Vera Ferra-Mikura

Vera Ferra-Mikura (February 14, 1923 – March 9, 1997) was an Austrian writer best known for her children's stories.

She was born Vera Ferra in Vienna. After completing her schooling, she worked in her family's bird shop and then in a Vienna department store. During World War II, Ferra-Mikura worked as a stenographer for an architect; after the war, she worked for a publishing house. In 1948, she married Ludwig Mikura. In the same year, she became a freelance writer.

Her stories, inspired by fairy tales, are characterized by magic realism.

In 1951, she received a Förderungspreis of the City of Vienna. She received an award from the International Board on Books for Young People in 1976. During the same year, she also published her own rather different version of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm, known as a fairy tale called, Dornröschen (English version as "Sleeping Beauty"), and her own rather different version of the fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm, known as a fairy tale called, Das Alte Märchen eignet sich vorzüglich für die Werbung (English version as "An Old Fairy Tale that is Perfectly Suitable in Newspaper Advertisements"), both of which are part of the children's book Update on Rumpelstiltskin and other Fairy Tales by 43 Authors, which is compiled by Hans-Joachim Gelberg, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, and published by Beltz & Gelberg.

In 1988, she received the Gold award of the Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien for youth literature. Ferra-Mikura was also awarded the Theodor Körner Prize.

Ferra-Mikura died in Vienna at the age of 74.

Selected works