Juergen Boos in Conversation with Helge Malchow and Kerstin Gleba Dark Nights – Contemporary German Crime Fiction The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola – Fifty Years 1968 Dr. Heimat – What I Always Wanted to Say about Germany the frankfurt magazine Books and the book trade in figures Books and the book trade in figures EDITORIAL In the sea of books A pile of all the new books published in A2016 pile of would all the rise new to books some published 2,180 metres in 2016In data for the Germany, change sea compared toof previous yearbooks in brackets 2016 would rise to some 2,180 metres Book consumption: Dear readers, 2016 data for Germany, change compared to previous year in brackets Who reads how often? New releases Book consumption: Who reads how often? Book market sales New releases Old habits die hard, and breaking them sometimes We look at a social phenomenon that forms the by distribution channel First edition Book market sales Daily / several takes time. You now hold in your hands the result focus of myriad new publications: it’s now 50 years Total Firstbook edition production by Salesdistribution in euros channel times a week Total72,820 book production(-4.9%) Daily / several of one such radical break: the frankfurt magazine, since students in Germany and elsewhere took to Sales in euros Online book Other times a week 72,820 (-4.9%) 42% 25% published by the Frankfurter Buchmesse. A liter- the streets in 1968 to call for radical change. We Onlinemarket book salesOther points 1.69 billion (+5.3%) 4,966 (+14.1%) 42% 25% ary magazine whose aim is to inform its readers – recommend contemporary German crime novels market 0.94 salesbillion points (+0.4%) 8,961 (-1.3%) 1.69 billion (+5.3%) Children’s and 4,966Textbooks (+14.1%) 18.2%* 0.94 billion10.1%* (+0.4%) 8,961 (-1.3%) visitors to the German collective stand at inter­ or Krimis, and explore the diverse offerings of Direct from young adult books Textbooks 18.2%* 10.1%* Children’s and national book fairs and professionals in the field German-language museums via their exhibition Buchmesse © Frankfurter publishersDirect from young adult books 19% 16% – about German books, and to encourage their cat­alogues. We introduce new German children’s 1.94 billionpublishers (+1.2%) Mail-order booksellers About once19% a week16% / 1.94 billion (+1.2%) Book clubs 0.16Mail-order billion booksellers(+37.5%) Aboutevery once 14 a weekdays / translation into as many languages as possible. books, young adult fiction and illustrators to watch, Bärbel Becker 20.9%* 1.7%* 13,891 (-1.9%) 0.03 billionBook clubs(-64.5%)0.16 billion (+37.5%) every 14 days One relic from pre-digital days were the cata- and showcase a selection of recently published has been at the Frank­ 20.9%* Total sales 13,891Fiction (-1.9%) 0.03 billion0.3%* (-64.5%) 1.7%* 9.28 Totalbillion sales (+1.0%) Fiction logues that accompanied book collections at our titles in English translation. The magazine also in- furter Buchmesse 0.3%* 9.28 billion (+1.0%) Department stores 40% 59% stands (which have also long been available at cludes a wide-ranging interview with publishers for many years and is 0.13 billion (+16.3%) About once40% a month59% / Department stores Women www.book-fair.com). As interest in these some- Helge Malchow and Kerstin Gleba from Kiepen- the director of the 0.13 billion1.4%* (+16.3%) Aboutless once frequently a month / WomenMen what modest booklets had noticeably decreased, heuer & Witsch, and a profile of four prize-winning department Interna- 1.4%* Men less frequently we put our heads together and came up with the authors. Last but not least, German President tional Projects. Greatest density idea of an entirely new publication. The support Frank-Walter Steinmeier answers five questions Retail book market *share of the total Greatestof bookshops density Retail book market *sharemarket of the total Residentsof bookshops per bookshop and encouragement of our partners in the German about books, and author Saša Stanišić reveals what (not incl. e-commerce) Number of licensing (not incl. e-commerce) market Residents per bookshop 4.39 billion (-0.8%) Göttingen Numberagreements of licensing Federal Foreign Office has played a vital role in the notion of ‘Heimat’, or home, means to him. Licences sold abroad: 4.39 billion (-0.8%) Göttingen agreements 47.3%* Heidelberg Regensburg mostLicences important sold abroad: countries 7,310 (-2.8%) this project, along with the enthusiastic commit- Heidelberg 1 7,310 (-2.8%) 47.3%* 1 Regensburg most important countries ment of all our Frankfurter Buchmesse colleagues. We very much hope you enjoy reading 2 5.946 3 2 5.946 3 This first issue of the frankfurt magazine reflects the frankfurt magazine! 