Maria Kownacka

Maria Kownacka (11 September 1894 – 27 February 1982) was a Polish writer, translator and editor, specializing in children's literature. She was a long-time writer of Płomyk. Her best-known work is the series of books about "Plastuś", that began with. It is around that time she also begun her career as a writer. Later she founded her own school in Krzywda on land owned by a relative. As she did not have sufficient funds to buy books, she wrote down her own stories for the children. It would be published in the book form in 1936 and would become one of the classics of Polish children's literature, and part of the Polish elementary school curriculum.

She continued publishing children's literature after the war: Kajtkowe przygody (1948), Tajemnica uskrzydlonego serca (1948), Dzieci z Leszczynowej Górki (with Zofia Malicka, 1952), Rogaś z Doliny Roztoki (1957), Szkoła nad obłokami (1958), Za żywopłotem (1971), Na tropach węża Eskulapa (with Kazimierz Garstka, 1980).

Many kindergartens in Poland are named after characters from her books.