Suhrkamp Insel Rights List London Book Fair 2018
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Theodor W. Adorno
Jurek Becker
Timm Beichelt
Ulla Berkéwicz
Michael Butter
Nana Ekvtimishvili
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Suhrkamp
Didier Fassin
Insel
Peter Handke
Axel Honneth
Eva Illouz
Rahel Jaeggi
Hans Joas
André Kieserling
Esther Kinsky
Svenja Leiber
Sibylle Lewitscharoff Rights List
Niklas Luhmann
Thomas Macho
London Book Fair 2018
Andreas Maier
Robert Menasse
www.suhrkamp.de/foreignrights
Melinda Nadj Abonji
Christian Neuhäuser
Marion Poschmann
Martin Prinz
Doron Rabinovici
Andreas Reckwitz
Beate Rössler
Ralf Rothmann
Annika Scheffel
Clemens J. Setz
Maria Stepanova
Philipp Ther
Najem Wali
Robert Walser
Josef Winkler
Serhij Zhadan
Authors and Estates
represented by Suhrkamp/Insel
A selection
Theodor W. Adorno Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Albert Ostermaier
Robert Alexy Jürgen Habermas Katja Petrowskaja
Juri Andruchowytsch Anna Katharina Hahn Andreas Pflüger
Friedrich Ani Michael Hampe Marion Poschmann
Ingeborg Bachmann Peter Handke Doron Rabinovici
Zsófia Bán Christoph Hein Andreas Reckwitz
Wolfgang Bauer Heinz Helle Bärbel Reetz
Ulrich Beck Dieter Henrich Beate Rössler
Jurek Becker Hermann Hesse Hartmut Rosa
Ulla Berkéwicz Wolfgang Hildesheimer Ralf Rothmann
Thomas Bernhard Ludwig Hohl Sasha Marianna Salzmann
Barbara Beuys Axel Honneth Judith Schalansky
Marcel Beyer Eva Illouz Annika Scheffel
Ernst Bloch Rahel Jaeggi Robert Schindel
Hans Blumenberg Hans Joas Wilhelm Schmid
Karl Heinz Bohrer Uwe Johnson Gershom Scholem
Szilárd Borbély Hans Jonas Lutz Seiler
Friedrich von Borries Dževad Karahasan Clemens J. Setz
Volker Braun Anselm Kiefer Peter Sloterdijk
Bertolt Brecht Anna Kim Manfred Sommer
Hermann Broch Esther Kinsky Andrzej Stasiuk
Simone Buchholz Julia Kissina Maria Stepanova
Nina Bußmann Friedrich A. Kittler Wolfgang Streeck
Bernd Cailloux Alexander Kluge Peter Szondi
Paul Celan Wolfgang Koeppen Uwe Tellkamp
Ann Cotten Siegfried Kracauer Philipp Ther
Sigrid Damm Angela Krauß Stephan Thome
László Darvasi Svenja Leiber Hans-Ulrich Treichel
Ljubko Deresch Gertrud Leutenegger Galsan Tschinag
Ulrike Edschmid Sibylle Lewitscharoff Ernst Tugendhat
Nana Ekvtimishvili Niklas Luhmann Peter Turrini
Hans Magnus Enzensberger Thomas Macho Siegfried Unseld
Urs Faes Nicolas Mahler Kevin Vennemann
Erika Fischer-Lichte Andreas Maier Martin Walser
Rainer Forst Friederike Mayröcker Robert Walser
Photo: Heike Steinweg
Manfred Frank Thomas Meinecke Peter Weiss
Max Frisch Robert Menasse Lambert Wiesing
Valerie Fritsch Christoph Menke Josef Winkler
Mischa Gabowitsch Winfried Menninghaus Christa Wolf
Markus Gabriel Alice Miller Raul Zelik
Efrat Gal-Ed Heiner Müller Serhij Zhadan
Literary Fiction
Gunther Geltinger Stefan Müller-Doohm Ulf Erdmann Ziegler
André Georgi Melinda Nadj Abonji Slavoj Žižek
Rainald Goetz Ivan Nagel
Durs Grünbein Angelika Neuwirth
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Jurek Becker Ulla Berkéwicz
»On the beach at Bochum Beyond Script
there’s a lot going on.«
From the author of the international bestseller Jacob the Liar
Over the course of his life as a writer Jurek Jurek Becker Based on Vedic, Jewish and mathematic- Ulla Berkéwicz
Becker has explored many genres. He wrote On the beach at Bochum topological knowledge, Ulla Berkéwicz’ Beyond Script
texts for the cabaret, authored movie scripts, there’s a lot going on new work, comprised of two correspond- (Original title: Über die
garnered international acclaim with his Postcards ing parts which reflect each other, Schrift hinaus)
Edited by Christine Becker approx. 160 pages
debut novel Jacob the Liar, published short invites us to discern what restricts our
(Original title: Am Strand Clothbound
stories and essays. In his estate drafts were consciousness.
von Bochum ist allerhand Release: May 2018
found for most of his works. Among these,
los. Postkarten)
drafts for postcards were discovered as In a stunning poetic fantasy, a poet partisan
approx. 399 pages Rights available
well, in which he used the same conceptual crosses the threshold of narration and a
Clothbound
approach as he did in his prose works. mathematic rebel transcends the countability
Release: March 2018
The number of postcards, which Becker of numbers during the thirteenth hour of the Ulla Berkéwicz lives in Berlin.
night of Shrove Tuesday. That leads a society Since 1982, Suhrkamp Verlag
primarily wrote towards the end of his life, Rights available has published twelve works by
shows that his aim in writing them was to of potentates, artists and bourgeois to break
her, which have been translated
bring a moment of joy to friends or family Jurek Becker was born on the mold in a way that allows them to follow into nine languages. Her plays
members. Messages of the author about September 30, 1937, in Lodz/ the two into their freedom of the imagination. premièred at the Burgtheater
himself were of secondary importance. First Poland and died on March 14, The fundamental humanistic and scientific in Vienna and at the Munich
1997, in Sieseby/Schleswig- idea of this anarchic spectacle evolves into Kammerspiele. Ulla Berkéwicz
and foremost, Jurek Becker was concerned Holstein, Germany. has received numerous prizes
with entertaining the reader for a few a piece of prose that is as provocative as it
From 1939 to 1945 Becker and accolades for her work,
minutes. Increasingly, the postcard became grew up in the Ghetto in is uncompromising. It reveals what could among them the Moses-
the textual form in which the author enjoyed Lodz and was later interred be possible if we would stop restricting our Mendelssohn-Medal 2016.
expressing himself. It was, after all, a form in the concentration cognitive abilities to our three-dimensional
that allowed for word games and silliness –
camps of Ravensbrück and sphere and instead let our imagination run Selected Backlist:
Sachsenhausen. In 1945 he
and that, on the other hand, offered the wild and into areas that aren’t confined by
moved to East Berlin where Vielleicht werden wir ja
possibility of showing affection without between 1957 and 1960
the concepts of time and space.
