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Getty Images/Judith Kerr
The Tiger Who Came To Tea author Judith Kerr has died at the age of 95, her publisher HarperCollins says.
Charlie Redmayne, head of her publisher HarperCollins, said she was “a wonderful and inspiring person who was much loved by everyone”.
Kerr, who published more than 30 books over a 50-year career, dreamed up the tiger to amuse her two children.
Charlie and Lola author Lauren Child said she was a “huge admirer of her work, as a writer and an illustrator”.
She told the BBC: “More than that she was a good friend. I first met her maybe 10 years ago, and I always thought she was one of the most generous people to talk to about work.
“She was so interested in other writers and illustrators and always was asking questions, not one of those people who expected people to talk all about her, even though she was incredibly interesting and talented.
“She always wanted to know what everybody else was doing.”
Redmayne added: “She was a brilliantly talented artist and storyteller who has left us an extraordinary body of work.
“Always understated and very, very funny, she loved life and loved people – and particularly she loved a party.”
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He said that “time spent in her company was one of life’s great privileges and I am so grateful to have known her”.
Children’s author and TV personality David Walliams added: “I am so sad to hear that Judith Kerr has died.
“She was a legendary author and illustrator, whose stories and illustrations gave pleasure to millions around the world, not least me and my son. Judith is gone but her books will live on forever.”
Her books have been loved by millions of children
As a child of the pre-war German intelligentsia, Kerr was forced to flee with her Jewish parents when Adolf Hitler came to power.
The family came to London, via Paris, in 1936 when Judith was 13.
She wrote about her childhood and her status as a refugee in a trilogy of books for children, the first of which was When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, which became a set text in German schools.
BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis once asked Kerr if there was any layered meaning beneath The Tiger Who Came to Tea, but was set straight by the author.
Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp tweeted his gratitude for Kerr’s creations.
“Goodbye Judith Kerr,” he said, “All my four boys have adored you and I’ve loved reading your work to them. Forever on our bookshelves and in our imaginations.”
Fellow writer Tony Parsons also added his voice.
Kerr’s publisher at HarperCollins, Ann-Janine Murtagh, said it had been “the greatest honour and privilege to know and publish Judith Kerr for over a decade”, describing her as a person who “embraced life as one great big adventure and lived every day to the full”.
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Tiger Who Came To Tea author Judith Kerr dies