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, 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 Ge ...
appearing in radio plays and TV series. She also published novellas and some illustrated books.
Life
Ellis Kaut was born in
Stuttgart. Her parents moved to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
with her when she was two years old. In 1938, aged 18, Ellis Kaut was elected the first official
Münchner Kindl 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.
Honors and awards
* 1938: First
Münchner Kindl
* 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“
* 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 ...
* 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