verrückt (2002) International
having to disclose too much information he studied Philosophy at Sales: English world rights
about himself. In chronological order and Humboldt University. In 1960 (Banyan Tree - published,
for political reasons Becker was
put into context, Jurek Becker’s postcards rights reverted), Spanish world
barred from studying further rights (Losada - published,
tell a lot about his life and personality, and thus transferred to film rights reverted), Arabic
provide information about his passions, school in Babelsberg. world rights (Al-Kamel -
but most notably about his unique way Becker is the author of published, rights reverted),
of lifting the spirits of his loved ones and numerous screenplays. In 1969 Italy (Casagrande - published,
consoling them in times of separation. his first novel was published – rights reverted), Netherlands
Jacob the Liar became known (Aspekt - published, rights
Photo: Daniel Devecioglu
Selected Backlist: throughout the world. Jurek reverted), Greece (Kastaniotis-
Becker’s work was awarded published, rights reverted),
Jakob der Lügner (1969) International Sales: UK
with numerous prizes, including Israel (Hakibbutz Hameuchad-
(Pan Books), Catalan rights (Edicions de 1984),
the Grimme Prize and the Order published, rights reverted)
Chinese complex rights (Yuan-Liou), Brazilian
of Merit of the Federal Republic
Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), France Ich weiß, daß du weißt (1999)
of Germany.
(Grasset), Korea (Munhakdongne), Macedonia International Sales: English
(Goten), Georgia (Intelekti); published, rights reverted: world rights (Oolichan Books),
USA (Arcade), Spanish world rights (Destino), Chinese Russia (Text Publishing -
simplex rights (Yilin ), Russia (Text), Italy (Feltrinelli), published, rights reverted)
Netherlands (Van Gennep), Sweden (Norstedts),
Norway (Solum), Finland (Tammi), Japan (Dogakusha),
Hungary (Kriterion), Romania (Editura Dacia), Estonia
(Eesti Raamat), Serbia (Matica Srpska), Slovenia
(Hermagoras), Turkey (Ayrinti), Greece (Patakis)
Poetry
A New Divan
A Lyrical Dialogue between
East and West
Foreword by Daniel Barenboim
Published to celebrate the 200th anniversary notes where appropriate). Each poem will A New Divan
of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan (1819), A appear in English poetic translation facing A Lyrical Dialogue
New Divan will bring together twenty-four the original language of composition. The between East and West
leading poets – twelve from the ›East‹ and same modus operandi applies to the German Foreword by Daniel
Barenboim
twelve from the ›West‹ – in a poetic dialogue publication and will be required for all
Edited by Barbara Haus
inspired by the culture of the Other. forthcoming translations.
Schwepcke and
Bill Swainson
Drawing on themes suggested by the twelve Three pairs of essays will enhance and
2.400 lines of poetry
books of Goethe’s original publication, compliment the poems, just like in Goethe’s
30.000 words of
including The Poet, The Cup Bearer, The original. They include Rajmohan Gandhi
scholarship
Tyrant, Love, Anger and Faith, and using the on Mohammed Iqbal and the response to Clothbound
distinctive poetic forms of the cultures of the Goethe’s Divan from the East and Robyn Release of the English
poets taking part, A New Divan will be a life- Creswell on The importance for the West of edition by Gingko Library
enhancing conversation in poetry. translating poetry from the East today. and of the German edition
by Suhrkamp: Summer
For the English edition, 22 English-language 2019
poets have been commissioned to create
English-language versions of the original Rights available
poems, either by direct translation or by
working with a literal translation (with
Contributors:
East West
Abbas Beydoun (Lebanon) Antonella Anedda (Italy)
Adonis (Syria) Homero Aridjis (Mexico)
Amjad Nasser (Jordan) Angélica Freitas (Brazil)
Fadhil al-Azzawi (Iraq) Durs Grünbein (Germany)
Fatemeh Shams (Iran) Clara Janés (Spain)
Gonca Özmen (Turkey) Jaan Kaplinski (Estonia)
Hafez Moussavi (Iran) Khaled Mattawa (USA)
Iman Mersal (Egypt) Gilles Ortlieb (France)
Mohammed Bennis (Morocco) Don Paterson (UK)
Mourid Barghouti (Palestine) Raoul Schrott (Austria)
Nujoom al-Ghanem (UAE) Aleš Šteger (Slovenia)
Reza Mohammadi (Afghanistan) Jan Wagner (Germany)
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Nana Ekvtimishvili Hans Magnus Enzensberger
The Pear Field Survival Artists
An intense portrait of young people without future 99 lessons on survival in »dismal times«
who stand up against the world of adults
The Pear Field takes place in the 1990s in Tbilisi, Nana Ekvtimishvili The 20th century was the heyday of writers Hans Magnus
capital of the recently independent country of The Pear Field who had survived state terror and purges Enzensberger
Georgia. At the heart of the novel is the »School Novel with all the ethical and political ambivalences Survival Artists
for Idiots«, a boarding school for »mentally (Original title: მსხლების that this entailed. How did they manage 99 Literary Vignettes from
მინდორი, published the 20th Century
deficient children«, actually visited mostly by to do that? Were they too steadfast to bend
in May 2015 by Bakur With 99 images
children whose parents are either dead or who to the powers that be? Did they owe their
Sulakauri, Tblisi) (Original title:
have emigrated for economic reasons. Even the survival to their foresight, their intelligence
(Translated German title: Überlebenskünstler. 99
teachers leave the children and teens to their Das Birnenfeld) or sharpness, their belief in themselves, literarische Vignetten aus
own devices. approx. 240 pages their connections or their tactical skill? Was dem 20. Jahrhundert)
The narrative unfolds from the point of view of Paperbound it serendipitous circumstances bordering approx. 350 Seiten
16-year-old Lela who has decided that she will Release of the German on a miracle that helped them escape from Clothbound
murder Wano, the history teacher. Only over edition by Suhrkamp: prison, camps and death, or was it strategies Release: April 2018
the course of the novel do the reasons become July 2018 that spanned from ingratiation to disguise?
clear: sexual assault and even rape. However, If only it was possible to make a clear-cut International Sales:
Lela, a combative, angry young girl, has taken Rights available distinction! France (Alma)
up the role of protector. She looks after the
younger children, comforts them, and even Translation funding In 99 pointed, deliberately subjective
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
tries to convince them to apply themselves, portraits, Hans Magnus Enzensberger de-
available from the was born in Kaufbeuren in
in other words, to study so that they can leave scribes the lives and particular survival 1929. As a poet, essayist,
Georgian National
the School for Idiots behind. As strong as strategies of international writers, but writer, publisher and translator,
Book Center
her hatred for the history teacher is, she has also the objective reasons for which they he is one of the world’s most
managed to survive the 20th century, the influential and internationally
developed a tender, sister-like relationship Literary Prizes and renowned German intellectuals.
