Erich Kästner  was one of the most famous German authors, screenplay writers, and satirists of the 20th century. His popularity in Germany is primarily due to his humorous and perceptive children's literature and his often satirical poetry.
Kästner was born in Dresden, Germany. He grew up in the Königsbrücker Strasse of Dresden's Äussere Neustadt. Kästner's father Emil was a leatherworker. His mother Ida, née Augustin, was a maidservant and housewife. In 1913, Kästner entered a teaching school in Dresden, but left the school in 1916 shortly before completing the courses that would have qualified him to teach at public schools. Germany was in turmoil. In 1914, when he was 15, World War I broke out.
In the autumn of 1919, Kästner enrolled at the university of Leipzig to study history, philosophy, German language and literature and theatre. His studies took Kästner to Rostock and Berlin, and in 1925 he received a doctorate for a thesis on Friedrich the Great and German literature. Kästner paid for his studies by working as a journalist and theatre critic for the prestigious Neue Leipziger Zeitung newspaper.  In 1928 Kästner published his first book, Herz auf Taille, a collection of poems he wrote in Leipzig. Kästner published three more collections of poetry by 1933.
In the autumn of 1928, Kästner published his best-known children's book, Emil und die Detektive ("Emil and the Detectives"). The book sold two million copies in Germany and has been translated into 59 languages, including English.