Jutta Bauer

Jutta Bauer (9 January 1955 – 10 September 2025) was a German writer and illustrator of children's books. She received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2010 for her "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator.^[1][2]

Life and career

Born in Volksdorf, Hamburg on 9 January 1955, Bauer studied at the Technical College of Design in Hamburg from 1975 to 1981.^[3] Afterward, she worked as a children's book illustrator and as a cartoonist for women's magazine Brigitte.

She won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Award) in 2001 for Schreimutter, a picture book.^[4] She was a runner-up in 2002 for Opas Engel, a story inspired by schoolchildren outside her studio,^[5][6] and she received a special prize for Illustration in 2009.^[7]

In 2010, Bauer received the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award, conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People. It is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books.^[1][2]

Bauer lived in Hamburg, and died unexpectedly of complications from an allergic reaction on 10 September 2025 at the age of 70.^[3][8]

Selected works

• Ein Engel trägt meinen Hinkelstein
• Schreimutter – 2001 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, Picture books
• Opas Engel; transl. Grandpa's Angel (Walker Books)
• Die Königin der Farben
• Abends, wenn ich schlafen geh
• Ich sitze hier im Abendlicht
• 2006 – Selma, 52pp., ISBN 0 9582720-8-5^[9]
• 2018 – Selma New Edition, 42pp., ISBN 978-1-776572-12-0^[9]