with the boy Irakli. Every week Lela takes »Age of Violence«. Despite the seemingly
Awards: overwhelmingly powerful opponent of
him to a nearby high-rise flat so he can talk on Selected Backlist:
the phone with his mother in Greece. Irakli, thoroughly formed societies and authori-
Literary award SABA Immer das Geld (2015)
however, refuses to believe what Lela has long tarian, death-or-glory governments. That International sales: English
2016 in category the
known: his mother is never coming back, not we could learn from this in our present world rights (Seagull), Spanish
best debut situation is not, according to the author, world rights (Anagrama),
even to pick him up. Lela nonetheless tries to
IliaUni Literary prize out of the question. Catalan rights (Edicions
encourage him and even manages to get him to
2016 for The Best Novel 62), Arabic world rights
learn English because she wants Irakli to have (Al Kotob Khan), France
a better future. And then, one day, a married LITERA (Prize awarded
(Alma), Italy (Einaudi), Japan
couple from the southern United States arrives by the Ministry of (Shobunsha); Domestic Rights
and his dream threatens to become reality in a Culture and Monument Sales: German Audiobook (Der
most bizarre way. Protection of Georgia A subjective-historical revue Hörverlag)
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
and by the Writer’s Tumult (2014) International
sales: English world rights
House of Georgia) for
(Seagull), Spanish world rights
the best debut 2016 (Malpaso), Chinese simplex
rights (Beijing Fonghong
Nana Ekvtimishvili, born in 1978 in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a writer and movie director, and owns Georgia’s first chain Awards (selection):
of ice cream parlors. She studied screenwriting and dramaturgy in Potsdam-Babelsberg. She first published stories Books), Brazilian Portuguese
Sonningprisen 2010 rights (Todavia), France
in 1999 and in 2011 directed her first short film, Waiting for Mum. In 2013 together with her partner Simon Groß
she released the feature film In Bloom. In Bloom premiered at the 63rd Berlinale where it was hailed as the birth Premio d’Annunzio 2006 (Gallimard), Italy (Einaudi),
of the new Georgian wave and won the CICAE Award, followed by numerous awards at film festivals in Hong Kong, Premio Príncipe de Asturias 2002 Denmark (Gyldendal), Greece
Tokyo, Paris, LA, and Sarajevo, and was Georgia’s entry for the 2014 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language (Hestia); Domestic Rights
Film. In 2013 Nana Ekvtimishvili — again with Simon Gross — was chosen as one of the ten most promising Heinrich-Heine-Preis 1998
Sales: German Audiobook
European directors from Varietyʼs 10 Directors to Watch at the 48th Karlovy Vary Film Festival. In Hong Kong, the Erich-Maria-Remarque-Friedenspreis 1993 rights (Der Hörverlag),
film was named as the spring of Georgian cinema. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) has
Heinrich-Böll-Preis 1985 German Entire Radio Reading
called the film a sign of the rebirth of Georgian film. Her latest film My Happy Family has first been released at the
Georg-Büchner-Preis 1963 (HR), German Book Club
Sundance Film Festival in 2017. The Pear Field is her first novel.
(Büchergilde Gutenberg)
Deutscher Kritikerpreis 1962
Literary Fiction
Peter Handke
The Fruit Thief
The Fruit Thief is nothing less than the Peter Handke
book of the world: within it everything is The Fruit Thief
possible, in both a positive as well as a Or
negative sense. And reading it means: to A Simple Trip into the
Interior
have new experiences beyond everything
(Original title: Die
previously imagined or depicted. In sum:
Obstdiebin oder Einfache
a brand new novel from Peter Handke.
Fahrt ins Landesinnere)
Peter Handke’s latest recounts three days in 559 pages
Clothbound
the life of the fruit thief: on an August day
Release: November 2017
shortly before her departure for Picardy, the
wanderer meets her father who wants to International Sales:
give her a few pointers on how she should English world rights (FSG),
act. Alexia, as she is known, and her mother, Spanish world rights
the banker, had made amends after she (Alianza), Arabic world
travelled around the world. Now, during rights (Dar Al Adab), France
(Gallimard), Italy (Guanda),
her stay in Île-de-France, Alexia renounces
Finland (Lurra), Turkey
her favourite (illegal?) pastime in order (Kültür)
to prepare for something new. But what?
The experience of the landscape? The risk Peter Handke, born in 1942
of friendship? Or everything? And, most in Griffen (Austria), lives near
of all, adventure itself? Alexia’s openness Paris. His books are translated
allows her to experience everyday life in an into more than 35 languages.
exceptionally intense way and provides her Selected Backlist:
with an experience of the world in images
Versuch über den Pilznarren
from never-before-known dimensions. »What (2013) International Sales:
she experienced in the three days of her trip Chinese simplex rights
into the interior: strange. Or not? No, strange (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese
indeed. Enduringly strange. Eternally rights (Estaçao Liberdade),
France (Gallimard), Italy
strange.«
(Guanda), Denmark (Batzer),
Finland (Lurra), Slovenia
(Mohorjeva založba/
Hermagoras)
Der Große Fall (2011)
International Sales: English
world rights (Seagull), Spanish
world rights (Alianza), Catalan
world rights (Rayo Verde),
Arabic world rights (Kanaan),
France (Gallimard), Italy
(Garzanti), Denmark (Rod
& Co.), Norway (Pelikanen),
Finland (Lurra), Czech Republic
(Rubato), Bulgaria (Paradox),
Turkey (Kültür), Greece (Hestia)
Photo: Hampus Lundgren
Literary Fiction
Esther Kinsky Leipzig
Grove
Book Fair
Prize 2018
Praise for Am Fluss (River)
Profoundly empathetic, and austere –
»River is an unusual and stealthy sort of book in that it’s the opposite of a minor-key exploration of landscape and land
what it appears to be – which is a rather apt dissimulation, as it turns
out. Yes, it rifles through both the rich and rank materials of the world, Grove is a novel in three parts, each of them Esther Kinsky
Grove
concerned with a different journey in a
turning over its trinkets and its tat, in a manner that is initially quite different Italy. A Field Novel
(Original title: Hain.
familiar – however, this curious inventory demonstrates an eye for the In the first part, the narrator, recently
Geländeroman)
bereaved, travels to a small village south-
grotesque and does not hold the world aloft, or in place. Here, details east of Rome. It is winter, and from her
287 pages
Clothbound
temporary residence on a hill between
blur boundaries rather than reaffirming them, positing a worldview that village and cemetery she embarks on walks
Release: February 2018
is haunted and uncanny.« Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Pond and brief outings, exploring the banal and
International Sales:
the sublime with equal dedication and
intensity. Her perception is coloured by English world rights
bereavement and the need to process her (Fitzcarraldo), France
loss, but also by a profound curiosity in the (Grasset), Italy (Il
details that make up the life around her and Saggiatore), Ukraine
»…it’s hard to escape the feeling that Esther
the way they refer to the many places of the (Knihy XXI)
dead, from the local cemetery to the ancient
Etruscan tombs on the coast. Gazing, seeing, Esther Kinsky was born in
Kinsky has produced a minor-key masterpiece.« describing, naming the world around her is
her way of redefining her place in this world.
