FOREIGN RIGHTS FICTION AUTUMN 2021 - Hanser Literaturverlage
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FICTION AUTUMN 2021
FOREIGN RIGHTS
HANSER • HANSER BERLIN • HANSERBLAU
HANSER LITERATURVERLAGE HANSER KINDERBUCH • ZSOLNAY
Impressum Coverfoto: © Lena Herzog Translation: Lucy Jones Design: Tessa Schlesinger Concept and compilation: Claudia Horzella Copyright: September 2021 Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Vilshofener Straße 10 81679 München, Germany www.hanser-literaturverlage.de http://foreignrights.hanser.de
LITERARY FICTION
Doris Knecht, Die Nachricht 2
Stefan Hornbach, Den Hund überleben 4
Werner Herzog, Das Dämmern der Welt 6
Elias Hirschl, Salonfähig 8
Ioana Pârvulescu, Wo die Hunde in drei Spachen bellen 10
Michael Köhlmeier, Matou 12
Fridolin Schley, Die Verteidigung 14
Angela Lehner, 2001 16
Hannah Lühmann, Auszeit 18
Tanja Schwarz, In neuem Licht 20
Castle Freeman, Herren der Lage 22
Rafik Schami, Mein Sternzeichen ist der Regenbogen 24
Herta Müller, Der Beamte sagte 26
Botho Strauß, Nicht mehr. Mehr nicht 28
Giuseppe Gracia, Glorias Finale 30
Leif Karpe, Die Göttin, die von Blüten träumt 32
ESSAY
Barbara Honigmann, Unverschämt jüdisch 34
POETRY
Ronya Othmann, die verbrechen 36
ILLUSTRATED BOOK
André Heller, Tullios Geburtstag 38
GERMAN BOOK PRIZE 2021 40
BACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS 42
FICTION
Selected by English sample
New books translation
in German available
»Doris Knecht has a real DORIS KNECHT
gift for counting stories
– swiftly, with sharp On the
The Message is about a woman whose
SPIEGEL
contours. A fine example autonomy is constantly being threatened. bestseller lis
t
And about the lies we tell the people
of contemporary writing.« who are closest to us.
Four years after the death of her husband,
Hubert Winkels, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Ruth is living alone in a house in the countryside
where she was once happy with her family. Her
children have long since begun to lead their
»Knecht finds perfect own lives whereas Ruth has learned to ap-
preciate being on her own. Until one day, she
sentences for her charac- receives an anonymous text message from a
person who seems to know more about her life
ters. Painful, revealing than she does. What initially seems to be
a mere nuisance soon threatens to turn into
sentences.« Britta Schmeis, Spiegel Online a showdown – the messages become in-
creasingly ominous and start to affect
Ruth’s children and friends too.
»An unsparing goddess Doris Knecht writes about a woman who
becomes a victim of stalking, proving once
of storytelling.« again she can write with fine scepticism on
the topic of people’s relationships.
Carsten Ott, Der Tagesspiegel
Sales Doris Knecht
All rights available The Message
Doris Knecht
256 pages
who was born in Vorarlberg, is a columnist and
July 2021
writer. Her first novel, Gruber geht (2011), was
nominated for the German Book Prize and filmed • A woman, a message and
for cinema. Her latest publications include Besser a growing feeling of insecurity
(2013), Wald (2015), Alles über Beziehungen (2017)
and weg (2019). She has received the Literary
Prize of the Ravensburg Foundation and the • A book about family secrets and the
Book Prize of the Vienna Economy. Doris Knecht
fatal consequences of online misogyny
lives with her family and friends in Vienna and
the Austrian Waldviertel.
Foto ©: Heribert Corn
doris-knecht.com, on Instagram and Facebook
1 2
FICTION
English sample
translation
available
STEFAN HORNBACH
The moving story of a boy who went forth
»Despite the subject, – and soon returned. And of friendship, family,
being young and terminal illness. Stefan
Hornbach's tone is delight- Hornbach presents a stirring debut in which he
writes naturally and movingly about matters of
fully tender. He writes life and death in a way that is rare to find.
Sebastian is long supposed to have moved
with a gentle sense of out of his old bedroom at home on a
modern estate in the sticks in Germany. He
humor and a slight irony. is supposed to be living in his flat share at
college, meeting other boys together with
His language is warm- his best mate Su and just living his life.
But things have turned out very differently.
hearted, free of clichés, Three tumours have been found in his body,
two of them the size of fists. His chemothe-
never sentimental, rapy has to start as soon as possible, and
Sebastian moves back to live with his parents.
but true-to-life.« He has a long, hard period ahead of him. But
Susanne Schütz, Die Rheinpfalz Sebastian’s old friend from school, Jasna,
is also waiting for him back in his old neigh-
bourhood – and Linus, whom he falls
in love with. At the very end of this journey,
neither life nor death awaits him, because
that would be too simple.
Sales Stefan Hornbach
Stefan Hornbach All rights available Outliving the Dog
who was born in 1986 in Speyer, studied theatre
288 pages
studies, psychology and modern German litera-
July 2021
ture in Munich, drama at the Baden-Wurttemberg
Academy of Performing Arts in Ludwigsburg and
creative writing at the German Literature Institute
Leipzig. His play Über meine Leiche won the Osna- • How life goes on when it seems
brucker Dramatikerpreis. Invitations to the Heidel- that it can go on no longer
berger Stückemarkt playwrighting competition and
the Autorentheatertage at the Deutsches Theater
Berlin followed, as well as translations into four
languages and a radio play production. He lives
Foto ©: Joachim Baldauf
in Berlin and Konstanz. stefanhornbach.de and
on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
3 4
FICTION
English sample
translation
available
WERNER HERZOG
Hiroo Onoda is a young man when Japan
capitulates to the USA and the Second World
War ends. Hiroo Onoda is old when his personal
war finally comes to an end. Over the decades
as a soldier, he continued to defend an insignifi-
cant island in the Pacific. Onoda existed in
real life. In his first book in many years, the
great filmmaker and writer Werner Herzog
immortalises his senseless struggle.
Onoda hides in the jungle like a phantom.
