Anzelmas MatuleviÃÂius (7 January 1923 â 21 September 1985), better known by his pen name Anzelmas Matutis, was a Lithuanian teacher and children's poet.
Anzelmas MatuleviÃÂius was born on 7 January 1923 in the village of to Vladas MatuleviÃÂius and Julija à  elmytÃÂ. MatuleviÃÂius had two brothers (Julius and Rolandas) and two sisters (Kazimiera and Graà ¾ina). MatuleviÃÂius already began writing poems for children in 1937, and in 1938 he began co-editing the children's newspaper à ½vaigà ¾dutÃÂ. In 1939, at the age of sixteen, MatuleviÃÂius won two literary competition awards of the à ½iburÃÂlis magazine. He graduated from a teachers' seminary in Marijampolàin 1942 at the age of nineteen. On 22 February 1946, MatuleviÃÂius married Marija Maà ¾eikaitÃÂ, with whom he had three sons, including the future endocrinologist Valentinas MatuleviÃÂius. MatuleviÃÂius worked as a teacher in , Simnas, Seirijai, and Alytus from 1942 to 1972. As a teacher, MatuleviÃÂius organized after-class literary classes and stagings of fairy tales. Although MatuleviÃÂius was poor, the parents of the students respected him and brought food such as a bottle of milk or some butter. He built a home in Alytus in 1961, which is now a memorial museum. In 1971 he built a small summerhouse in , nicknamed DrevÃÂ; the house, now a museum, is notable for hosting "poetry spring" ever second spring, during which the most beautiful poem for children about nature, the Earth, and Lithuania is published. The winner is awarded the Matutis Prize (young poets are also awarded since 1995). The following year he retired from teaching and began writing as a full-time occupation. In 1976 MatuleviÃÂius, along with the poet Antanas Drilinga, set sail across the Baltic, North and Atlantic oceans, and visited ports in Africa and Spain.
MatuleviÃÂius died on 21 September 1985 in Alytus, and was buried there.
The core focus of MatuleviÃÂius's poems was a child enjoying the world, the people around him, and childhood itself. With elements of folklore, nature and animals play a role in the poems. For his literary work, MatuleviÃÂius was awarded the Rojus Mizara prize in 1969. Three years later he was awarded the Komsomol prize, and in 1974, the USSR State Prize. In 1984 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award.