Engelskirchen in 1956 and
lives in Berlin. She has been
awarded numerous prizes for
Jacob Silkstone, Asymptote The second part of the novel takes us to
her extensive œuvre, which
70s Italy, where the narrator often visited includes translations from the
as a child, with her father. Fragmented Polish, Russian and English
Photo: Heike Steinweg
impressions and memories – of Communist as well as poetry, essays and
party rallies, roadside restaurants, film works of fiction.
»No matter whether Kinsky describes things, foreign people or sequences, birdlife, and the ubiquitous
Selected Backlist:
landscapes, the surplus love she has at her disposal becomes visible in Etruscan necropoli – combine into a peculiar
mosaic of a bygone era which at the same Am Fluss (Matthes & Seitz,
the sensitive prose in which she sees the world.« time forms the backdrop for the rest of the 2014) International Sales: USA
(Transit), UK (Fitzcarraldo),
novel which is set in the present.
Hans-Peter Kunisch, Süddeutsche Zeitung The third part is set in Northern Italy,
Spanish world rights
(Periférica), France (Gallimard),
between Ferrara and the Po estuary, some Poland (Biuro Literackie)
years after the bereavement. The vast flat
landscape of the Bassa Padana unfolds in
»An extraordinary book and a major writer.« front of the reader, part water, part land,
dominated by a variety of birds which seem
Esther Kinsky’s travels and forays – both
Düsseldorfer
Literaturpreis 2018
in the present and in the remembered
Nelly Kaprièlian, Les Inrockuptibles to have become the narrator’s favoured past – are Italian journeys of a unique
companions on her walks, and watch over kind. Appealing to all senses, they ex-
the vanished necropolis of Spina in the plore external terrain and yet, they take
delta region. This last part is pervaded by the reader inwards, to potential closure
a sense of reconciliation with loss, but also for grief and to islands of solace. The trav-
by a new kind of curiosity in contemporary elling, wandering narrator’s gaze elicits
Italy and the continuous silent presence from each landscape the beauty that
of bereavement in the shape of helpless, arises from engagement with every detail,
homeless refugees, wandering the streets of however insignificant it may initially
sleepy villages and little towns. seem.
Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Svenja Leiber Sibylle Lewitscharoff/Najem Wali
Dust Abraham Meets Ibrahim
Revolt of the Living From Abraham to Eve, from Noah to Satan
As an eleven-year-old, Jonas Blaum spends Svenja Leiber A highly dramatic scene: a father leans over Sibylle Lewitscharoff
a year in Saudi Arabia together with his Dust the defenceless boy, the knife flashing in his Najem Wali
parents and his two siblings – the father has Novel hand – when, at the last moment, an angel Abraham Meets Ibrahim
accepted a position as a doctor at a hospital (Original title: Staub. orders him to sacrifice a ram instead of Journeys through the Bible
Roman) and the Quran
in Riyadh. The Germans are having a hard his own son. The biblical story of Abraham
approx. 243 pages (Original title: Abraham
time adapting to life in the strange country. and Isaac is well-known. That it caused the
Clothbound trifft Ibrahim. Streifzüge
When the Blaum’s youngest child, a girl philosopher Kierkegaard a sleepless night
Release: March 2018 durch Bibel und Koran)
who identifies as a boy, disappears without at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, during approx. 280 pages
a trace one day, and returns a short while which a divine power appeared to him to Clothbound
International Sales:
later, unharmed but without speech, the discuss the question of mercy – this is Release: May 2018
family returns to Germany hastily. English world rights something only Sibylle Lewitscharoff knows.
(Seagull) How the Quran deals with this material in Rights available
In the summer of 2014, Jonas Blaum, by turn, how it relegates Isaac to the background
now a doctor himself, an addict plagued by Svenja Leiber, born 1975 in and elevates Abraham’s firstborn Ismail to Sibylle Lewitscharoff, born
doubts, travels to the Middle East once more, Hamburg, grew up in Northern
his position instead, that’s what Najem Wali
Germany and lived in Saudi in Stuttgart in 1954, lives in
this time to Amman. There, a boy suffering tells us about. Berlin. In the last decade,
Arabia for a while. Today she
from a mysterious illness is consigned to his lives with her husband and she became one of the most
care. Blaum finds himself unable to help the two children in Berlin. In 2005 From Abraham to Eve, from Noah to Satan: renowned German authors and
child, who reminds him of the biggest loss her short story collection powerful writer and theologist Sibylle received important awards
such as the Leipzig Book Fair
of his life. When the boy disappears one day, Büchsenlicht was published, Lewitscharoff and Iraqi-German author
Prize for Apostoloff in 2009
the doctor conceives a frightful suspicion. and in 2010 her novel Najem Wali have chosen eight figures and the Georg-Büchner-Prize
Schipino. She has won several from the Bible and the Quran. They each in 2013.
prizes including the Werner
Through insistent and powerful images, trace their stories from their respective
Bergengruen Prize in 2007, and
Svenja Leiber tells the story both of an in- the EHF Stipend of the Konrad- point of view, spirited, enthusiastically, Najem Wali was born in
dividual catastrophe and that of an entire not missing the occasional nod to irony. Basra, Iraq, in 1956. He fled
Adenauer-Stiftung in 2010. The
to Germany in 1980, after
region with emphatic imagery. The race Last Country was her first book They wonder about divine justice with
the beginning of the Iran–Iraq
against time for the life of a child becomes with Suhrkamp in 2014. worry-stricken Job, about courage and War. After studies in Hamburg
an allegory of a twofold fight: against the tolerance with Jonah, the frightened and Madrid he today lives in
Selected Backlist:
numbness of the invidual corsetted by whale traveler and with the ensuing dia- Berlin where he works as an
societal restrictions and against the power Das letzte Land (2014) logue between the world religions, they author and journalist. He was
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
International Sales: English a correspondent for the Arabic
of obsolete, aged regimes. touch upon the hot spots of our times.
world rights (Seagull), Spanish daily newspaper Al Hayat and
world rights (Malpaso), Italy still writes for Süddeutsche
(Keller Editore); Domestic Zeitung, Spiegel and Die Zeit,
Photo: Stefan Klüter
Rights Sales: German among others.