At first with other soldiers and at some point,
all alone, he fights harsh nature and his own
demons. By interpreting flashing satellites in the
»From now on, time stands still for sky or fragments of speech from a looted radio,
Onoda’s idea of the 20th century is put together
weeks on end. Then it hurtles, skipping
from fragments of evidence. Werner Herzog
met Hiroo Ononda himself in Japan, a man with
a distinct past. His story of Onoda is a glowing,
through the weeks and months because dancing series of images about the significance
and insignificance of our existence.
a single breeze has rippled the leaves.«
Sales Werner Herzog
Brazil (Todavia), Catalan (L'Altra), China (Thinking- The Twilight World
dom), Croatia (Fraktura), English US (Penguin US), 128 pages
English UK (Bodley Head), France (Séguier), Italy August 2021
(Feltrinelli), Netherlands (De Arbeiderspers), Poland
Werner Herzog • A man lost in the jungle of time –
who was born in Munich in 1942, lives in Los (under negotiation), Spain (Blackie Books), Sweden
Angeles. His cinematic work has been awarded
an adventure (Faethon), Turkey (Can)
every major prize. Carl Hanser Verlag published
Vom Gehen im Eis (Of Walking In Ice) in 1978 and
Die Eroberung des Nutzlosen (The Conquest of
• The long-awaited new book by renowned
the Useless) in 2004. filmmaker and writer Werner Herzog
Foto ©: Lena Herzog
5 6
FICTION
»Hirschl is a precise and
ELIAS HIRSCHL
relentless observer who
takes things to extremes in
a breathless fashion. Enter-
taining and disturbing at The nameless narrator spends hours in front
the same time.« Bernd Noack, Spiegel Online of the mirror practising how to walk, smile and
speak. Julius Varga, the leader of the party
he belongs to, is his biggest idol. »I sacrifice
»A darkly humorous novel myself for you, Julius. I love you.« And when
Varga is away, he waters his houseplants for
that exposes the language of him as if performing an act of state.
On a lower level, the narrator serves the party
the Slim Fit generation while and emulates his role model. He is obsessed
creating an exaggerated with brands, appearances and the aesthetics
of terrorist attacks.
world in which the charisma,
Elias Hirschl’s new novel is a big hit and
beauty and eloquence of a pleasure to read. A satirical portrait
of the »slim-fit« generation: young,
some young people have beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, superficial
and dangerously subversive.
made right-wing ideas
respectable again.«
Julia Baschiera, Ö1 Kulturjournal
Sales Elias Hirschl
All rights available Presentable
256 pages
Elias Hirschl August 2021
was born in Vienna in 1994, where he lives and • The »Austrian Psycho«
works as a writer, slam poet and musician. He
received the Reinhard Priessnitz Prize in 2020.
His publications include: Meine Freunde haben • An acerbic pleasure to read and
Adolf Hitler getötet und alles, was sie mir mitge-
bracht haben, ist dieses lausige T-Shirt (a novel,
a huge hit: the phenomenon of
Foto ©: Leonhard Hilzensauer/Zsolnay
2016) and Hundert schwarze Nähmaschinen »slim-fit« politicians as a satire
(a novel, 2017).
7 8
FICTION
IOANA PÂRVULESCU
In the imagination of the little girl Ana,
who sees the gate as the mouth and the
windows as the eyes, the house in the former
Johannisgasse in the Transylvanian town of
Kronstadt has a face, thoughts and feelings. It
has heroically survived two earthquakes, two
World Wars and a bomb attack while
its »relatives« opposite have had to
make way for a high-rise hotel.
In her novel, Ioana Pârvulescu, a native
of Kronstadt, tells the story of the inhabitants
»Ioana Pârvulescu’s novel makes of this house over several generations and
changing nationalities. This is a luminous
you long for home and homesick for
account of a bleak period.
faraway places.« Jan Koneffke
Sales Ioana Pârvulescu
Bulgaria (Ergo), Poland (EMG) Where the Dogs Bark
in Three Languages
(Original Romanian
Title: Inocentii)
Ioana Pârvulescu
born in 1960 in Braşov, Romania, is a professor 368 pages
of New Literature at the University of Bucharest. • Twice winner of the European July 2021
She also works as a translator from French
(including Milan Kundera and Asterix) and German Union Prize for Literature
(Rilke). In 2013 and 2018, she was awarded the
European Union Prize for Literature.
Foto ©: Mihai Benea
9 10
FICTION
MICHAEL KÖHLMEIER
»A narrative
mastery that is Humanity’s great questions, seen from the
perspective of a cat that lives its seven lives,
second to none.«
from the French Revolution to the present day
in a passionate quest to understand people.
A cat sits writing his memoirs in an attic in
Iris Radisch, Die Zeit
Vienna’s 9th district. His personal circle has
included E.T.A Hoffmann and Andy Warhol, he
has led an autocratic state on the cat island
of Hydra and fought in the Congo against the
»A first-class colonial powers. His seven lives have been
filled with great adventure. Matou isn’t just any
old cat. He’s an exhilarating storyteller and an
narrator.« even greater philosopher. He’s the Homer
of cats. Matou is a passionate eulogy to hu-
Denis Scheck, ARD Druckfrisch mans and animals, filled with wit and
irony. Michael Köhlmeier has created
an unforgettable literary figure.
Michael Köhlmeier Sales Michael Köhlmeier
who was born in 1949 in Hard am Bodensee, lives Selected backlist: Matou
in Hohenems/Vorarlberg and Vienna. Hanser has Das Mädchen mit dem Fingerhut: Arab World 960 pages
published, among others, his novels Abendland (Dar Ninawa), Belarus (Haliyafy), Denmark (Bechs), August 2021
(2007), Madalyn (2010), Die Abenteuer des Joel France (Actes Sud), Italy (Giunti), Norway (Solum
Spazierer (2013), Zwei Herren am Strand (2014), Bokvennen), US/UK (Haus)
Das Mädchen mit dem Fingerhut (2016) and Bru-
• Seven lives, one novel –
der und Schwester Lenobel (2018), as well as two
volumes of poetry and the novella Der Mann, der Michael Köhlmeier’s opus magnum
Verlorenes wiederfindet (2017), and most recently
Die Märchen (with illustrations by Nikolaus Hei-
Foto ©: Peter-Andreas Hassiepen
delbach, 2019). Michael Köhlmeier has received
many awards, most recently the Literature Prize of
the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Marie-
Luise-Kaschnitz Prize for his complete works.
11 12
FICTION
FRIDOLIN SCHLEY
»With linguistic virtuosity,
Fridolin Schley mixes
history, imagery and It’s 1947, the Nuremberg Trials. One of the
accused is Ernst von Weizsäcker, an SS brigade
research into a literary leader and top diplomat under Ribbentrop.
Among his defenders is his son Richard, who
storm of questions.« Lena Gorelik four decades later on 8 May speaks as the
German Federal President about war guilt and
On the
the liberation of Germany from Nazi atrocities.
SPIEGEL
»How does a son defend This is a historical constellation that could not bestseller lis
t
be dreamed up: the old, guilt-ridden Germany
his father who served a and the newly emerging Federal Republic,
embodied here in a father-son relationship.
criminal regime? A novel Fridolin Schley approaches these historical
figures with literary flair, orbiting fundamental
with a mastery of language.« questions of good and evil, guilt and inno-
cence, emotional and moral obligation.
