Miep Diekmann

Miep Diekmann (26 January 1925 – 9 July 2017) was a Dutch writer of children's literature.

Early life Diekmann was born in 1925 in Assen. Her father worked in the military and as a result the family moved several times: Diekmann moved to Kampen in 1928, to Vreeland in 1930 and in 1934 to Willemstad, Curaçao, where she lived until 1939. In 1956 she won the Kinderboek van het jaar literary award for her book De boten van Brakkeput and the story was turned into a radio play in 1959. Between 1981 and 1988 she stayed in Aruba for several months a year to coach Aruban writers.

Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic Diekmann traveled to Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 1970s to help various Czech authors. In 1981, she won the Boekensleutel award together with Czech writer and poet Dagmar Hilarová for the book Ik heb geen naam. Both were awarded the Janusz Korczak Literary Prize by the Polish National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People in 1983 for this book. Gewoon een straatje (as Just a Street, 1963), Marijn bij de lorredraaiers (as Slave Doctor, 1970), and Jossy wordt een Indiaan (as Indian Jossy, 1970).

Personal life Diekmann was married from 1948 to 1954 to journalist Anton Kamphoff, with whom she had two sons.

Awards Miep Diekmann receiving the Laurens Janszoon Costerprijs from mayor of Haarlem Jan Reehorst in 1979. 1956: Kinderboek van het jaar (De boten van Brakkeput) 1964: Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis (En de groeten van Elio) 1970: Staatsprijs voor kinder- en jeugdliteratuur 1975: Nienke van Hichtum-prijs (Dan ben je nergens meer) 1978: Gouden Griffel (Wiele wiele stap) 1979: Laurens Janszoon Costerprijs 1980: Vlag en Wimpel (Stappe stappe step) 1981: Boekensleutel (Ik heb geen naam) 1986: Vlag en Wimpel (Hannes en Kaatje, 2 in een straatje) 1987: Vlag en Wimpel (Hannes en Kaatje en het rommellaatje) 1987: Vlag en Wimpel (Hoe schilder hoe wilder) 1991: nomination Publieksprijs voor het Nederlandse Boek