Waldemar Bonsels

Who was Waldemar Bonsels?

Waldemar Bonsels was a German writer of children's books.

Waldemar Bonsels wrote only one children's book in the strict sense, Die Biene Maja. "People in the sky" is not a proper children's book but has a much deeper mystical layer showing the unity of all creation and its relationship to God. There are a number of novels and shorter stories dealing with love as Eros and on the higher level of divine love in the spirit of romanticism, with the relationship between man and nature in a simple life unchanged by modern civilization and also including a historical novel from the time of Jesus. He travelled extensively in Europe and Asia. Voyage in India is the fruit of one of these travels.

His famous work Die Biene Maja also served the basis for a Croatian opera for children written by Bruno Bjelinski, making Bonsels work known to even a great audience. The Opera was staged 2008 in Villach, Austria at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival.