Martin Baltscheit
© Stephanie Weiler
Martin Baltscheit, born 1965 in Düsseldorf, studied communication design at the Folkwangschule Essen and was soon considered a multi-talented artist. He is best known as the author and illustrator of numerous children's books and picture books, which he loves to tell in the form of a fable. These include bestsellers such as "Die Geschichte vom Löwen, der nicht schreiben konnte" (The Story of the Lion Who Couldn't Write). He has also made a name for himself as a narrator, radio play author and theatre director and has won many prizes for his work, including the German Youth Literature Prize for "Die Geschichte vom Fuchs" (The Story of the Fox) and the German Children's Theatre Prize for "Krähe & Bär" (Crow and Bear).
In 2010 Martin Baltscheit brought his play "Just One Day" to theatre stages worldwide. The adaptation, which he himself recorded as a audio play, was voted audio book of the year by the Hessischer Rundfunk, among others. In 2015, Dressler published the illustrated book version, which has sold well over 20,000 copies to date. After initial excursions into short film with the animated film "Die Nacht des Elefanten" (The Night of the Elephant), which won the German Short Film Award 2014, Baltscheit is now celebrating his cinema debut with the film adaptation of "Just One Day".
»I'm not afraid of topics. You just have to make them so that children understand them. The exciting thing about my work is to invent images that are so tangible that they last a lifetime.« Martin Baltscheit
Prizes & Awards (Selection)
2016: German Children's Theatre Prize for "Krähe & Bär"
2014: hr2 audio book of the year 2014 "Nur ein Tag"
2014: German Short Film Award "Die Nacht des Elefanten"
2014: Reading artist 2014
2013: German Speaker Audio Book Award with "Zorgamazoo"
2011: German Youth Literature Prize "Die Geschichte vom Fuchs"
2010: German Youth Theatre Award for "Die besseren Wälder"
2009: NRW Children's Book Prize with Ulf K. for "Professor Paul"
2002: Children's Book Prize NRW with Zoran Drvenkar "Der einzige Vogel"
and many more