Audiobook (DAV)
Selected Backlist (Sibylle
Lewitscharoff):
Blumenberg (2011)
International Sales: English
»Svenja Leiber finds her own »After all, it’s not every world rights (Seagull),
sound, a unique accelerando and day that you experience Spanish world rights (Adriana
ritardando within the narration, distress at sea and get Hidalgo), Chinese simplex
rights (Shanghai Translation
through which details and rescued by a whale.«
Photo: Jürgen Bauer
Publishing House), France
protagonists shine in tremendous (Les Belles Lettres), Italy (Del
Vecchio Editore), Bulgaria
concision.« Stuttgarter Zeitung (Atlantis), Slovenia (Sodobnost)
Literary Fiction
Andreas Maier
The University
That time of your early twenties …
Goethe University Frankfurt. 1988, 1989. An Andreas Maier
entirely different degree back then: in short, The University
nothing less than complete freedom. From Novel
drinking beer in the pub »Doctor Flotte« to (Original title: Die
Universität. Roman)
seminars on truth theory (which see the
approx. 147 pages
philosophy students rushing to the doctor’s
Clothbound
already mid-semester) a complete loss of self
Release: February 2018
is just around the corner for our protagonist,
while time too is getting turned on its head.
Rights available
One day while looking for some student digs
he thinks he recognises a former lover from Andreas Maier, born in Bad
1983 in an erotic magazine he’s chanced Nauheim in 1967, lives in
upon. What comes to rescue him from his Hamburg. Among numerous
desperate and lethargic existence in the other honors, he was awarded
the ZDF aspekte Prize, the
cave where he’s holed up, however, is, of all
Robert Gernhardt Preis, the
things, a nursing case: Gretel Adorno, the Wilhelm Raabe Prize and the
philosopher’s ancient widow, for whom he Franz Hessel Prize.
works as part of his student job. For though
scratched and insulted at every turn, he Selected Backlist:
actually gets along with her much better Der Kreis (Ortsumgehung #5,
than with the rest of his surroundings. 2016)
Der Ort (Ortsumgehung #4,
The University is a novel about whether 2015) International Sales:
it’s even possible to discuss something Denmark (Batzer)
like an »I« or »person«. It’s that time of our Die Straße (Ortsumgehung
early twenties when we’re still stuck in #3, 2013) International Sales:
our leftover roles from adolescence, even Denmark (Rosenkilde &
though we’ve long since realised there’s Bahnhof)
got to be somewhere else for us to go. Das Haus (Ortsumgehung
#2, 2011) International Sales:
Denmark (Rosenkilde &
Bahnhof)
»Each of his […] memory sketches Das Zimmer (Ortsumgehung
is chosen with care. #1, 2010) International Sales:
English world rights digital
And [each of them] unfailingly leads to (Frisch & Co.), Spanish world
And r e a s Andreas metaphysical Proust-like moments.« rights (Adriana Hidalgo),
And r e a s And r e a s Maier Denmark (Rosenkilde &
Andreas Maier D a s Maier D i e Maier Suhrk amp
Gerrit Bartels, Der Tagesspiegel Bahnhof), Norway (Hovde
Der
& Brekke), Czech Republic
Maier Das
Zimmer Haus Straße »A formidable read.«
(Archa), Macedonia (Goten)
Ort
Roman
Suhrkamp Roman
Su hrk a m p Judith Liere, Der Stern
Der
Photo: Markus Kirchgessner
Kreis
Roman
Roman Su hrk a m p Roman Su hrk a m p
Literary Fiction
Robert Menasse
Winner of the German Book Prize 2017
The Capital
Shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2017 The great European novel
300.000 copies sold Robert Menasse’s Testament to a Shameful Age
Brussels. A panorama of tragic material so masterfully (that Brussels. Fenia Xenopoulou is facing a
career setback. She has been »promoted« to
Robert Menasse
The Capital
heroes, manipulative losers, due to the lightness of touch one the Department of Culture by the Directorate Novel
actually forgets the complexity of (Original title: Die
involuntary accomplices. In General – no budget, no power, no reputation.
the constellations of characters so So the »Big Jubilee Project« comes just at Hauptstadt. Roman)
his new novel, Robert Menasse that after nearly five hundred pages the right time for her: she is to revamp the
459 pages
Clothbound
spans a narrative arc between [the reader] is astonished that the boring image of the European Commission.
Release: September 2017
Her Austrian assistant Martin Susman
the times, the nations, the novel is already at an end.) Skilfully suggests proclaiming Auschwitz as the International Sales:
inevitable and the irony of fate, and with great wit Menasse shows birthplace of the European Commission. USA & Canada (Liveright)
time and again {…} how swiftly the Fenia is thrilled, but she didn’t take the other UK & Commonwealth
between petty bureaucracy and European nations into account. Austria: a
private can slide into the political, (MacLehose Press),
big emotions. and indeed just how political the
Polish camp could not be misused to question Spanish world rights (Seix
the Austrian nation. Poland: Auschwitz is a Barral), Chinese simplex
private self is.« German problem. Germany: Islam, by now rights (People‘s Literature
»This is an elegantly written, Tobias Lehmkuhl, Süddeutsche Zeitung a part of Germany, had nothing to do with Publishing House),
Auschwitz.
fabulously constructed, very witty What’s more, Fenia can’t count on David
Russia (Text), Portugal
and thoughtful novel.« Die Zeit »Depicting the milieu of Brussels (Dom Quixote), Arabic
de Vriend, one of the last living witnesses, world rights (AFAQ),
bureaucrats poses no difficulties. any longer: he runs to the metro station France (Verdier), Italy
»More than practically anyone On the contrary, it is tremendously Maalbeek at the wrong time. (Sellerio), Netherlands
else in German-language literature, successful.« Inspector Brunfaut is in a difficult situation (Arbeiderspers), Denmark
Jochen Hieber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as well. He is supposed to leave a murder case (Vandkunsten), Sweden
Menasse has made the history of covered up at the highest level at rest. But (Weyler), Poland (Oficyna
Europe his subject.« luckily he is friends with the chief computer Literacka Noir sur Blanc),
Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung »Robert Menasse’s great EU novel scientists of the Brussels Police Department, Czech Republic (Plus),
is a passionate plea …« who can gain access to the secret files of the Hungary (Geopen),
Harald Jähner, Frankfurter Rundschau public prosecutor’s office. Bulgaria (Lege Artis),
»Menasse is a storyteller and Matek, the Polish hitman, knows nothing of Lithuania (Tyto Alba),
polemic, a clear thinker on history, this when he makes his escape. But he does
and a visionary who, before giving »Writers such as Robert Menasse know that he shot the wrong guy. That’s
Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia
(Arhipelag), Slovenia
free rein, checks his facts. And he should be listened to more closely not nothing to Matek. He would rather have (Cankarjeva Zalożba),
is seductive, lending conviction and politicians should at last forge become ordained a priest; the fact that he Turkey (Alfa/Everest),
links again with such intellectuals.« had to follow his father’s and grandfather’s
Photo: Rafaela Pröll
Greece (Patakis), Georgia
through the strength of his footsteps in becoming a »soldier of Christ«, (Intelekti), Armenia
Björn Hayer, Spiegel Online
language.« doesn’t really make him happy. (Antares); Domestic Rights
Anton Thuswalder, Salzburger Nachrichten And yes, there are others who are unhappy Sales: German Audiobook
»Menasse’s novel Die Haupstadt as well: the pig farmers who take to the (Der Hörverlag), German
»The committed intellectual (The Capital) is a pleasurable streets with pitchforks in protest of the Bookclub (Büchergilde
reading experience ...« existing trade restrictions blocking the Gutenberg)
reveals himself here to be an profitable export of pigs’ ears to China.
