The death of Wolf Erlbruch, the author of the story ‘About the little mole who wanted to know who did this to his head’

German children’s writer and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch died on Monday, December 11 at the age of 74. Very famous in Germany, he gained international popularity with his book About a little mole who wanted to know who did that to his headPublished in milan editions and countersigned with Werner Holzwarth.

The news was announced in a press release from the publisher, Carl Hanser. “With him, we are losing an artist with an unmistakable artistic language who, not only as an outstanding draftsman, but above all as an innovative designer and illustrator thanks to his unusual handling of technology and image material, is always a style for everyone of today’s generation.”

Known for his drawings of children’s books, Wolf Erbruch made his first illustrations for a book The eagle that didn’t want to fly by James Aggrey in 1985. After that he published his first book, The terrible five Milan editions in 1990. During his career, he will publish about thirty books. In 2006, he received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and in 2017, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is considered the “little Nobel” of children’s literature. Sometimes through these works they deal with existential questions (Duck, Death and Tulip, Leonardo, Crying Man…) is qualified as an author a particularly meticulous visionary.