Uwe Timm
Sales Fridolin Schley
All rights available The Defence
288 pages
Fridolin Schley August 2021
born in Munich in 1976, debuted in 2001 with the
novel Verloren, mein Vater. Publications in the
fields of prose, essay and literary studies followed.
• Fridolin Schley’s new novel on a key
His awards include the Tukan Prize for the story contemporary event at the turning
collection Wildes schönes Tier. Most recently,
his critically acclaimed short story Die Ungesichter
point of German history
was published.
fridolinschley.de
Foto ©: Isolde Ohlbaum
13 14FICTION
ANGELA LEHNER
»Your senses
are beguiled It’s the year 2001, and in the valley,
everything is as usual. The mountains are
and you are rugged, the tourists insatiable, young locals
are chasing alcohol and adventure and
left a little
parents are absent. Nobody has a future here,
least of all Julia, who is one of the ‘wasters’ in
her secondary school. But she doesn’t care,
disturbed and because for her, only one thing matters:
hip-hop and keeping her crew together. Until
one day her history teacher forces the whole
immensely class to participate in a political experiment,
setting off an avalanche of dramatic events.
impressed.«
2001 is a novel about friendship and how
world politics invades the lives of young
people who have no beliefs – written by
Daniela Strigl, Süddeutsche Zeitung
one of the most original authors of our time.
Sales Angela Lehner
Selected backlist: 2001
Vater unser: Croatia (OceanMore), Denmark 384 pages
Angela Lehner • »Everyone is always talking about (Turbine), Italy (Editore XY) August 2021
who was born in 1987 in Klagenfurt, grew up in the future and claiming it’s mine.
East Tyrol and lives in Berlin. She studied compa-
rative literature in Vienna, Maynooth and Erlan-
But I’m sure that’s a lie.« – A great Awards for Our Father:
gen. Her first novel, Vater Unser, won the Franz novel about friendship, parental neglect Austrian Book Prize – Debut
Tumler Literature Prize, the Alpha Literature Prize, Alpha Literature Prize
the Austrian Book Prize for Best Debut 2019 and
and outcasts in the Austrian provinces Rauris Literature Prize
the Rauris Literature Prize 2020. Franz Tumler Literature Prize
On Instagram and Facebook Nominated for the German Book Prize
• A whole new view of the year 2001
Foto ©: Paula Winkler
15 16FICTION
HANNAH LÜHMANN
How do
you find »I’m not old, I still have time. All I need
is air, air and distance to sort things out,
your way
and I can do that now. The further I walk,
the more clearly I can see.«
Henriette and Paula have retreated to
out of a life
a holiday cottage deep in the forest. Henriette
is mourning her unborn child. As the shadows
outside grow longer and the days shorter,
a friend brings unexpected disaster. Seduc-
you never tively and with painful precision, Hannah
Lühmann dissects the dreams and fears of
a thirty-something generation that seems
wanted ?
to have everything, yet whose happiness
constantly eludes them.
Sales Hannah Lühmann
• Hannah Lühmann is one of the All rights available Time Out
most polemic and perceptive voices 176 pages
Hannah Lühmann July 2021
who was born in 1987, studied philosophy in # of her generation
Berlin and Paris. She is deputy head of the
feature section of Welt and Welt am Sonntag
and has worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, • She writes so incisively and in such
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Berliner Zeitung
a modern tone that you almost feel
and Die Zeit, among others. Time Out is her first
novel. Hannah Lühmann lives in Berlin. watched while reading
On Facebook, Instagram: @hannahluhmann
and Twitter: @HannahLhmann
Foto ©: Carolin Weinkopf
• When the promise of an alternative
life turns into a longing
17 18FICTION
TANJA SCHWARZ
The women in these novel vignettes have
What if …
been through a great deal and have left a lot
behind. They worry about strangers, fret over
their grown-up children and ageing parents
and in doing so, almost lose sight of them-
life just selves. Tanja Schwarz’s female characters
are from the liberal, often precarious middle
classes, whose lives are fraught with the
changed?
problems of everyday existence. Political or
private crises have awakened them from their
dull stupor. Take Lene, for example, who is
fighting her ex-husband over their daughter
and pitied by the other women in her German
language class. Tanja Schwarz pens her
figures with pared-down prose that never-
theless pierces the marrow.
Sales Tanja Schwarz
• In her precise, warm style, Tanja All rights available In a New Light
Schwarz describes women whose 276 pages
September 2021
Tanja Schwarz lives have been disrupted
was born in Hechingen in Baden-Württemberg
in 1970. She studied at the German Institute of
Literature in Leipzig and has received numerous • Readers will feel comfort at the
awards. Her short story collection Der nächtliche familiar and identify with others’
Skater was published in 2001, and her novel
Weltroman in 2019. Schwarz lives with her family feelings of inadequacy
in Hamburg.
Foto ©: Rebecca Hoppé
• For all those who read Sommerhaus,
später when they were younger
19 20FICTION
CASTLE FREEMAN
»Charming, hardboiled
country noir where eve-
ryone is always much
smarter than they act.« Castle Freeman is back with a modern
Simone Buchholz western about rural America – for
fans of Fargo and Three Billboards.
Lucian Wing, the hillbilly with the sheriff’s star,
»Castle Freeman is a is about to receive a high-up visitor. Men in
pinstriped suits and silk ties are rarely seen in
discovery … His stories, this outpost in Vermont. A mouthy lawyer from
New York arrives, claiming to be in search of
set in the ›country for his client’s missing daughter. And so, together
with his new deputy, the tight-lipped Treat,
old men‹, are told with Wing starts an investigation. But soon
he wishes he’d listened to his instincts.
laconic and insight- Because big-city arrogance is something
you should never trust.
ful humour.«
Sandra Kegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Sales Castle Freeman
All rights available Children of the Valley
192 pages
July 2021
Castle Freeman
was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1944. He
• Freeman’s books make you feel
grew up in Chicago and studied at Columbia
University. Today he lives in Vermont and works like you’re sitting in the cinema,
as a proofreader, editor and writer for a variety of having a great time watching a film
magazines. His novel Go With Me was filmed in
2015 with the title Blackway and starred Anthony with spot-on, hilarious dialogue
Hopkins, Julia Stiles and Ray Liotta.
Foto ©: Channing Johnson
21 22FICTION
RAFIK SCHAMI
»Storytelling is No matter whether his tales take place in
his passion – he
Heidelberg, Munich or Damascus, and no
matter whether they are about trips or
birthdays that go wrong, they all contain
has a talent for a secret, waiting to be discovered. It might
be a lover who grabs a knife when he sees
his beloved in the arms of her husband.
sprinkling a Or the womaniser in front of whom his
ex-lovers parade their mutual children. A long
little magic on
cruise on which all the men lose their genitals.