6.251 7.656 E-book buyers* 6.251 7.656 the topics covered by German collective stands E-book buyers* at over 20 book fairs around the world in 2018. Bärbel Becker China Czech Republic 38% 62% China 38% 62% 1,359 (share 18.6%) Czech Republic 3.9 million Men Women 1,359 (share 18.6%) 357 (share 4.9%) 3.4 million 3.92015 million Men Women 357 (share 4.9%) 3.4 million 2013 2015 *Private use, not Spain 2013 incl.*Private textbooks use, not and 384 (shareSpain 5.3%) 2.4 million referenceincl. textbooks books and 384 (share 5.3%) Turkey 2.4 million 3.9 million reference books France Turkey 2012 3.9 million France 308 (share 4.2%) 2012 2014 3.8 million 375 (share 5.1%) 308 (share 4.2%) CONTENT 2014 3.8 million Industries in 375 (share 5.1%) 2016 Industries in 2016 comparison comparison Sales in euros Sales in euros Travel 3 Editorial | 4 Best of Frankfurt 2017 | 5 Five Questions to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Travel 5.7% Music industry 5.7% Federal President of Germany | 6 Juergen Boos in Conversation with Helge Malchow and Music industry (+0.2%) 13.2 million 1.59 billion (+3.0%) (+0.2%) 13.2 million 1.59 billion (+3.0%) Kerstin Gleba | 16 Authors, Books, Awards Books People Are Talking About 2012 21.5 million 2012 21.5 million Specialist media 2013 Specialist media Book market 2013 3.43 billion (+2.4%) Book market Product categories: 27.0 million 3.43 billion (+2.4%) 9.28 billion (+1.0%) Product categories: E-books 27.0 million 9.28 billion (+1.0%) share of book market sales E-books 2015 share of book market sales Non-fiction sold* 24.8 million 2015 Non-fiction 10 Dark Nights 20 The Children of sold* 24.8 million 9.8% 2014 9.8% 2014 (-2.7%)(-2.7%) Contemporary German Computer and video games Marx and Coca-Cola *Private use, not incl. textbooks and 28.1 million Computer and video games *Private use, not incl. textbooks and 28.1 million FilmFilm industryindustry reference books 2.13 billion (+7.0%) Crime Fiction Fifty Years 1968 reference books 20162016 2.802.80 billionbillion (-6.9%) (-6.9%) TextbooksTextbooks and and study aids HowHow much much do do study aids new books cost? new books cost? 10.9%10.9% 26 When Pictures Become Books Art Exhibition Catalogues (+6.1%) 11.51 euros ScienceScience (+6.1%) 11.51 euros 16.3016.30 euros euros 30 Fifty Books That Travel Selected Translations | 36 Five International Locations in German Novels (-1.8%)(-1.8%) 11.1% 17.23 euros (-3.7%)(-3.7%) 11.1% 17.23 euros (-1.5%)(-1.5%) Book Heroes 2017 Reading Places in Frankfurt | 37 Five Promising Openings to a Novel €€ (+0.1%) (+0.1%) €€ Self-helpSelf-help The Five Most Beautiful Books of 2017 | 38 A Forest of Books Reading Tips for Parents and Kids Children’s and €€ Children’s and young adult books Children’s and Children’s and young adult books 14.5%14.5% 42 Dr. Heimat What I Always Wanted to Say about Germany | 42 Imprint youngyoung adult adult books books FictionFiction 16.5% (-0.1%)(-0.1%) FictionFiction (hardcover) (hardcover)(hardcover) TextbooksTextbooks (hardcover) (+9.0%)(+9.0%) 31.5%31.5% 43 Favorite Places of German-speaking Authors (hardcover)(hardcover) (-0.5%)(-0.5%)

©© Börsenblatt. Börsenblatt. This This poster poster was was included included as as aa supplementsupplement inin BörsenblattBörsenblatt, Issue 31, publishedpublished 33 AugustAugust 2017.2017. TheThe information information is is taken taken from from Buch Buch und und Buchhandel Buchhandel inin ZahlenZahlen 2017 (Books and Bookselling FiguresFigures 2017)2017) fromfrom the the German German Book Book TradeTrade Association Association and and is is available available online online at at www.mvb-online.dewww.mvb-online.de Editors:Editors: Sabine Sabine Cronau, Cronau, Jana Jana Lippmann, Lippmann, Sandra Sandra Schüssel.Schüssel. DesignDesign and Illustration: Sabine Timmann, www.infografik-hamburg.dewww.infografik-hamburg.de BEST OF FRANKFURT 2017 FIVE QUESTIONS TO FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER Federal President of Germany

1 | Which German classic made a lasting 1 2 3 impression on you? Franz Kafka. No one else has described the state of our modern lives as precisely as he did. dpa / 2 | What types of books do you read to unwind and how do you choose your Marc Jacquemin; Jacquemin; Marc / reading material?

