Angelika Mechtel

Angelika Mechtel (1943–2000) was a German author. She wrote novels, stories and poetry, as well as books for children and young adults, radio plays, screenplays and documentaries. Her literary breakthrough came in 1968 with the prose collection “Die feinen Totengräber.” She published her first children’s book in 1975, inspired to write for younger readers by her own daughters. Her best-known children’s books include “Die Reise nach Tamerland” and “Kitty Brombeere.” Mechtel received, among other honors, the BDI Literature Advancement Award, the Hermann Kesten Medal and the honorary gift of the German Schiller Foundation. From 1983 to 1991, she served as vice president of the West German PEN Centre and worked with the Writers in Prison Committee on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers.