German children’s author Janosch dies at 95 — Deutsche Welle

German writer and illustrator Janosch, whose real name was Horst Eckert, has died at the age of 95. The author’s publisher, Bernhard Faiß, announced his death, Deutsche Welle reports. According to the publisher, Janosch died peacefully.

The author created more than 150 books, which were translated into more than 30 languages. His children’s characters Bear, Tiger and Tiger Duck — a wooden duck on wheels with yellow-brown stripes — brought him worldwide popularity.

The path to literature

Janosch was born on March 11, 1931, in the city of Hindenburg in Upper Silesia, now the Polish city of Zabrze. After World War II, his family was forced to flee to Germany. In 1953, he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, but after several semesters he was expelled due to a “lack of talent.”

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

After that, Janosch worked as an independent artist and began writing. His first children’s book, about a horse named Valek, was published in 1960. In addition to children’s literature, he also wrote books for adults, in which he addressed the subject of his own childhood.

Panama, Tiger Duck and worldwide recognition

Janosch’s greatest success came with the book Oh, wie schön ist Panama, known in English as The Trip to Panama. In it, Tiger and Bear set out in search of their paradise in Panama, but eventually return to where they began their journey. For this work, the writer received the German Youth Literature Prize in 1979.

Images from his books appeared on mugs, postage stamps, jewelry and airplanes; films and television series in German and English were also made based on his works. Since 1980, Janosch had lived with his wife Ines on the Canary Island of Tenerife. From 2013 to 2019, he wrote a column in the German weekly Die Zeit on behalf of the character Mr. Wondrak.