Bonsels Waldemar

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

Though he wrote only one children's book in the strict sense, Die Biene Maja (Maya the Bee), another work of his, People in the Sky (Himmelsvolk) -- even if not a children's book per se -- 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 (Eros und die Evangelien, Menschenwege, Narren und Helden, etc.), with the relationship between man and nature in a simple life unchanged by modern civilization (Anjekind, etc.) and also including a historical novel from the time of Jesus (Der Grieche Dositos). He travelled extensively in Europe and Asia. Voyage in India (Indienfahrt) is the fruit of one of these travels.

His famous work Die Biene Maja (Maya the Bee) also served the basis for a Croatian opera for children written by Bruno Bjelinski, making Bonsels work known to an international audience, and was adapted as a children's cartoon series by German TV.