Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri (Swiss Standard German: [joˈhana ˈʃpiːri]; née Heusser [ˈhɔʏsər]; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book Heidi. Johanna Spyri was born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.
Johanna Spyri

unknown, upload by Adrian Michael · Regine Schindler: Johanna Spyri - Spurensuche, Pendo Verlag, Zürich 1997 · Public domain
- Full name
- Johanna Louise Heusser.
- Born
- 1827. · Hirzel.
- Nationality
- Switzerland.
- Occupation
- writer and novelist.
- Known for
- Heidi.
- Languages
- German.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Johanna Spyri (Swiss Standard German: [joˈhana ˈʃpiːri]; née Heusser [ˈhɔʏsər]; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book Heidi. Johanna Spyri was born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.
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gnd · 1087147646 · wikidata · Q123053 · wikipedia · Johanna Spyri
In this article
Biography
Biography
Spyri was the daughter of poet Meta Heusser-Schweizer. In 1852, Johanna Heusser married a lawyer named Bernhard Spyri. Whilst living in the city of Zürich she began to write about life in the country. Her first story, "A Leaf on Vrony's Grave", which deals with a woman's life of domestic violence, was published in 1873; the following years further stories for both adults and children appeared, among them the novel Heidi, which she wrote in just four weeks. Heidi tells the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps, and is famous for its vivid portrayal of the landscape. Spyri's husband and her only child, both named Bernhard, both died in 1884. Alone, she devoted herself to charitable causes and wrote over fifty more stories before her death in 1901. She was interred in the family plot at the Sihlfeld-A Cemetery in Zürich. An icon in Switzerland, Spyri's portrait was placed on a postage stamp in 1951 and on a 20 CHF commemorative coin in 2009. Among her present-day relatives is Swiss artist and curator Andreas Heusser.
Plagiarism claim
Plagiarism claim
In April 2010 a professor searching for children's illustrations found a book written in 1830 by a German history teacher, Hermann Adam von Kamp, that Spyri may have used as a basis for Heidi. The 1830 story is titled Adelheide - das Mädchen vom Alpengebirge—translated, "Adelaide, the girl from the Alps". The two stories were alleged to share many similarities in plot line and imagery. Spyri biographer Regine Schindler said it was entirely possible that Johanna may have been familiar with the story as she grew up in a literate household with many books. However, the professor's claims have been examined and afterwards described as "unscientific", due to superficial coincidences and the many differences in the stories. The "Swiss disease" of homesickness was a common trope in fiction in the eighteenth (nineteenth in the article) century. Characters in "Heidi" are either drastically different or not in "Adelaide" at all.

Johann Bernhard Spyri, 1821 - 1884, Gatte von de:Johanna Spyri
unknown, upload by Adrian Michael · Regine Schindler: Johanna Spyri - Spurensuche, Pendo Verlag, Zürich 1997

Bernhard Spyri und Johanna Heusser als Verlobte, Daguerrotypie, 1852
unknown, upload by Adrian Michael · Regine Schindler: Johanna Spyri - Spurensuche, Pendo Verlag, Zürich 1997
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1827
Johanna Spyri born at Hirzel.
1901
Johanna Spyri died at Zurich.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Hirzel.
Birth place
Zurich.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- 13Das Johanna Spyri-Archiv in Zürich, 'Heidi' und mehr, 2025
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2025
- Religion und religiöse Bildung in den Heidi-Romanen von Johanna Spyri, Diversity in Culture, 2023
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2023
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q123053: Johanna Spyri
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Johanna Spyri”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Schindler, Regina. Meta Heusser-Schweizer. Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. 21 December 2009.
- 2.Ihrer Keines vergessen : Von der Verfasserin von: "Ein Blatt auf Vrony's Grab" - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
- 3.Heusser Family Tree.
- 4.Ur-Heidi aus dem Ruhrpott. Ist Johanna Spyris Alpengeschichte geklaut?. 3sat.
- 5.Geisel, Sieglinde. Gibt es für Johanna Spyris "Heidi" eine Vorlage? Ein deutscher Germanist meint, sie gefunden zu haben: Die Mär vom Ur-Heidi. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 14 April 2010.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 15
- Heimatlos: Two stories for children, and for those who love children (1877)
- Heidi (1880-81)
- The Story of Rico (1882)
- Uncle Titus and His Visit to the Country (1883)
- Gritli's Children (1883-84)
- Rico and Wiseli (1885)
- Veronica And Other Friends (1886)
- What Sami Sings with the Birds (1887)
- Toni, the Little Woodcarver (1890)
- Cornelli (1890)
- Erick and Sally (1891)
- Mäzli (1891)
- Vinzi: A Story of the Swiss Alps (1892)
- Moni the Goat-Boy (1897)
- Little Miss Grasshopper (1898)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
13Das Johanna Spyri-Archiv in Zürich, 'Heidi' und mehr, 2025Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Religion und religiöse Bildung in den Heidi-Romanen von Johanna Spyri, Diversity in Culture, 2023Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q123053: Johanna SpyriWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
A further 1 witness is held back from this article because the person or object named in it is not yet resolved to this record. They are kept, not discarded, and return once the identity is established.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,661 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Johannes AavikAuthor
- Johannes AesticampianusAuthor
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