Or a class reunion with a dead school friend.
In his distinctive tone, Schami tells of what
everyday events.« he himself has experienced and heard, of
German illusions and emigrants who lose their
ZDF aspekte minds over longing for their homeland. Even
when he is deadly earnest, he never loses
his ability to laugh – because this, as Schami
writes, is ‘the best smuggler of thoughts’.
Sales Rafik Schami
All rights available My Sign of the Zodiac
is the Rainbow
Rafik Schami
was born in Damascus in 1946 and has lived in 320 pages
Germany since 1971. He received his doctorate July 2021
in chemistry in 1979. His work has been trans- • Rafik Schami tells stories about love,
lated into 33 languages and has been awarded passion and exile. In this very personal
numerous prizes, including the Hermann Hesse
Prize, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the »Against For- book, he proves he is the master of
getting – For Democracy« prize and the Gustav
Heinemann Peace Prize. His most recent publi-
clarity and precise observation
cation was Die geheime Mission des Kardinals
(a novel, 2019). rafik-schami.de
Foto ©: Root Leeb
23 24FICTION
HERTA MÜLLER
Herta Müller describes scenes from a German
provincial detention centre. One of the officials
is called Mr Fröhlich from Inspection Centre B.
He can compete with the most famous examples
from his profession. Another spreads his arms
like a bird every time he meets someone and
exclaims: ‘Oh, oh, oh.’ Ludicrous conversations
turn into inadvertently funny exchanges.
Dismissiveness and ignorance are contras-
ted with the question of whether a person’s
honesty makes them suspicious. Is a person’s
biography the sum of their experiences? Or
in the eyes of the officials, is it turned into a
panorama of despair? And then there’s the
homesickness of those who have fled, which
never stops growing. Herta Müller finds
»Homesickness isn’t a good idea« – masterful imagery for the impotence felt
and the damage that arbitrary decisions can
a story found word for word. wreak. Her writing is enigmatic, profound,
sometimes funny and always highly poetic.
Sales Herta Müller
All rights available The Official Said
Stories
160 pages
with colour collages
Herta Müller
August 2021
who was born in 1953 in Nitzkydorf / Romania, • In The Official Said, Herta Müller
has been based in Berlin since 1987. Her work
is published by Hanser. She has been awarded
has invented a new literary form –
numerous prizes including the Nobel Prize for a story in collages
Literature in 2009.
Foto ©: Stephanie von Becker
25 26FICTION
BOTHO STRAUSS
»Stylistic
brilliance that
is unparalleled.« »In a world that worships plentifulness,
you, my beloved, were the only one never too
Lorenz Jager, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
much.« Ciphers for her is a mosaic-like series
of texts about writing and being human,
as well as a sensual poetic investigation
»As a reader, of the acceptance and unrest of existence.
Perspectives and narratives unfold, extending
you become
thoughts and arrangements, ranging from the
mythological to the poetic, woman to man,
from borders to overcoming them, history
addicted to to the present, the epic of Gilgamesh to
Eichendorff and Henri Michaux. Botho Strauß’
prose is sheathed in sad beauty and his
these vignettes.« reflections have a melancholic resonance.
Andreas Kilb, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
Sales Botho Strauss
All rights available No More. No Longer
Botho Strauss Ciphers for Her
who was born in Naumburg / Saale in 1944, lives in
128 pages
the Uckermark. In addition to a four-volume edition
September 2021
of his plays, Hanser has published the following
• In No more. No longer, Botho Strauß
volumes of prose: Mikado (2006), Die Unbeholfe-
nen (novella, 2007), Vom Aufenthalt (2009), follows in the footsteps of Virgil’s Dido
Sie / Er (short stories, 2012), Der Aufstand gegen and retraces the disguises of the
die sekundäre Welt (essays, 2012), Die Fabeln
von der Begegnung (2013), Kongress (Die Kette body and soul
der Demütigungen, 2013), Allein mit allen (reflec-
tions, 2014), Herkunft (2014), Oniritti Höhlenbilder
(2016) and zu oft umsonst gelächelt (2019).
Foto ©: Ruth Walz
27 28FICTION
GIUSEPPE GRACIA
Gloria is the youngest finalist of the
casting show Eurostar, with a following of over
50 million people. Gloria is also the daughter
of a Portuguese immigrant couple and
Spotlight on comes from a deprived, difficult background.
As a young girl, she suffered the brutality of
a vendetta
her father and other men. Now she believes
she can only escape her hostile surroundings
by becoming a star. But behind the curtains of
show business, she also suffers abuse. Her
goal is to do her utmost to qualify for the
Eurostar finale, which is broadcast live in
24 countries. But on the evening of the finale,
Gloria turns up at the studio with something
very different from winning in mind –
and with a loaded gun.
Sales Giuseppe Gracia
All rights available Gloria’s Finale
• A #MeToo story set in show
144 pages
business from the point of view August 2021
Giuseppe Gracia of a guest worker’s daughter
born in 1967, is married, has two children and
is based in St. Gallen as a writer and communica-
tions consultant. He is a columnist for the Swiss • A love story between two women
daily newspaper Blick and writes guest articles
for the Neue Züricher Zeitung, Focus online
who will go to any length for their
and other media. dream of an independent life
Foto ©: Thomas Buchwalder
• Strong women, high voltage, showbiz
29 30FICTION
LEIF KARPE
The art of Peter Falcon, a detective with a sixth sense
for art, is asked by Chroseby’s auction house
crime and
to examine whether a wax bust by Leonardo da
Vinci is a fake – an unsolved case to this day.
To this end, scientist Laura Petreus has come
up with a new age determination method. Then
an art crime suddenly, not only she disappears, but the bust
is also stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin.
Peter Falcon sets off on a spectacular
chase across Europe, which leads him
to the Renaissance route in Italy.
Sales Leif Karpe
All rights available The Goddess who
Dreamed of Blossoms
A case for Peter Falcon
• A gripping thriller in which Peter
Leif Karpe Crime novel
who was born in 1968, grew up in the Black Forest, Falcon unravels the mystery of 304 pages
Brazil and the Ruhr region. He has worked for over August 2021
a missing artwork
twenty years as a director and cinematographer for
documentaries and feature films with a focus on
art. In 2020, Nagel & Kimche published his novel • A book combining travel, art
The Man Who Fell into Pictures.
and suspense
Foto ©: Leif Karpe
31 32E S S AY
BARBARA HONIGMANN
What does it mean to be Jewish? And what
does it mean in literature? Barbara Honigmann
has written about these issues her whole life
long, both in the form of autobiography and
concerning works by other writers. Her latest
book describes how, in her search for Juda-
ism that always remained difficult, she found
her own literary path. Barbara Honigmann is
in a league of her own. She vividly describes
an encounter with a Jewish businessman on
an aeroplane to New York, which culminates
in the question ‘What do goyim talk about any-
way?’ And she can apply the same fine wit or,
where necessary, directness to describing her
discovery of existentialism as a fourteen-year-
old girl growing up in East Berlin. Her path
in life led her out of the GDR to the West, from
»She is an outstanding observer.« Germany to France, away from her assimilated
Jewish existence. She is unapologetically
Sandra Leis, NZZ am Sonntag Jewish in the quite literal sense, and writes
personally, humorously and cannily in
her very distinctive way.
