Annie M.G. Schmidt

Anna Maria Geertruida Schmidt, known as Annie, was a Dutch writer born on 20 May 1911 and died on 21 May 1995. She is often referred to as the mother of the Dutch theatrical song and the queen of Dutch children’s literature, with critics praising her “delicious Dutch idiom.” She is regarded as one of the Netherlands’ greatest writers. In 2007, after her death, a group of Dutch historians placed her in the “Canon of the Netherlands,” a list of national icons that also includes Vincent van Gogh and Anne Frank.

Though Schmidt wrote poetry, songs, books, plays, musicals, and radio and television drama for adults, she is most famous for her children’s books. Her best-known work for children is the *Jip and Janneke* series. Many of her books, such as *Pluk van de Petteflet*, were illustrated by Fiep Westendorp. In 1988, she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the highest international recognition for a children’s writer or illustrator, awarded biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People. By the time of her death, she had become an icon of Dutch literature. Her death, caused by euthanasia, is still discussed in Dutch media and played a significant role in debates about the practice.

Schmidt was born on 20 May 1911 in Kapelle, Zeeland, to a Dutch Reformed minister father, Johannes Daniel Schmidt, and a school teacher mother, Geertruida Maria Bouhuijs. She had an older brother, Wim, and two older sisters, both named Anna M.G., who died before she was born. Her family called her “Zus,” meaning “Sister.” As a child, she was solitary and wore heavy glasses, finding escape in writing poetry and fiction. She once received a grade of 2 out of 10 in Dutch class—a fact she later bragged about. Her mother encouraged her and sent some of her poems to Willem Kloos. After secondary school, she worked in a library, where reading heavily didactic children’s literature and seeing children’s boredom and protest led her to decide she would “read and tell only stories and poems which would genuinely appeal to children.”

Her literary career began in 1947 while writing for the Amsterdam newspaper *Het Parool*. Soon after, she started writing songs and sketches for performers like Wim Sonneveld and Wim Kan. Her career took off in the early 1950s, encompassing songwriting, playwriting for theatre, scripts for radio and television, newspaper columns, and children’s books. She wrote the lyrics for *De vogels van Holland* by Jetty Pearl, the first song ever performed at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1964, she won the Staatsprijs voor kinder- en jeugdliteratuur. Her final book, *Wat Ik Nog Weet*, a collection of childhood memories, was published in 1992. She died of voluntary euthanasia one day after her 84th birthday, using a combination of pills and alcohol, and was buried in Amsterdam.

Her death remains a reference point in Dutch media and discussions of euthanasia. Her life was dramatized in plays in 2003 and 2009. Her works continue to be in print, and her plays, such as the 1980 euthanasia-themed *Er valt een traan op de tompoes*, are still performed (it was revived in 1999). In 2006, she was included as topic number 45 of 50 in the Canon of the Netherlands, a chronological summary of Dutch history taught in primary and early secondary schools. A revised version, still including Schmidt, was presented to the Dutch government on 3 October 2007.

Schmidt began writing *Jip en Janneke* while at *Het Parool*. The stories feature two children living next door to each other, with short, self-contained adventures each week. Some plots were based on real events involving her son Flip and the neighbor girl. Fiep Westendorp illustrated the stories. The first was published on 13 September 1952, the last on 7 September 1957; eight book collections appeared between 1953 and 1960. *Jip and Janneke* are among the Netherlands’ most famous children’s characters—they were ranked first on a list of “five typically Dutch phenomena”—and their likenesses appear on products sold by HEMA department stores.

*Minoes* (1970) tells the story of a cat who turns into a young woman and helps a young journalist keep his job by sharing gossip from the cat world. A 2001 film adaptation, directed by Vincent Bal from a script by Burny Bos, became one of the most popular Dutch children’s films abroad. It won two Golden Calves, was the best-selling Dutch children’s film at the time, and its DVD was certified platinum in 2002. Over 815,000 people saw it in theaters, making it the highest-grossing Dutch film that year. It won first prize at the 2002 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. The book has been translated into English as *Minnie* (1992) and *The Cat Who Came In off the Roof* (2014).

In 1952, Schmidt began writing the radio show *De Familie Doorsnee*, which ran until 1958. In 1957, she started *Pension Hommeles*, a musical comedy on VARA television. In the 1960s, she wrote *Ja zuster, nee zuster* (English: *Yes Nurse! No Nurse!*), one of the most popular Dutch television series ever, with songs by Harry Bannink. It later inspired a 2002 film of the same name. According to Rieks Swarte, who adapted Schmidt’s 1962 comic strip *Tante Patent* into a play in 2007 (with music by Fay Lovski), that strip was the breeding ground for *Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster*.