Grand birthday celebration with the reopening of the James Krüss Tower

Born on the island of Heligoland in 1926, James Krüss spent formative years in Munich from 1949 to 1966. With the support of Erich Kästner, he began his career as a children's and audiobook author, which earned him the German Youth Literature Prize in 1960 and the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1968. In 1966, he moved to Gran Canaria, where he lived until his death in 1997.

Today, his literary estate is preserved in the International Youth Library. In 2001, a permanent exhibition with testimonies of James Krüss' life was opened in a tower, which has been fundamentally revised after 25 years and will be reopened on Krüss' 100th birthday. We are celebrating both the birthday and the reopening of the James Krüss Tower with a big family event.

Television presenter Clarissa Corrêa da Silva, known to many from the programmes ‘Kummerkasten’ on KiKA and ‘Wissen macht ah!’ on WDR, will host the stage programme with music, readings and interactive activities, and will also recite poems by James Krüss herself.

Author Paula Peretti, who wrote the first James Krüss biography for children, will talk about the life of the author and poet for interested listeners of all ages. We also want to recreate the island of Heligoland, complete with the Lange Anna rock formation, cliffs, lobster shacks and lighthouse, of course.

Last but not least, there will be a birthday challenge: over the course of the afternoon, the longest ABC poem in the world will be created across the castle courtyard. This will only be possible if lots of children rhyme and illustrate ABC poems at our poetry stations.

The detailed programme will be published here in March.

Tickets can be purchased from MünchenTicket from April onwards.

Sponsored by the James Krüss Community of Heirs and the Friends of the International Youth Library Foundation.

— You can find all further events regarding James Krüss' 100th birthday here. —