Sales Barbara Honigmann
Barbara Honigmann
All rights available Unapologetically Jewish
was born in East Berlin in 1949. She has worked
as a dramaturge and director. In 1984 she emig- 144 pages
rated with her family to Strasbourg, where she still August 2021
lives today. Honigmann’s work has been awarded
numerous prizes, including the Heinrich Kleist
Prize, the Max Frisch Prize of the City of Zurich,
the Jakob Wassermann Prize and most recently
• Barbara Honigmann on literature,
the Bremen Literature Prize. Hanser has published life and Jewish identity
Damals, dann und danach (1999), Alles, alles Liebe!
(a novel, 2000), A Chapter from My Life (2004),
Foto ©: Peter-Andreas Hassiepen
Das Gesicht wiederfinden (2007), Das über-
irdische Licht (Rückkehr nach New York, 2008),
Chronik meiner Straße (2015) and Georg
(a novel, 2019).
33 34POETRY
RONYA OTHMANN
»A dedication to
those, who did »we will read the detonation backwards.«
There has been much talk about Ronya
not travel but
Othmann’s debut novel Die Sommer, as well
as her literary essays, political columns and
the poems she has presented at various rea-
fled, to those who dings. »Where does poetry go?« asked Nico
Bleutge in his laudation for Ronya Othmann
at the Open Mike Poetry Prize, and answered
did not survive. with an image: »It seethes, it rubs your skin
the wrong way.« Resistant yet vulnerable and
A lament –
intimate in every way, these existential poems
carry the reader into the present with a new
tone. The world’s cruellest atrocities and pure
a eulogy.« happiness, the strangeness of one’s own
life and the never-ending homesickness
From the Laudation for the Gertrud Kolmar Demand Prize come together in everything that
»you know when you close your eyes«.
Sales Ronya Othmann
Ronya Othmann All rights available the atrocities
was born in Munich in 1993 and lives in Leipzig. poems
She has received many prizes for her work inclu- • In Ronya Othmann’s long-awaited 128 pages
ding the Caroline Schlegel Prize for essay writing, first volume of poetry, words do many October 2021
the Open Mike poetry prize, the Gertrud Kolmar
Prize and the Audience Award of the Ingeborg
things. They know no boundaries –
Bachmann Competition. She also started writing in terms of time, desire or geography.
the »Import Export« column for the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in 2021. In 2020,
They salvage and mourn stories
Hanser published her novel Die Sommer for of lives buried under conventions
which she was awarded the Mara Cassens Prize.
and cultures
ronyaothmann.com and on Facebook, Instagram
Foto ©: Cihan Camak
and Twitter.
35 36I L L U S T R AT E D B O O K
ANDRÉ HELLER
Real adventures
Tullio’s favourite day of the year is his birthday
take place in on October, 4th. Every year, his parents throw
him a party. He can invite his best friends and
your head
they decorate the whole flat with lanterns and
fairytale bunting. But most importantly, he
always asks everyone to come in fancy dress,
in the most original costumes possible. But this
year, everything is different. Because of a virus,
»A story to says his father, which is affecting the whole
world, he can’t have a party. Tullio feels as if
it’s the end of the world. But the night president
comfort children responsible for adventures while children sleep
comes to the rescue by consulting her fairies
in the confusions
and genii of the air. Then Tullio is visited by an
extraordinary parade of fantastical creatures who
make him the happiest child overnight.
of our time.« André Heller
André Heller born in Vienna in 1947 lives alter- Sales André Heller
nately in Vienna, Marrakech and on the road. All rights available Tullio’s Birthday
His novel Das Buch vom Süden was published
• About the power of dreams
Illustrated by
by Zsolnay in 2016, Uhren gibt es nicht mehr. Maité Kalita and
Gespräche mit meiner Mutter in ihrem 102. Lebens-
• For every kind of child from 5 to 135 Esther Martens
jahr in 2017 and Zum Weinen schön, zum Lachen 40 pages
bitter in 2020.
Foto ©: Suzy Stöckl, Motiv: © Maité Kalita/Esther Martens
October 2021
Maïté Kalita born in Vienna in 1988, studied at • Tightrope walkers, fire-eaters, shadow
the Instituto Marangoni in London and Milan and
has worked for renowned fashion designers in
puppeteers and the most exotic
London and New York. She lives in Vienna. animals and plants are assembled
Esther Martens born in 1992, studied at the by Maité Kalita, Esther Martens and
University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She works
as a painter, illustrator and animation artist in
the word wizard André Heller
Vienna and Toronto.
37 38German Book Prize
Our nominees
lis ted
Sh ort
the
On EL t
IEG s
SP ller li
s t se
be
Short
listed
e
On th
EL
SPIEG r list
elle
b ests
st ed
rtli
Sho
Longl
isted
31FICTION
Shortlisted for
the German
Book Prize 2021
MONIKA HELFER
Daddy is a memoir that pens a portrait of
a post-war generation. It is a novel about
growing up in difficult circumstances and
the author’s search for her roots. On the
SPIEGEL
He had a prosthetic leg, was often absent, t
bestseller lis
was a widower, a pensioner and loved litera-
ture. Monika Helfer’s book orbits her father’s
life and tells the story of her childhood and
adolescence – the spaciousness and library
in the mountain recovery home for war victims
and the poverty and the cramped conditions
in a South Tyrolean settlement with many
»Oh, you could rave about this book
children in one kitchen. She writes what
she knows about her father, a man who, like
many of his generation, didn’t say much.
for the length of a whole book. So With great veracity, the result is a novel that
gently unfolds existential matters and traces
painful memories. »Yes, everything turned out
much warmth, honesty and gravity fine. In a terrible way, it all turned out fine.«
is rare.« Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Bücher am Sonntag
Sales Monika Helfer
Italy (Keller), Netherlands (Nieuw Amsterdam), Daddy
Spain (Edhasa Argentina) 176 pages
January 2021
Monika Helfer
born in 1947 in Au / Bregenzerwald, lives with
her family in Vorarlberg. She has published
• Monika Helfer continues the tale Rights in The Riff-Raff have been sold
to 12 countries
numerous novels, stories and children’s books. she began in The Riff-Raff – the one
Her novel Look at Me When I Talk to You (2017)
was nominated for the German Book Prize. Her
of her family
most recent publication was The Riff-Raff (2020).
