Tomi ungerer biography sample

Tomi Ungerer was a children’s book creator, an illustrator, a writer, a graphic designer, an architect, a satirist, a sculptor and the maker of the most idiosyncratic collages.

He was a father and a farmer, a joker and a teacher, a fighter for sexual freedom and a realist. And, with his unstoppable and most demanding self-drive, he was all of these things simultaneously.

Ungerer published over 140 books, which have been translated into 30 languages.

They range from his globally acclaimed children’s stories to illustrated memoirs to controversial volumes of biting social satire and adult themes.

Central to the success of his children’s writing was the fact that Ungerer did not write down to children, he wanted to challenge them, to frighten them, to delight them.

And children all over the world continue to adore these darkly brilliant tales. He was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize in 1998 and, in 2003, Ungerer wa