Annie M. G. Schmidt was a Dutch writer. She is called the mother of the Dutch theatrical song and the queen of Dutch children's literature, praised for her "delicious Dutch idiom", and considered one of the greatest Dutch writers.
Background
Mrs. Schmidt was born in Kapelle, Netherlands, on May 20, 1911. She was the daughter of Dutch Reformed minister Johannes Daniel Schmidt (1871-1951) and school teacher Geertruida Maria Bouhuijs. She had an elder brother Wim and two older sisters also named Anna M. G. who both died young and before she was born. She was called Zus (English: Sis or Sister) by her family.
Education
Annie M. G. Schmidt was a solitary child, who found an escape in writing poetry and fiction, even though she once received a grade of 2 (on a scale of 1 to 10) in Dutch class — she would later brag about the report card. Her mother encouraged her and sent some of her poetry to Willem Kloos.
She finished secondary school in Goes.
Career
Mrs. Schmidt began her career as a librarian in 1932. In 1946, she joined the newspaper editorial staff of Het Parool, where she first published many of her stories and poems. A voracious writer, Mrs. Schmidt also wrote musicals and cabaret texts, television and radio programs, poetry, and comedy. Many of her children’s works appeared in English translation.
In 1952 Annie M. G. Schmidt began writing a radio show, the immensely popular De Familie Doorsnee, which ran until 1958. In 1957 she began writing Pension Hommeles, a musical comedy on VARA television.
In the 1960s Mrs. Schmidt wrote one of the most popular Dutch television series of all time, Ja zuster, nee zuster (English: Yes Nurse! No Nurse!), later the inspiration for the 2002 film of the same name.