Foto ©: Isolde OhlbaumMORE QUOTES AND PRAISE
»Like The Riff-Raff, Daddy is not a book
of voyeuristic navel-gazing, but well-
»Monika Helfer writes about the hard
written literature whose reliance on
school of knocks in such a way that it
memory is always self-critical.« Carsten Otte, Tagesspiegel
is a great joy for us to read.« Thea Thomiczek, SWR
»There is so much death here, but also so much life. Whoever
reads Monika Helfer’s books comes across real life in all its
»Like a wise, friendly matriarch surrounding by loved ones,
force, yet her books never leave you with a feeling of despair.
Monika Helfer resurrects her past in the province of Vorarl-
Just as her catchphrase always lends you a warm, uplifting
berg. Her story follows non-associative loops, takes various
feeling: ›Everything turned out for the good.‹« Meike Schnitzler, Brigitte
detours, allows her and her research to shine through, and
»Monika Helfer leaps through in time, approaching her jumps confidently between different periods.« Frank Schäfer, taz
father from all possible directions, without frantically
trying to fill the gaps in her story.« Christoph Schröder, ZEIT online »Helfer's autofictional storytelling has
a beautiful rhythm that alternates
»What a book!« Beate Tröger, der Freitag
between myth, memory and research.«
Cornelia Geissler, Berliner Zeitung
»Remembering is painful, but sometimes also joyful – as
»A novel full of tenderness and love. It stands alone like
a quiet longing for a lost paradise, to which her father also
a monolithic rock in all its beauty and laconic tone.«
belonged. Here lies the craft of her writing, which never Cathrin Kahlweit, Süddeutsche Zeitung
takes the tone of an accusation; on the contrary …«
Rose-Maria Gropp, Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungFICTION
English sample Selected by Shortlisted for
translation New books the German
available in German Book Prize 2021
MITHU SANYAL
»On every page, you laugh
On the
out loud at least three It’s the 2020s and things are complicated. SPIEGE
L
r list
Then there’s a scandal: Prof. Saraswati is b estselle
times. Because Sanyal has a white woman – and nothing could be worse.
Because she holds the chair of Postcolonial
an unprecedented talent for Studies in Düsseldorf and is the supreme
goddess of identity debates, in which she
showing both the freedoms describes herself as a person of colour.
Nivedita is flipping out. Born in Germany to
of radical thinking and the an Indian father, she strongly identifies with
her professor – but what is identity after
limits of discourse. With all? While Saraswati receives online threats
and demonstrators demand her resignation,
Identitti Mithu Sanyal has Nivedita asks her some probing questions: Is
our identity just our personality, or is it more
written one of the most defined by our gender or skin colour? Is it
possible to get rid of whiteness? What’s sex
original books of this got to do with it? Mithu Sanyal’s writing is
filled with wonderful self-deprecating humour
spring.« Katharina Teusch, FAZ and liberating insights. No one leaves
the centrifugal force of this novel in the
same way they started.
Sales Mithu Sanyal
Denmark (Straarup&Co), English World (Astra Identitti
• Never before has a story of the
House), Netherlands (Cossee), Serbia (under 432 pages
present day been so fast-paced and negotiation) February 2021
Mitu Sanyal
was born in Düsseldorf in 1971 and is a cultural told with such ease – hugely enter-
scientist, writer, journalist and critic. In 2009, taining, yet deeply enlightening
her non-fiction book Vulva. Das unsichtbare
Geschlecht was published and in 2016
Vergewaltigung. Aspekte eines Verbrechens. • As if Sally Rooney, Hanif Kureishi and
sanyal.de and on Twitter, Instagram and
Frantz Fanon got together and watched
Facebook.
Sex Education, the hunt for »real«
Foto ©: Guido Schiefer
belonging beginsMORE QUOTES AND PRAISE
»Mithu Sanyal’s novel
»This is Identitti is as refreshing
»You start to wish that »This novel is a
debates on cultural iden-
perfect expression
contemporary as a sip of glacial water.
The German author finds
tity in the arts sections
of newspapers were of the cultural storytelling – plenty of good words to
deal with the subject of
conducted with the same wars taking place this is the 21st identity. Fortunately, she
passion and self-depre-
cation as in Identitti.«
in our present century.« doesn’t only use the
correct ones.« Jörg Scheller, NZZ
Andreas Busch, Tagesspiegel
times of digital Sandra Kegel, 3sat Buchzeit
»Diversity in the escalation.« Ronald Düker, Die Zeit »Under its dashing
»What is most impressive
literary world »For me, this debut novel is
outfit, Identitti is
about Identitti, apart from its
and the desire the book of our times! The artful construction, is that also a coming-of-
to step beyond
controversial all-round view Mithu Sanyal not only leads age novel and a
that Sanyal dares to make the reader briskly through
limitations.« here is brilliant.«
Bildungsroman.«
theoretical discourse, but also Anne-Catherine Simon, Die Presse
Eva Tepest, taz am Wochenende Silvia Feist, Emotion
shows, using the example of
»Be sure to read it. Really
»It’s hugely enjoyable »Her novel is outrageous — Nivedita and Saraswati, how
be sure to read it. And if
to follow this shitstorm.« and outrageously good.« it is possible to talk and argue
you don’t read anything
Katharina Manzke, Büchermagazin Eva Tepest, taz am Wochenende
on these topics in a heated
else this year, read this
debate.« Augsburger Allgemeine Bücher-Journal
book!« Gert Scobel, 3sat BuchzeitFICTION
Selected by Shortlisted for
New books the German
in German Book Prize 2021
NORBERT GSTREIN
»Of course nobody wants to turn sixty.« This
is how Jacob’s confession of a lifetime begins.
He is a well-known actor, and is planning to
publish his biography. But Jakob is terrified
of what will come next. Then his daughter
Luzie poses the question: »What’s the worst
thing you’ve ever done?« And this causes
an explosion in this nail-biting book.
Jacob recalls doing a film shoot years ago on
the Mexican-American border. He remembers
women being murdered and the terrible con-
ditions in general, but he only ever witnessed
these things from afar. Twice, however, he
»The question preoccupying Gstrein found himself in the middle of sinister events.
