A Talent for Happiness: Judith Kerr interviewed by Nicholas Tucker


Just turned 94, Judith Kerr is still full of ideas for stories as Nicholas Tucker discovered when he interviewed her for Books for Keeps.


celebrating her 94th birthday, she is as spry as ever, full of opinions, still keeping up with everything and unfailingly positive. She can even find it in herself now to welcome her family’s forced exile from Germany way back in 1933: My brother and I always agreed that our childhood in Switzerland, France and finally Britain worked out much better for us than if Hitler had never happened. We loved going to all these different schools and learning other languages.


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The family’s adventures are recorded in her autobiographical trilogy When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Bombs on Aunt Dainty (formerly The Other Way Round) and A Small Person Far Away. Published over forty years ago, they have recently been re-issued in paperbacks sporting smart new covers illustrated by the author. They read as well as ever.


I am with her to discuss her latest picture book, Katinka’s Tail, published by HarperCollins in a sumptuous hardback edition. Katinka is Judith’s cat, otherwise white except for the existence of her tabby tail. Her various party tricks make up the bulk of this utterly charming book.


am sitting in the drawing room of a pretty suburban house opposite Barnes Common in London.


My hostess is the children’s author and illustrator Judith Kerr. Recently


14 Books for Keeps No.227 November 2017


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