The Fearsome Five

Wolf Erlbruch was a German Illustrator, writer and Academic. He was born on June 30, 1948, in Wuppertal, Germany. He attended the Folkwang Hochschule (1967-1974) and studied graphic design. As a student he worked in advertising. He also worked as an illustrator for magazines, which included Stern and Esquire. In 1985, he illustrated, Der Adler, der nicht fliegen wollte by James Aggrey. He continued to write and illustrate many books. He is best known for his illustrations in, The Story of Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business by Werner Holzwarth. Erlbruch was a professor at several universities, Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (1990-1997), University of Wuppertal (starting in 1997), and Folkwang University of the Arts (2009-2011). He received many awards and honors for his work. He received the 2006 Hans Christian Anderson Award. He was given the 2014 E. O. Plauen Prize. In 2017, he was presented the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Wolf Erlbruch died on December 11, 2022. He was 74.

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