Josef Guggenmos

Josef Guggenmos was born in Irsee in the Swabian Allgäu region in Germany in 1922. After the end of the war he studied German and art history and worked as an editor and translator for various publishing houses until his first children's poems, "Lustige Verse für kleine Leute", were published in 1956.
His breakthrough came in 1967 with the poetry book "Was denkt die Maus am Donnerstag?". Today Guggenmos is considered one of the most important writers of children's verse in German literature. His poems can be found in countless anthologies and readers. He published more than 80 books that received numerous literary awards. For his complete works he was honoured with the Grand Prize of the German Academy for Literature for Children and Young Adults in 1992 and the Austrian State Prize for Children's Poetry (1997).
Josef Guggenmos died in Irsee on September 23, 2003.