Erich Kästner

Erich Kästner was born in Dresden in February 1899 and grew into one of Germany's most socially astute satirists, writing poems that cut through pretense and children's books that didn't condescend. Emil and the Detectives and Lisa and Lottie became landmarks of the form — stories built on wit and real stakes. In 1960 he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his autobiography When I Was a Little Boy. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times across his career and died in July 1974.