Johanna Spyri

Swiss writer (1827–1901)

Source-basedFalling

Lived 1827–1901, aged 74Switzerland

Switzerland WritersWriter / Author

Fame13.6
Momentum0.0
Switzerland rank#27
Wikipedia9.4K

Wikipedia
62 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Switzerland
#27
Writers
Era
1827–1901
Aged 74

Summary

Updated 2026-05-29

Swiss author behind Heidi, the alpine orphan story that somehow became a global children's staple. Spyri mined her own childhood summers in the Graubünden mountains for the kind of pastoral detail that made the book stick around for 150 years.

Biography

About

Johanna Spyri was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book Heidi. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.

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