustrated by Alois Carigiet. Swiss-Commemorative-Coin-2011-CHF-50-obverse

Biography

Selina Chönz was born in

Samedan Samedan (, locally ) is a town and municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Maloja Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Grisons. It is served by Samedan railway station on the Rhaetian Railway network and ...

on 4 August 1910 as the oldest child and the only daughter to printer and typesetter Anton M. Meyer from Hof and his wife, Marie Louise Ronzi. Chönz trained as a Montessori kindergarten teacher in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. She then spent time learning languages by moving to Spain, England and Italy. Her first teaching position was in

Zuoz Zuoz () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Maloja Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. History Zuoz is first mentioned about 840 as ''Zuzes''. Historically, Zuoz was the political ce ...

in the

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

. Shortly after she moved to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

to teach kindergarten teachers. While there she decided to write a children's book herself. Guarda 47

Chönz was a proponent of Romansh. When she married, she changed the spelling of her name to replace the German "K" with the "Ch". She wrote the original version of the ''A Bell for Ursli'' in Upper Engadin Romansh. She persuaded artist

Alois Carigiet Alois Carigiet (30 August 1902 – 1 August 1985) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter and illustrator. He may be known best for six children's picture books set in the Alps, '' A Bell for Ursli'' and its sequels, written by Selina Chönz, and ...

to be her illustrator. From 1940 to 1945 he visited

Guarda, Switzerland Guarda is a former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Inn District, Switzerland, Inn District in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Ardez, Guarda, Tara ...

and created the illustrations. He used the nearby houses Chasa 51 as the template for the Ursli house in the book. Several further stories followed and the books were translated into a number of languages. She was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.

Personal life

In 1939 she married the architect Iachen Ulrich Könz who already had four sons from his previous marriage. Together they had a son, painter and draftsman Steivan Liun Könz. Chönz lived in Guarda until 1981. She suffered from senile dementia towards the end of her life dying in 2000.

Bibliography

;Tales * La chastlauna (1940) * Il purtret da l'antenat (1943) *La scuvierta da l'orma. Novel volume (1950) ;Children's Books * A bell for Ursli, (1945) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet. * Florina and the wild bird, (1952) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet. * The snowstorm, (1957) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chonz, Selina 1910 births 2000 deaths Swiss children's writers Swiss women children's writers 20th-century Swiss women writers