Jacob is ashamed and struggles with the
is how much a person can know
simplistic verdicts of the outside world. In his
vivid memories, he longs for happiness and
fears his own mortality, like a child fears
about themselves, their unfathomable the dark. Why is he never the original
but always »the second Jacob«?
depths and those of others.« Christoph Schröder, DIE ZEIT
Sales Norbert Gstrein
Selected backlist: The Second Jacob
Als ich jung war: France (Grasset), Greece 448 pages
(Diaplasi), Slovenia (Mohorjeva Hermagoras), February 2021
Turkey (Sia Kitap)
Norbert Gstrein Die kommenden Jahre: Montenegro (Cetinje)
born in 1961 in Tyrol, lives in Hamburg. His award- • Norbert Gstrein gets right to the heart Eine Ahnung vom Anfang: Arabic World
winning work is published by Carl Hanser Verlag; (Al Khotob Khan), English World (Quercus),
his most recent novels are The Coming Years (2018)
of his vulnerable hero in this gripping
France (Gallimard)
and When I Was Young (2019), which was awarded novel that is also a great work of art
the Austrian Book Prize.
Foto ©: Oliver WolfMORE QUOTES AND PRAISE
»The art of this novel lies in
»The Second Jacob is a brilliantly con-
its casualness.« Roman Bucheli, NZZ
structed novel that does everything
»Norbert Gstrein is a specialist in unreliable storytelling. in its power not to permit a definitive
He breaks down moral and biographical certainties into
elegant lyrical sentences.« Christoph Schröder, Deutschlandfunk Kultur Büchermarkt
reality.« Hubert Winkels, Die ZEIT
»The propensity for self-destruction makes the brutal
»Readers tend to skip a few sentences
play on identities in this novel an impressive achievement.
out of impatience. In this case, they The Second Jacob is a writer’s novel – a poetic and auto-
won’t want to. It’s not possible.« Peter Pisa, Kurier biographical assessment of Gstrein as a writer and
therefore – less in terms of content than in principle, and
»The Second Jacob by Norbert Gstrein is a stirring novel a continuation, or rather, a reversal of its predecessor
about a man’s desperate attempt to bury his roots and his When I Was Young.« Hilmar Klute, Süddeutsche Zeitung
shameful biography.« Carsten Otte, SWR2 Literatur lesenswert
»The novel suggests another variation on the narrative of
biography; about Jacob’s subtly drawn relationship with
»A great, highly evocative novel.« his daughter Luzie, whose perception of the world chal-
Dagmar Kaindl, Buchkultur
lenges conventional categories of ›normality‹; or about the
»Gstrein is a master of grey zones, a writer who eludes crime of which Jacob is guilty in the USA. The reader is
black-and-white certainties and who has always refused to invited to discover all this in a novel packed with a range
make simple judgements in his books. This book contains of themes.« Johanna Öttl, Die Presse
all the ingredients of great literature.« Bernd Melichar, Kleine ZeitungFICTION
Selected by Longlisted for
New books the German
in German Book Prize 2021
FRANZOBEL
»In his new novel, this
award-winning writer
presents a scenario that
shakes the power structures Hernando de Soto accompanied Pizarro
to Peru, taught the Inca king chess and
of present-day society with Spanish, impregnated his sister and made
a fortune from the slave trade. He was already
incredible ingenuity.« famous when, in 1538, he launched a major
expedition to Florida, which left a huge trail
Martina Kothe, NDR Kultur
of devastation in its wake across the south
of America. Almost 500 years later, a New
»An exciting and
York lawyer files a lawsuit on behalf of all
indigenous tribes for the return of the
entire USA to the Native Americans.
effective but also Franzobel’s new novel is a firework of
ingenuity and a parable for a society driven
deeply disturbing by greed and selfishness, steered into
doom by vain, incompetent leaders.
novel.« Günter Kaindlstorfer, Ö1 Mittagsjournal
Sales Franzobel
France (Flammarion) The Conquest of America
Das Floss der Medusa: Denmark (Turbine), 544 pages
Franzobel France (Flammarion), Italy (Saggiatore), Norway January 2021
born 1967 in Vöcklabruck, is one of Austria’s (Cappelen Damm), Romania (EuroPress)
• After The Raft of the Medusa comes the
most popular writers. He has received numerous
awards, including the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize next major historical novel by Franzobel
in 1995, the Arthur-Schnitzler-Prize in 2002 and
the Nicolas-Born-Prize in 2017. Most recent pub-
lications by Zsolnay are the novels Das Floß der • A parable for a society driven
Medusa, which was shortlisted for the German
Book Prize 2017 and won the Bavarian Book Prize by greed and selfishness
in 2017, and the crime novel Rechtswalzer (2019).
Foto ©: Julia HaimburgerMORE QUOTES AND PRAISE
»The Conquest of
»A highly ambiti- America, for all its
ous novel devoted grotesque shrill-
to a shameful, little- ness, is a political »With verve and inventive
»This subject matter is
known episode in novel that could storytelling, rather like
entirely in keeping with a visit to the Volksoper,
Franzobel, a go-getting American history not be better sui-
Franzobel creates vivid
fabulist who loves the and taking a witty, ted to our times.« imagery and a panopticon
Thomas Rothschild, Die Presse
grotesque and wry of outlandish characters.
humour … as a reader
postmodern and
This makes The Conquest
you have to laugh aloud playful approach »Quirky and told
of America both a pleasu-
at times; at others, the reminiscent of with plenty of hu- rable and insightful read
horror makes the laughter
Daniel Kehlmann.« mour … Franzobel that ends in utopia.
stick in your throat.« Prizeworthy writing!«
Lerke von Saalfeld, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
New Books in German
writes with terrific Cornelia Zetzsche, BR2 KulturWelt
lightness without
»A great reading making things
pleasure!!« banal. This is truly
Gerard Otremba, Rolling Stone
great art.« Irene Binal, Ö1 ex librisBACKLIST HIGHLIGHTS
»It is already clear that this will be one of this
year’s most important books because of the
precision and brilliance of its language.« Aus der Zuckerfabrik
»A debut writer of which we
can expect a great deal.« Die Sommer
»June Snow is one of those books
that take your breath away …« Junischnee
»Its clarity and simplicity have an incredible magnetism.
You don’t want to put this book down.« Bogners AbgangFICTION
Nominated for
the Swiss Book
Prize 2020
Shortlisted for Selected by
the German New books
Book Prize 2020 in German
DOROTHEE ELMIGER
»It is already clear
that Out of the Sugar
Factory will be one If the connections between world events
should suddenly be wiped out, we would be
of this year’s most grateful to find Dorothee Elmiger’s book to
help us understand what happened in the
important books. This past. Its subject: the cycles of capital, labour
and lust. Its form: a journal full of observa-
is because it delves tions, surveys and investigations.
My skills never end is the slogan on the T-shirt
into pressing issues, of a worker receiving his wages. Switzerland’s
first lottery millionaire stands on the beach
but deals with them of a Caribbean island looking out to sea. At
night, goats crowd around the writer’s bed.
in a hallucinatory way. Dorothee Elmiger tracks down money and
desire through the centuries and the world.
