Kinder- und Jugendbuchautorin

My Vita

Annette Langen is a German author of children's literature. She was born 29 April 1967 in Leverkusen, Germany, and is known for her picture book series about Felix, a traveling stuffed rabbit.[1][2]

Life
Langen grew up in a family of booksellers in Leichlingen in the region of Rhineland, Germany. After graduating from a college preparatory high school, she became a book retailer and then travelled to the United States in order to attend the Radcliffe Publishing Course, Harvard University. Returning to Germany, she began working as a commissioning editor for a children's book publisher for many years. It was at this time that she began writing her first children's books. She has been a freelance author since 2000. Langen has a daughter and son and lives near Cologne, Germany.

Career
Langen has published more than 100 children's books.[3] Of these, many have been translated, into over 30 languages. Her first children's book was published in 1989.

Her first book in the Felix series is about a rabbit named Felix,[4][5] who gets lost, and writes letters home to his owner, Sophie. This was one of Annette's creative inspirations as she travelled often with her family, even as a small child. This practice of writing letters has a long history with Annette; she had numerous penpals throughout the world, many of whom she continues to correspond with. Often it is Annette's own childhood memories of travels taken with her family that appear in her compilation of Felix books.

Annette Langen is an ardent supporter of children's literacy and is actively engaged as an ambassador in this area. She has been a volunteer patron to the Solingen Elementary School since 2001 and a Reading Ambassador of Germany's Reading Foundation since 2011 and took over the leadership of Patronage for Mentoring Coesfeld in 2012.

Honors

• "Book of the Year / Flying Turtle Award in Iran" für: Letters from Felix, Book City and The Research Quarterly of Children and Youth's Literature, Februar 2015
• Golden Record (Goldene Schalplatte) for Letters from Felix, presented at the Leipzig Book Fair in 2010
• Decade-Project Education for Sustainable Development (Dekade-Projekt Bildung fűr nachhaltige Entwicklung) through UNESCO for the first Felix Naturetrail in Germany, opened in Bonn, Germany, 2008
• Favorite Choice for Felix bei den Kindern der Welt (Buchliebling), Association of Austrian Publishers, (Buchverband Austria), 2006
• North Rhine-Westphalia Prize “Art and Culture for Children and Adolescents” Artists meet with Children and Adolescents—Annette Langen's Project for Solingen Elementary School, Solingen Germany 2005
• “Feather of the Month” (Pluim van de maand/Feder des Monats) award for the book Letters from Felix, Netherlands, 1995

Volunteer projects

Annette Langen is an ardent supporter of children’s literacy and is actively engaged as an ambassador in this area. She has been a volunteer patron to the Solingen Elementary School since 2001 where children from 14 different nations are taught. „I consciously committed myself to support this particular school, which has a tragic history. In 1993, in an arson attack, two Turkish students were killed by former students of the school.“

Annette is a Reading Ambassador of Germany's Reading Foundation since 2011 and she took over the leadership of Patronage for Mentoring Coesfeld in 2012.

Selected works in English

• I Won’t Comb My Hair. North-South Books Inc. 2010. ISBN 978-0735823150.
• Felix Joins the Circus. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 2000. ISBN 978-0789206329.
• Felix: What Time Is It?. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1999. ISBN 978-0789205629.
• Felix’s Christmas Around the World. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1998. ISBN 978-0789204523.
• Felix Explores Planet Earth. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1997. ISBN 978-0789203205.
• Pippo: A Little Dog Finds a Home. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1995. ISBN 978-0789200716.
• Felix Travels Back in Time. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1995. ISBN 978-0789200020.
• Letters from Felix. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. 1994. ISBN 978-1875633623.

See also

• List of animated feature films: 2005
• List of animated feature films: 2006