When I read, it is important to me to learn a new von Jutrczenka © Bernd way to look at my own life. I often choose books Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in discussion with the authors that analyse questions of relevance to society from Daniel Kehlmann (l.), Eva Menasse (2nd from right) and Salman Rushdie 4 5 6 (r.) on ‘Freedom of Thought in Troubled Times’ during his conference an artistic point of view. Daniel Kehlmann’s novel series ‘Forum Bellevue – On the Future of Democracy’ held at Schloss Tyll is a recent example, as is Das Glück des Zau­ Bellevue in Berlin. berers by Sten Nadolny, which I read a couple of Anett Weirauch; 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13: © FBM 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, Anett Weirauch; / weeks ago. range of ways to see the world. And last but not Markus Kirchgessner Markus / 3 | In your opinion, what role do writers least, literature is always an invitation to engage in 7 8 play today? dialogue. Bernd Hartung; 2: © FBM Hartung; Bernd / 11 What makes writers, like artists in general, special 9 10 4, 5, 8, 11: © FBM 1: © FBM is that they feel what moves a society. They have 5 | What would you like to see German 13 the ability to find words to describe the diversity writers do as regards furthering under­ and complexity of our world, our dreams, incon- standing in Europe? gruities and what is ineffable in human experience. As Federal President, it is far from me to tell writ- 12 They hold up a mirror to us as a society. They use ers or artists what to do. In our open societies, they their intellectual independence to remind us of our are free to choose their own objectives. At the actual purpose as beings who have been endowed same time, as a passionate reader, I see writers and with reason. To quote Imre Kertész, literature ex- artists as particularly blessed. Their works allow plains existence to existence. It helps us to recog- them to create a feeling of community and to nise the big picture and to move from understand- highlight what unites us, including our intellectual ing to action. and cultural European identity. Anti-European movements combine politics with a narrow defini- 4 | What can politicians learn tion of culture and focus on what divides us. They from writers? place their own nation, language and culture above 1 Bestselling British author Paula Hawkins in an interview at the Business Club. | 2 Conquering the whole city: the BOOK FEST. | 3 The most exciting overnight They can learn to put themselves in another per- others and play one homeland off against another. accommodation in Frankfurt: the Kein & Aber Tower at the fairground. | 4 The Hungarian author Péter Nádas during a television interview on the Blue Sofa. 5 The Franco-­Moroccan author Leïla Slimani at the ‘Weltempfang’ stage, centre for politics, literature and translation. | 6 French President Emmanuel Macron and son’s place – irrespective of whether we are talking However, division does not bring about coexist- German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the opening of the Guest of Honour pavilion. | 7 Legendary German musician Udo Lindenberg at the Open Stage, Agora. about a character from literature or a real person – ence and understanding. The devastation of two 8 Bestselling US author Dan Brown at the presentation of his new thriller Origin. | 9 The British-­Georgian singer Katie Melua at the Guest of Honour handover and to expand their own viewpoint to include other world wars, to which our united Europe is the an- ceremony from France (2017) to Georgia (2018). | 10 Brian May, Queen’s lead guitarist, presents his autobiography. | 11 Master of the historical novel: bestselling British author Ken Follett. | 12 ‘Francfort en français – Frankfurt auf Französisch’ (Frankfurt in French): the official slogan of the Guest of Honour 2017. people’s experiences. Literature can teach toler- swer, should always sound a warning to us for the 13 Fashion show at the creative business festival THE ARTS+. ance and empathy by showing us the enormous future. ◊

4 5 JUERGEN BOOS IN CONVERSATION WITH JB: Kiepenheuer & Witsch is part of a rather liberal JB: Many publishers rely on multiple imprints to help The publishing house left-wing tradition, yet at the same time you are them credibly present different genres and empha- Kiepenheuer & Witsch considered a literary publishing house. How would ses within the same publishing house. Hanser, for was founded in you define your profile as a publisher? example, has bought Zsolnay in order to have a more Cologne in 1951. Its Helge Malchow and HM: We see ourselves as a literary publishing popular voice. Would KiWi ever consider doing that? list focuses on literary house, though our ratio of nonfiction to fiction is KG: Our strength is that