Carsten Otte, SWR2 Zeitgenossen
uncompromising, even passionate
storyteller, […] who handles his Robert Menasse was born in 1954 in Vienna, where he also grew up. He studied German, Philosophy and Political Science in Vienna, Salzburg and
Messina, and received his doctorate in 1980 with a thesis on the character of the outsider in literature. Menasse then spent six years at the University of
São Paulo, first as a lecturer for Austrian literature, then as a guest lecturer at the Institute for Literary Theory. There he held lectures on philosophical and
aesthetic theories, including on Hegel, Lukács, Benjamin and Adorno. Since his return from Brazil in 1988, Robert Menasse has been a writer and essayist
based mainly in Vienna. "Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Melinda Nadj Abonji Marion Poschmann
Tortoise Soldier The Pine Islands
The new novel by German Book Prize and Swiss Book Prize Shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2017
Winner 2010 (Fly Away, Pigeon, translated into 13 languages) A Spiegel Bestseller with 35.000 copies sold
Zoltán Kertész, blue-eyed son of a »half Melinda Nadj Abonji Gilbert Silvester, a lecturer and researcher Marion Poschmann
gypsy« and a day labourer with constantly Tortoise Soldier on beard fashions in film, is in shock. The Pine Islands
changing lovers, is the outsider of his little Novel The previous night he dreamt that his Novel
town in Serbia. When a child, the baker he (Original title: wife was cheating on him. In one sudden, (Original title: Die
Schildkrötensoldat. Roman) Kieferninseln. Roman)
was working for beat Zoltán bloody, and later irrational act he leaves her, gets on the first
173 pages 168 pages
he fell off the back of his father’s speeding available plane, and flies to Japan in order
Clothbound Clothbound
motorcycle. Ever since he has suffered »a to get some distance. Once there he comes
Release: October 2017 Release: September 2017
fluttering of the temples«, and is happiest across the travelogues of the classical poet
sitting in his barn doing crossword puzzles. Bashō. Suddenly Gilbert has a goal: like all
International Sales: International Sales:
When the Yugoslavian civil war breaks out wandering monks he too wants to see the
in 1991, his parents see it as his big chance: France (Métailié), moon over the pine islands. On the tradition- English world
in the People’s Army the »idiot« will become Arabic world rights steeped pilgrims’ route he’ll be able to lose rights (Serpent’s
a man and then a hero. But Zoltán doesn’t (Tammia) himself in nature and leave his inner turmoil Tail), Brazilian
fit in, he asks the wrong questions and, on behind. But before he even begins he meets Portuguese rights
top of it all, stutters when he does. After his Melinda Nadj Abonji was born the student Yosa, himself on the way with (Estação Liberdade),
in 1968 in Becsej, Serbia. At
only friend’s collapse on a pointless training a completely different kind of guide: the France (Stock), Italy
the beginning of the 1970s she
march turns out to be fatal, Zoltán refuses to moved to Switzerland with her
Complete Manual of Suicide. Will Gilbert (Bompiani), Netherlands
play the game anymore with a system that family. She lives as an author be able to talk Yosa out of his plan? And (Ambo|Anthos), Sweden
has given all the power to the strongest. and musician in Zurich. She what metamorphoses will Gilbert the coffee (Norstedts), Czech
was awarded both the German drinker go through himself in the Land of Republic (Paseka);
Through pulsating, musical language and Swiss Book Prize for her Tea …?
and vivid images that evoke the power of 2010 novel Tauben fliegen auf Domestic Rights Sales:
the wild and winglike nature of thought, (Fly Away, Pigeon).
The Pine Islands is a novel of masterful German Audiobook
in Tortoise Soldier Melinda Nadj Abonji lightness: profound, humorous, and excit- (steinbach sprechende
Selected Backlist:
tells the story of the soft resistance imag- ing, it goes straight to the heart. bücher)
Tauben fliegen auf (Jung
ination establishes against the restric- Marion Poschmann, born in
& Jung, 2010) International
tions of a system which recognises only 1969 in Essen, studied German
commands, obedience, and submission.
Sales: English world rights
(Seagull), Spanish world rights
»[A] masterpiece. […] astonishing, Studies, Philosophy, and Slavic
(El Aleph), Chinese simplex how perfectly Poschmann is able Studies and currently lives in
»I could have become something
rights (Shanghai Translation
Publishing House), Russia
to transform her aesthetic credo Berlin. She writes prose, poetry,
and essays.
in the army, a man or a hero (Text), France (Métailié), Italy into art. It is the reason she Recent Prizes and Awards:
or both, but in the end I didn’t
(Voland), Netherlands (Van
Gennep), Sweden (Nordstedts),
has become a central figure in 2017 German Book Prize Longlist,
German contemporary literature
Photo: Heike Steiweg
become either, just a dullard, a 2017 Düsseldorfer Literaturpreis,
Photo: Gaëtan Bally
Finland (Lurra), Poland
lackey, an idiotic boot licker, a
(Czarne), Czech Republic (Jota), through her poems and novels.« 2017 German Prize for Nature
Writing, 2016 Prize of the
Hungary (Magvetö), Serbia
Alexander Cammann, Die Zeit Leipzig Book Fair Nominee,
THUG a GOOD-FOR-NOTHING.« (Laguna), Slovenia (Cankarjeva
2014 Residential Grant of Villa
Zalozba), Bosnia (Connectum),
Turkey (Ayrinti Yayinlari), »[A] finely crafted novel of filigree- Kamogawa, Japan (Goethe
Institute), 2013 German Book
»This is not the language of Macedonia (Goten), Ukraine
like tracery. It is not only clever Prize Shortlist, 2013 Wilhelm
someone who has simply made (Komora), Armenia (Zangak)
[…], it is also imbued with a jovial
Raabe Literary Award, 2012
New York residential grant by
do. This is the eloquence of serenity.« Tobias Lehmkuhl, SZ Deutscher Literaturfonds, 2011
Ernst Meister Prize for Poetry,
someone taking full possession 2011 Peter Huchel Prize
of language itself.«
Verena Mayer, Der TagesspiegelLiterary Fiction Literary Fiction
Martin Prinz Doron Rabinovici
The Invisible Pages Extraterrestials
The quest for a life as a writer Longlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2017
A young boy on a school morning during Martin Prinz The news broadcast one morning by all Doron Rabinovici
break. He turns in a circle, telling himself: The Invisible Pages stations is alarming: an extraterrestrial Extraterrestials
I’m the king of Lilienfeld. It’s the year 1980, Novel power has conquered the world overnight. Novel
the boy is seven years old. His grandfather (Original title: Die Sol, co-founder of an online magazine, is (Original title: Die
unsichtbaren Seiten. Außerirdischen. Roman)
has been serving as the mayor of the town immediately convinced by the validity of the
Roman) 255 pages
for almost thirty years. news item, his wife Astrid is skeptical. After
approx. 220 pages Clothbound
the first global panic has subsided, updates
Clothbound Release: August 2017
Martin Prinz’s new novel begins in a world Release: April 2018 transpire: The aliens are docile; shyly, they
where bullet holes from the World War are avoid all contact; they bring prosperity and
Rights available
still gaping in some of the house façades, peace. There’s just one small catch – they
Rights available
sets in with the gaze of a boy who knows the are asking for humans volunteering to be Doron Rabinovici, writer,
word »politics« long before he knows what it sacrifices. Games are hosted all around essayist, historian, born in
Martin Prinz, born in 1973,
means. This is where nightly parallel worlds studied German Philology and
in order to determine the chosen ones. 1961 in Tel Aviv. He lives in
of reading meet notions of radioactive clouds Theatre Studies. He lives and Participants are promised huge financial Vienna since 1964 and has
been awarded numerous
or the Iron Curtain. In a rapid stretto, the works in Vienna. advantages.
