Art and designמישל קישקה

Michel Kichka

Michel Kichka is a Belgian-born Israeli cartoonist and illustrator, known for his comics, children's book illustrations and the graphic novel "Second Generation" about his father, a Holocaust survivor.

born 1954The graphic novel "Second Generation"Illustrating Israeli children's booksPolitical cartoons for televisionTeaching illustration at Bezalel

Born: 15 August 1954, Liège
Occupation: cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, caricaturist

Michel Kichka was born in 1954 in Liège

Michel Kichka was born on August 15, 1954, in Liège, Belgium. His parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors: his father Henri Kichka was deported to Auschwitz, and his mother Lucie escaped with her family to Switzerland. As a member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, he volunteered on kibbutzim in Israel.

He began drawing at a young age, influenced by Belgian comics. He studied architecture in Liège from 1973 to 1974. After the Yom Kippur War he moved to Israel in 1974 and studied at Bezalel until 1978.

He has worked as a freelance illustrator since 1978 and has illustrated about 60 children's books. He was the house cartoonist of Channel 2 (Telad) from 1997 to 2005 and has drawn for TV5, Courrier International and i24NEWS. He teaches illustration at Bezalel, where his students included Rutu Modan and Uri Fink.

He headed the Israel Cartoonists Guild from 2004 to 2010 and joined Cartooning for Peace in 2006. In 2012 he published the graphic novel "Second Generation" in French, and a feature animated film based on it was screened at Cannes in 2022. He is married to Olivia, has 3 sons and lives in Jerusalem.