everything appears under works by German about fifty-fifty. Our nonfiction is primarily polit- one imprint. Our crime writers sit comfortably and international Kerstin Gleba ical, while our fiction titles are divided into literary alongside our literary authors. The trade has re- authors, political and and genre fiction. sponded well to our thrillers, because it knows they popular nonfiction, Good literature, critical essays and popular nonfiction – KG: Genre includes Frank Schätzing or Jean-Luc are of a high quality. We release 100 titles a year: and genre fiction. since 1951, this has been the focus of the list of the Cologne-based Bannalec, for example. Yet our list is predominant- one imprint is enough. Kiepenheuer & Witsch ly literary fiction – with authors such as Heinrich JB: You’re in a transitional phase at the moment has been part of the publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch. Böll, Eva Menasse, Feridun Zaimoglu, Christian since there is going to be a new publisher at the helm Georg von Holtzbrinck The Director of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, Juergen Boos, Kracht, Thomas Hettche, Uwe Timm, Katja Lange- soon. Will the way things are done change radically publishing group in conversation with the publisher and his successor. Müller and many others. or are you looking more to ensure continuity? since 2002. In 2009, JB: An anecdote has been making the rounds in pub- KG: I think we would be well advised to find the the Berlin subsidiary lishing circles: a few years ago, the management right balance between starting over and continui- Galiani was estab- consultancy firm McKinsey allegedly advised col­ ty. Helge Malchow and I have already been work- lished. leagues at S. Fischer Verlag only to publish the ‘right ing together closely for over 20 years. We’ve al- books’ from now on. How does a publisher go about ways had intense discussions about our list – with finding the ‘right books’? all our other colleagues as well, because for impor- tant books at KiWi we get all departments on board from the start. Since Helge will remain ac- One of the publishing The ‘sure-fire tive as an editor for us and will keep working with house’s most impor- bestseller’ is a tricky certain authors, continuity is a given. tant authors is Nobel HM: Kerstin has been editor-in-chief with us for laureate Heinrich Böll. business years and has always been much more active in His works have print certain areas than I have. Networking within the runs in the millions international rights market is one of her great around the world. The KG: A ‘right book’ has always something unique strengths, for example. There won’t be any funda- same is true of the about it. This is the case in literature when an au- mental changes, but obviously she will set some collected works of thor’s voice makes me see the world in a new way. new priorities, which I’m very much looking for- Erich Maria Remarque After all, the editor is always the first reader: if ward to seeing. and the crime novelist reading a text touches off something in her be- Frank Schätzing, cause the perspective is new or the characters are whose Die Tyrannei des depicted in a surprising way, then she begins to ask We need Schmet­ter­lings is due herself who else might also be interested in it. out in April 2018. That’s how it starts. to develop a new, HM: The ‘sure-fire bestseller’ is a tricky business. creative approach, Every year, Kiepen- Un­certainty about how the market will react is heuer & Witsch sells much greater today than it used to be; virtually partic­ u­­­ larly­ foreign rights to nothing is predictable anymore. This has to do when it comes many of the books by with the development of the media and the shift its German-language in society toward individuality. It used to be possi- to sales authors, including ble to tell who voted for the Christian Democrats Jean-Luc Bannalec, and who for the Social Democrats, where some- Alina Bronsky, one bought his clothes, what the overall national JB: How important is internationality for a pub­ Volker Kutscher, mood was. lisher? And how can you be active at the interna- Katja Lange-Müller, KB: Using a scattershot approach to try and appeal tional level? Do you have your own scouts? Eva Menasse, to absolutely everyone is the wrong way to go KG: Yes, we work with scouts. But we also get Joachim Meyerhoff, about things. As a publisher, we have to focus on many of our recommendations from our foreign Norman Ohler, the books we want to do, those we believe in. These au­thors, including Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Uwe Timm and

© for all photographs in this article by Boris Breuer © for all photographs in this article by Boris are the books we have to fight for. Foer, Zadie Smith, Arnon Grünberg and Don Volker Weidermann.