literature prizes, most recently
passages dealing with the writer’s present With a quickly established talk show, Sol’s the Clemens Brentano Prize
alternate with those of a boy growing up in Selected Backlist: online magazine is up and close to the and the Jean Améry Prize, both
Austria and its surroundings. events. But when Sol’s young neighbour in 2002.
Die letzte Prinzessin (2016)
Elliot volunteers for the games, Sol and
How can the inextricable coexistence of Astrid are put to the test. And the questions Selected Backlist:
politics and family, of real events and the become urgent: Who shares the blame, who Andernorts (2010)
stories about them be kept in balance? How profits, who revolts? International Sales: English
can the gaze of a writer be kept in balance world rights (Haus Publishing),
with that of a former king of Lilienfeld? With his unique verve and irony, Doron Italy (La Giuntina), Czech
Republic (Archa), Bulgaria (Elias
Rabinovici, master of the »finely tuned
Canetti Society)
In his grandparents’ house, the writer game of exaggeration« (FAZ), depicts a
society that doesn’t need to see aliens to Ohnehin (2004) International
discovers photographs dating back to
Sales: Bulgaria (Maga Welding)
1995: pictures that no longer contain become spooked by itself.
Suche nach M. (1997)
subjects. Instead, they capture mundane,
International Sales: English
random perspectives. The last photographs world rights (Ariadne), France
his grandfather, already suffering from (Denoël), Italy (La Giuntina),
dementia, has taken. And with that, the path »As if Hieronymus Bosch had Bulgaria (Elias Canetti Society),
of narration is prescribed. stepped through a wormhole into Israel (Zmora Bitan)
the present day …«
Photo: Lukas Beck
Photo: Lukas Beck
Paul Jandl, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The Invisible Pages: a regional
novel in the form of a
writer’s coming-of-age storyLiterary Fiction
Ralf Rothmann
The God of That Summer
»The first thing you’ll do once the war is over
is take dance lessons!«
A child in the war: at the start of 1945, Ralf Rothmann
twelve-year-old Luisa Norff has to flee to the The God of That Summer
countryside with her mother and her older Novel
sister as the bombardment of Kiel has begun. (Original title: Der Gott
jenes Sommers. Roman)
The estate owned by her brother-in-law
approx. 260 pages
Vinzent, a SS-officer, becomes an unexpected
Clothbound
site of freedom: no more school, and as the
Release: May 2018
Allied bombers are flying eastwards and
more and more refugees are arriving, the
International Sales:
young dreamer Luisa is roaming through
English world rights
the woods and tries to understand life from
(Picador), Italy (Neri
this side of the fires: What is this agitation
she feels when she sees the young milker Pozza), Denmark
Walter, who are the prisoners at Klostersee, (Rosinante), Czech
where did her sister Billie disappear to all Republic (Argo);
of a sudden, and where does the wig maker Domestic Rights Sales:
actually get hair from? And as she herself German Audiobook
experiences what all women are afraid (Hörbuch Hamburg)
of these days during Vinzent’s birthday
celebrations, Luisa breaks down under the Ralf Rothmann was born in
1953 in Schleswig and grew up
burden of the inexplicable.
in the Ruhr. He lives in Berlin.
Ralf Rothmann’s great novel To Die Ralf Rothmann is the recipient of Selected Backlist:
in Spring, translated into twenty-five numerous awards, including:
Im Frühling sterben (2015)
languages, was a moving drama at the International Sales: English
edge of the battlefields. The God of Premio San Clemente 2017
world rights (Picador UK; USA/
That Summer is an equally touching Kleist-Preis 2017 Canada sublicense: FSG;
story about the climate of delusion and Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis 2013 English audiobook sublicense:
denunciation during the last months of Tantor), Spanish world rights
Hans-Fallada-Preis 2008
(Libros del Asteroide), Catalan
a war that eclipses everybody’s heart Literaturpreis der Konrad-Adenauer- rights (L’Altra Editorial),
forever and has a twelve-year-old say,
Stiftung 2008 Portuguese rights (Sextante
and rightfully so: »I’ve experienced Editora), France (Denoël),
Max-Frisch-Preis 2006
everything.« Italy (Neri Pozza), Netherlands
Heinrich-Böll-Preis 2005 (Arbeiderspers), Denmark
Wilhelm Raabe Literaturpreis 2004 (Rosinante), Sweden (Thorén &
Lindskog), Norway (Gyldendal
Norsk), Finland (Atena), Poland
(W.A.B.), Czech Republic (Argo),
Slovak Republic (Premedia),
»The haunting portrayal of conflict and carnage in the final Hungary (Magvetö), Bulgaria
weeks of the second world war makes this German novel a (Atlantis), Romania (ART),
Estonia (Hea Lugu), Croatia
modern classic.« Rachel Seiffert, The Guardian about To Die in Spring (Fraktura), Serbia (Laguna),
Slovenia (Goga), Turkey (Yapi
Kredi), Greece (Kastaniotis),
Macedonia (ArtConnect),
Kosovo/Albanian world rights
Photo: Heike Steinweg
(Buzuku); Domestic Rights
Sales: German Audiobook
(Hörbuch Hamburg), German
Entire Radio Reading (NDR)Literary Fiction Literary Fiction
Annika Scheffel Clemens J. Setz
It’s Nice Here Bot
»They have given you a map of the stars to travel the world.« »I’m a synaesthete who experiences even humiliation
in different colours.«
On a day in August, Irma decides to leave Annika Scheffel Imagine you’re a famous writer and are Clemens J. Setz
earth, to turn her back on her parents and It’s Nice Here asked to give an extensive interview. You’re Bot
her friends and become a heroine. In a Novel expected to disclose information about Conversations Without
spectacular television show, she is chosen (Original title: Hier ist es your interests and intellectual preferences, the Author
schön. Roman) Edited by Angelika
to populate a new planet together with the about the premises and backgrounds, the
approx. 350 pages Klammer
mysterious Sam. But then Sam unexpectedly motifs and topics of your large body of work.
