SPECIAL EDITION
IN HONOUR OF ANNE FRANK’S 95TH BIRTHDAY
Anne Frank House
Anne Frank is best known for her diary. What many people don’t know is that Anne also wrote short stories. She called these stories her ‘pen-and-inklings’. The stories range from events in the Secret Annex to tales about fairies and gnomes and memories of her school days. Some descriptions of the Secret Annex were included by Anne in The Diary of a Young Girl, her novel about her time in hiding, which was based on her diary letters.
Anne listed several categories in her table of contents: Back House, Jewish Lyceum, Seen from the Back House, Invention, Retold, and Answer to a Criticism. At first, Anne stayed close to home when it came to her storytelling. The vast majority of the stories, sixteen in total, deal with events in the hiding place. From the end of 1943, the number of inventions (fairy tales) increased, and Anne eventually wrote eleven of them. Her last invention, The Fairy, was only partially copied into her notebook.
In the new publication, stories and events from the Back House have been illustrated by 46 artists from around the world. Their illustrations are featured in the temporary exhibition, along with an animation by Marieke van der Burg.
All illustrations are available as high-quality limited edition art posters in our museum shop and also our online shop.
The Dutch edition of Pen-and-Inklings. Stories and events from the Back House is available in all Dutch bookstores and in the museum shop at the Anne Frank House. The English and German editions are only available in the museum shop.
12 June marked the 95th anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth on in 1929. In honour of this day, the Anne Frank House and Rubinstein Publishers released a special, illustrated edition of Anne Frank’s stories: Pen-and-Inklings. Stories and events from the Back House. This publication is accompanied by a new temporary exhibition at the Anne Frank House.
24
‘A few weeks ago, I started writing a story, something I made up from beginning to end, and I’ve enjoyed it so much that ‘my pen-and-inklings’ are piling up.’
Anne Frank wrote in her diary on 7 August 1943