We bid farewell to the Tiger Who Came to Tea author by revisiting an interview she did for the first ever issue of JR
This morning it was announced that the author and illustrator Judith Kerr passed away at her home yesterday aged 95. She was best known for her debut children's book, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which was first published in 1968 and has been in print ever since.
Born in Weimar Berlin to German Jewish parents – books by her theatre critic father were burned by the Nazis – Kerr and her family fled Germany in 1933 and settled in Britain. The budding artist then helped wounded soldiers with the Red Cross before going on to study at Central Saint Martins.
Judith Kerr © Matthew Kneale; The Tiger Who Came to Tea first edition
It wasn’t until Kerr was 45 that she was published, working before then as a scriptwriter for the BBC. During this time she met her husband, screenwriter Nigel Kneale, and had two children.
In 2001, Kerr gave an interview for the very first issue of Jewish Renaissance, in which she spoke about her semi-autobiographical trilogy, Out of Hitler Time, which offers a child's-eye view of World War II. The questions were posed by one of our young readers, Hannah Brada, and were so lovely that we've decided to revisit the piece in honour of the great Judith Kerr, who will be dearly missed.
By Danielle Goldstein