And because of the She writes biographies of mystics, the insa-
tiable, gamblers, orgiasts and colonialists,
precision and luminous studies the routes of ships on the Atlantic,
records dreams and cases of ecstasy and
beauty of her language.« madness. Out of the Sugar Factory docu-
ments this research in a text that opens our
Anne-Sophie Scholl, Die Zeit
eyes to the complexity of the world.
Sales Dorothee Elmiger
Dorothee Elmiger Denmark (Gladiator), English US (Two Lines Press), Out of the Sugar Factory
was born in 1985, and lives and works in Zurich. France (Editions Zoë), Sweden (Nirstedt) 272 pages
Her debut novel Einladung an die Waghalsigen August 2020
was published in 2010, followed by the novel
Schlafgänger in 2014, both by DuMont. Her texts
have been translated into different languages
• Dorothee Elmiger on the trail of capital,
and adapted for the stage. Dorothee Elmiger has
been awarded numerous prizes, including the labour and lust
Aspects Literature Prize for the best German-
language prose debut, the Rauris Literature
Foto ©: Peter-Andreas Hassiepen
Prize, a sabbatical from the city of Zurich, the
Erich Fried Prize and the Swiss Literature Prize.
dorotheeelmiger.comMORE QUOTES AND PRAISE
»Out of the Sugar Factory
»No matter where you
makes a psychological »Elmiger’s way of working open the book, you are
inventory, the findings of does not create a novel in the immediately drawn into
which are authenticated
usual sense: it is not exciting »Out of the Sugar Factory the thicket of cross-
by the author’s rigorous
fiction, but a different kind is liberated from the corset references and an intoxi-
literary method. To be
of narrative fabric that capti- of the novel, a celebration cating journey of greed,
sobered up by Dorothee
vates you. Non-novels have of storytelling, a daring money, sugar, colonialism
Elmiger’s book is an
a unique magic, their own expedition into the economy and female desire. An
intoxicating experience.«
narrative order.« Judith Kuckart, Berliner Zeitung of power and desire and into almost never-ending
Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
the abysses of our collective journey that continues
»Born in 1985, this Swiss
»Out of the Sugar phantasms. Elmiger is a poet, in your mind after you
writer does not carelessly
tell a fully rounded story,
Factory is, there- historian, analyst, theorist finish reading it.«
Linda Schildbach, MDR Kultur
and gifted storyteller all
as stories like these can fore, above all else
in one. Few books are as
only subject reality to »You can open this book
an exercise in beautiful, as intelligent, as
violence, subjecting it to at any point and be
an order that neither
devotion: to the profound and playful, and immediately drawn in.
on top of that, as brilliantly
promotes knowledge nor enigmatic and To follow Dorothee Elmi-
written as Out of the Sugar ger on these paths is as
qualifies it for change. You
repeatedly mira- Factory.« Martina Süess, WOZ
might call it a ‘school of insightful as it is exciting
perception’, a challenge to
culous entangle- and as disturbing as it is
view the world with ten- ments of reading.« beautiful.« Fabian Thomas, The Daily Frown
der respect.« Michael Wolf, Der Freitag
Björn Hayer, Die ZeitFICTION
»The Summer is a stunning
RONYA OTHMANN
debut novel, told concretely
and vividly, with strong
characters and dialogues. The village is in northern Syria, near the border
to Turkey. Leyla spends every summer there.
Ronya Othmann has a wide She knows its smells and tastes. She knows
its stories. She knows where the villagers’ suit-
range of expression. She cases are hidden in case they have to escape
again. Urgently and poignantly, as
belongs to a generation that if her eyes were wide open, Ronya Othmann’s
debut novel tells the story of living in the
switches easily between face of annihilation. Only to defy it.
Leyla’s parents are German and Yazidi. She
theory, politics, poetry and spends lesson time sitting in her secondary
school in Munich, and the summer holidays
prose; she can be both sitting on the earthy floor of her grandparents’
house in a Yazidi village. Leyla is familiar with
aggressive and adaptable. the outline of Kurdistan, and the shape of the
female student she loves. She clicks through
There are many topics on pictures of war-torn Aleppo the assassination
of the Yazidi by ISIS, and alongside these,
her agenda. A debut writer carefree photos of her German friends’
everyday lives. Leyla will soon have
of which we can expect a to make a decision.
great deal.« Meike Feßmann, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Sales Ronya Othmann
Ronya Othmann English World (University of Wisconsin Press), The Summers
was born in 1993 in Munich and studied at the Vietnam (Sanho Books) 288 pages
German Institute for Literature in Leipzig. She August 2020
has received the MDR Literature Prize, the Caroline
Schlegel Sponsorship Award in the category of
essay, the Open Mike Poetry Prize, and the
• A novel filled with tenderness
audience prize of the Ingeborg Bachmann
Literature Award. In 2018, she was on the jury and anger at a world torn in two
of the International Film Festival in Duhok in the
autonomous region of Kurdistan, Iraq. Together
with Cemile Sahin, she writes the column Orient-
Express for the taz which covers Middle-Eastern
Foto ©: Chihan Cakmak
politics.FICTION
Selected by
New books
in German
LJUBA ARNAUTOVIĆ
»In a clear, poetic language In 1934, Eva, who is a member of the
Republican Protection League in Vienna,
free of sentimentality, sends her sons Slavko and Karl away to
Ljuba Arnautović writes
protect them from the Nazis. The »Schutzbund
children« go on holiday to Crimea and then
are settled in a luxurious home in Moscow.
of how world politics Until Hitler breaks his pact with Stalin. Slavko
disappears without a trace. Karl is seized and
shapes characters, sent to a reformatory for children and young
people and then on to a labour camp as an
tangles fates and leaves »enemy of the people«. In the gulag, he meets
his future wife Nina – the author’s mother. Karl
a mark on family history tries to return to Vienna as soon as circum-
stances permit, forcing his wife to go abroad …
over generations.«
Katharina Menhofer, Ö1 Morgenjournal In this vivid, poetic and stirring story, Ljuba
Arnautović addresses the contempt for human
beings and political arbitrariness that
determined the fate of many during the
20th century including that of her own family.
Sales Ljuba Arnautović
Serbia (Futura/Nojzac), Italian rights under negotiation June Snow
192 pages
February 2021
Ljuba Arnautović • Arnautović’s family history spans
born in 1954 in Kursk (USSR), lives in Vienna.
After studying social pedagogy, she worked
the drama of the 20th century
for the documentation archive of the Austrian
resistance, as a Russian translator and a radio
Foto ©: Leonhard Hilzensauer/Zsolnay Verlag
journalist. Her first novel, Im Verborgenen was
• Highly political and highly poetic
shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2018. at the same timeYou can also read
