Zauberhafte Anf nge und Notwendigkeiten. ber das Schreiben für junge Leserinnen und Leser am Beispiel österreichischer Kinder- und Jugendbuchautorinnen

Abstract

The article provides an insight into the motivation of writing for young readers using some examples of Austrian writers for children and teenagers. The motivations to write for children and/or young people can be very diverse: for example, educators and teachers cannot find suitable teaching materials and write the texts themselves, mothers or grandmothers write down their favorite bedtime stories, or the first attempts at writing in elementary school raise the desire in a child to become a writer. However, the writing of children’s books has often been the consequence of other professional activities: There are many illustrators who later began to write texts themselves. Some writers alternated between writing for adults and for children. In some cases, writers’ own experiences are the motivation for writing, such as the desire to contribute to a political change or to pass on one’s own life experience to the younger generation.