Although Birgit Weyhe was born in Munich, she spent her childhood in East Africa before she moved back to Germany to study in Konstanz and Hamburg, where she earned a Master’s Degree in German Literature and History. After studying illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Weyhe established herself as one of the most successful German comic book artists. Her graphic novels have been nominated for various prizes in Germany, France and Japan. In her graphic novels, Weyhe addresses and questions the very notions of identity, nationality and belonging.
In 2015, her book “Madgermanes,” which tells the fictionalized life stories of three Mozambican workers contracted to go and work in East Germany in the late 1970s, won the Max-und Moritz-Price for the best German Comic in 2016. In 2022, Weyhe was honored as the best German-language comic artist at the International Comic Salon Erlangen.
In her new comic “Rude Girl” (2022), Weyhe tells the empowerment story of Crystal, a Black woman with Caribbean roots, modeled after Priscilla Layne, a Professor of German in North Carolina.
October 12 – 4:30pm
Hollander 241