Olga Meyer (1889–1972)

Olga Meyer-Blumenfeld was born in Zürich, Switzerland, the daughter of Johann Emil Meier, a postman, and his wife Anna Barbara Lüssi. After earning a teaching degree, she worked for many years at a primary school in Horgenberg. There she told her students stories about her mother's childhood in the ancient village of Turbenthal in the Tösstal region. She later wrote down the stories and a colleague took them without her knowledge to a publisher. In 1918, they were published privately as Anneli, Erlebnisse eines kleinen Landmädchens (Anneli, Experiences of a Little Country Girl). The following year, the book was taken on by a commercial publishing house and became a bestseller in Germany. This book is considered to mark the beginning of Swiss children's literature, and was the first work in a trilogy that included Anneli kämpft um Sonne und Freiheit (Anneli Fighting for Sun and Freedom, 1927) and Anneli am Ziel und am Anfang (Anneli at the Finish and at the Beginning,1934). In 1929, Olga married David Blumenfeld, a doctor. She also worked as a journalist, and wrote for the Schweizerische Lehrerinnen-Zeitung (Swiss Teachers' Newspaper) from 1938 to 1945. She also wrote radio plays, including an adaptation of Johanna Spyri's book Heidi, and read stories and lessons on air. She gave public lectures on issues such as education and writing for young people.