Margit Auer

The film rights to the book series Die Schule der magischen Tiere were sold to the Berlin film production company Kordes & Kordes in 2014 after the producer Meike Kordes discovered the first book while on a train in the summer of 2013. A father was reading the book aloud to his daughter, and Meike Kordes secretly took a picture of the cover. One year later, the two producers Alexandra and Meike Kordes met with the publishers and the author in a café in Munich to negotiate the film rights. Filming began in September 2019 at Grafenegg Castle in Austria and continued in Munich (at the town hall and Bavaria Studios) in October 2019 and in Cologne (MMC Studios) in November 2019. The script was written by Viola M. J. Schmidt. Gregor Schnitzler was the director. The leading adult roles were given to Nadja Uhl (Mary Cornfield), Milan Peschel (Mortimer Morrison), Justus von Dohnányi (Heribert Siegmann), Heiko Pinkowski (Willi Wondraschek), and Marleen Lohse (Elvira Kronenberg). The leading children's roles were played by Emilia Maier (Ida Kronenberg), Leonard Conrads (Benni Schubert), and Loris Sichrovsky (Jo Wieland). Over 3,500 girls and boys had applied to audition for roles. The voices of the animals were performed by Katharina Thalbach (Henrietta the turtle), Max von der Groeben (Rabbat the fox), and Sophie Rois (Pinkie the magpie). The film is scheduled to be released on 14 October 2021.

Twelve books have been published in the regular series of Die Schule der magischen Tiere as well as five spin-offs, the holiday series Die Schule der magischen Tiere – Endlich Ferien, and one special edition. In 2020, Auer published several books for early readers featuring the polar bear Murphy as a detective. All three series are ongoing. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages and have been published in the following countries: Albania, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, Greece, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and Ukraine.

In March 2019, Auer was awarded the Heidelberger Leander 2019 children's book prize. Since 2019, she has been a weekly columnist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung's "Familientrio" where she answers questions on parenting. Margit Auer is married to the journalist and author of crime fiction Richard Auer. The couple lives in Bavaria and has three sons.

In 2017, Die Schule der magischen Tiere premiered in Hungarian at the Kolibri Theatre in Budapest.

After her children were born, Auer began to write children's books. Her first book, Verschwörung am Limes (Conspiracy on the Limes), a historical children's mystery, was published in 2010. It was followed by two sequels. In 2013, she published the first two books in her Die Schule der magischen Tiere series – Die Schule der magischen Tiere and Die Schule der magischen Tiere: Voller Löcher! – the first of which quickly made it onto the Spiegel magazine's bestseller list for children's books. The sequels also climbed to the top of the bestseller lists. In total, the series has sold over 7 million copies.

Auer grew up in Waldkraiburg, a town close to Munich in Bavaria, together with two older brothers. After attending the Ruperti-Gymnasium grammar school in Mühldorf, she went to university in Eichstätt, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1992. Auer then worked as an editor and reporter for various daily newspapers in Germany. In 1997, she opened her own editorial office. She has written for Süddeutsche Zeitung and Deutsche Presse-Agentur, among others.

Margit Auer (born 23 February 1967) is a German author. Her children's novels have sold a total of 7 million copies and have been translated into 25 languages. Margit Auer gained popularity through her book series Die Schule der magischen Tiere (The School of Magical Animals). The first book of this continuing series was published in 2013.