Clothbound (Original title: Bot.
changes his mind. He, having grown up Imagine not being able to think of anything
Release: May 2018 Gespräch ohne Autor)
isolated from the rest of the world, flees. to say, nothing whatsoever, try as you might. 166 pages
He finally wants answers to his questions Well, someone else has to talk about you Clothbound
Rights available
about his heritage, his history. And so Sam then. But who is the right person for the job? Release: February 2018
and Irma set out on a journey – not to space, Annika Scheffel, born in Who possesses enough information about
but through dead forests, hostile cities, along Hanover in 1983, is a novelist you and your books? In the case of writer Rights available
empty roads. They discover a broken world and screenwriter. She was Clemens J. Setz, there was an alternative.
of surreal beauty, chased – or steered? – by awarded numerous prizes But in his case, it’s not an actual person Clemens J. Setz was born in
for her work, including the
powers that pull strings in the background answering questions and providing infor- Graz, Austria in 1982.
Phantastik-Prize of the City of
like puppeteers. Wetzlar 2013 and the Robert
mation, but a kind of artificial intelligence,
Selected Backlist:
Gernhardt Prize 2015. She lives his digital diary comprising millions of
As fantastical as it is current, It’s Nice Here with her family in Berlin. characters – the outsourced soul of the Die Stunde zwischen
is a novel about humanity’s delusions of author, in other words: a Clemens-Setz-Bot. Frau und Gitarre (2015)
International Sales: Spanish
grandeur, the exploitation of nature, total Selected Backlist: And all the things the interviewee was
world rights (Malpaso), France
surveillance, the cynicism of reality tv Bevor alles verschwindet unable to verbalise during the conversation (Jacqueline Chambon), Italy
shows – but most of all, it’s a novel about (2013) International Sales: are revealed in surprising candour by the (La Nave di Teseo), Bulgaria
wishing and dreaming, a tender portrait Turkey (Aylak Adam); Domestic work itself, completely detached from its (Paradox)
of two young people and their fight for Rights Sales: German author. Indigo (2012) International
Audiobook (Jumbo/GoyaLit)
freedom and autonomy. Sales: USA (W. W. Norton/
»Alarming and Liveright), UK (Serpent’s Tail),
Chinese complex rights (China
surreally beautiful.« Times), France (Jacqueline
John Burnside, Chambon), Denmark
(Vandkunsten), Czech Republic
Times Literary Supplement about Indigo
(Fra), Hungary (Europa),
»Annika Scheffel is fighting Bulgaria (Funtasy), Croatia
a writer’s battle in her own way. »As evil as Nabokov, as (Hena Com)
To describe people, life, virtuosic as David Foster Die Liebe zur Zeit des
Photo: Heike Steiweg
Photo: Max Zerrahn
Mahlstädter Kindes (2011)
love in a lasting way. Wallace.« Richard Kämmerlings, International Sales: Arabic
Welt am Sonntag world rights (Al’Asreya),
Staying alive and beautiful.« France (Actes Sud/Jacqueline
Volker Weidermann, FAZ Chambon), Denmark (Vand-
»It’s inevitable that Setz will be kunsten), Czech Republic
compared to Thomas Pynchon, (Fra), Hungary (Europa),
Bulgaria (Funtasy), Romania
for his narrative has a similar (Univers), Macedonia (Blesok);
complexity, nuance and, yes, Domestic Rights Sales: German
Audiobook (Griot)
even paranoia.« Kirkus Reviews
about IndigoLiterary Fiction
Maria Stepanova
Post-Memory
»Post-Memory is the most important Russian novel of 2017.« GQ
Montpellier, 1908: the photograph of a Maria Stepanova
young woman by an easel or »Grandma Post-Memory
on the barricades«, as the family calls it. (Original Russian title
Pre-Revolution portraits, postcards from Памяти памяти, published
by Novoe in November
Venice, Montpellier, or Nizhny Novgorod,
2017)
pieces from the »library of a very different
(German working title: In
and lost visual culture«, letters, childhood
memoriam memoriae)
souvenirs – these are the things that the approx. 400 pages
author examines in astonishment. Who were Clothbound
these people who travelled all throughout Release of the German
Europe yet lived in Russia? Who did their edition by Suhrkamp: Fall
best to remain anonymous and who made 2018
little effort to make history seem interesting?
International Sales:
But it is precisely the unspectacular nature
USA/Canada (New
of the find which turns the author’s research
Directions), UK/
in the Russian context into something new:
»Everyone else had a family made up of people Commonwealth
participating in history; mine was made up (Fitzcarraldo),
only of their tenants.« Destined to become Spanish world rights
victims of persecution and repression, they (El Acantilado),
all still managed to survive the 20th century. »Post-Memory by Maria France (Stock),
How was that possible? This is the question Stepanova is far and wide the Italy (Bompiani),
and point of departure for Maria Stepanova’s Netherlands (De Bezige
best book written in Russian
first great work of prose. Bij), Sweden (Nirstedt/
in 2017. Stepanova writes in a
litteratur), Finland
In dialogue with, among others, writers Russian like no one else.« Afisha (Siltala), Bulgaria
like Roland Barthes, W.G. Sebald, Jacques
(Janet 45)
Rancière, and Susan Sontag, imbued with »Maria Stepanova has turned
a passion for thought and a wonderfully the dead into her co-authors. Maria Stepanova, born in
soft, poetic voice derived from sensual as
well as intellectual observations, Stepanova
The result is a book that was Moscow in 1972, is a poet,
essayist, and journalist and
assembles her found pieces into a panorama unknown in Russian before – one of the most visible figures
of an entire age. At its heart lives a large and seeks more of its kind in of contemporary literary life in
Russia. Editor-in-chief of the
family of doctors, architects, librarians, other languages.« Novaja Gazeta online newspaper colta.ru, in
accountants, and engineers, unheroic indi- 2018/2019 Maria Stepanova
viduals who did not attach themselves to any »Not only the most important will take up the Siegfried-
great project but who in uncivilized, violent Unseld guest professorship in
times attempted to live quiet, civilized lives.
book of the year, but of recent Berlin.
years in general. This is true
event – for all those who still
Photo: Valery Shibanov, Seledka newspaper
know how to read.« Echo Moskvy
»A meta novel like this appears only once every ten years – a great
literary reconstruction, which has created a whole new genre and
sounds the relation between memory, time, and history.« LiterraturaYou can also read