6 7 younger generations of readers. Frank Schätzing’s new novel, for example, which I’m just editing now, is exactly the right book for young people who grew up in the digital age. KG: Books, as both an age-old and extremely up- to-date medium, are acquired culture – they won’t disappear. The form and tone of address are impor­ tant of course, but no medium is better at reflect- ing on the present than books. Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming portals are all here to stay, but so are books. HM: Provided, that is, that nothing topples the two pillars on which our book culture rests: copyright and fixed book prices. No other place has as much cultural variety as we do; Germany really is a bea- Helge Malchow, as a DeLillo, with whom we are basically in equally con in this respect – and globally, at that. typical member of the close contact as we are with our German authors. JB: One last question: Can a publishing house or 1968 generation, was And then of course there are also our personal publisher change society? very politically active contacts with international publishers and editors, HM: Maybe not change outright, but it can make as a student. After who tell us about the interesting manuscripts they people think or spur societal debate. Uncle Tom’s working as a German happen to have on their desks at the moment and Cabin, for example, provided a very strong impetus teacher, he came to what they are going to make an offer on. for the emancipation of black Americans. Kiepenheuer & Witsch JB: Buzzword ‘industry crisis’: over the past five KG: And Fire and Fury made people hope, at least as a trainee in 1983. years, in Germany alone, we’ve lost a significant for a moment, that Donald Trump might be im- As editor and later number of book buyers. In the long term, declining peached … No, a publishing house as an entity cer- editor-in-chief, he did customer traffic in city centres threatens not just tainly can’t change the world, but what we can do a lot to shape the booksellers, but the retail market as a whole. What is is to shoot very carefully aimed arrows into society profile of the publish- your take on the current market situation? that then trigger processes of change. ing house. In 2002, HM: The trick is to do it at the right moment – he replaced Reinhold then a single book can play an extremely active Neven DuMont as No medium role in a tectonic shift in social conditions. That’s publisher. how it was back in the seventies, eighties, with is better at reflecting Heinrich Böll and Günter Wallraff: without their Kerstin Gleba came to on the present than books – Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum Kiepenheuer & Witsch and Ganz unten, with Wallraff as ‘Ali the Turk’ – in 1995, after earning books abuses such as manipulation by the mass media or a degree in literary the exploitation of migrant workers never would translation. As a young have captured as much attention. The sale of mil- editor, she began to HM: We shouldn’t let an apocalyptic mood take lions of copies of these books led to legislative build up the house’s hold in this respect – that’s not in keeping with the changes, people reconsidered contract work – job literary list. In 2002, reality. But we need to develop a new, creative security was introduced, in other words. We’ve had she took over as approach, particularly when it comes to sales. It more than one book in our publishing house that editor-in-chief from used to be that 95 per cent of all titles were sold has had a direct socio-political effect. Helge Malchow. With through intermediaries; today, it’s maybe 40 per JB: So the answer is yes? his departure at the cent. That means we have to rethink and reorgan- HM: In an era in which every conceivable moral, end of 2018, she will ise our distribution departments, with more staff political and individual-rights related sensitivity is become the new with a specialised focus, key accounts for chain being mobilised to restrict artistic freedom and publisher of Kiepen- bookstores and for Amazon, and so on. Another freedom of political opinion, it is once again our job heuer & Witsch. challenge is trying to increase the number of as book publishers to preserve and expand the field younger readers. To reach this target group, we of public communication as much as possible. In have to think about how to present our books, but that regard the answer is: in the best case scenario, above all what themes we address, which authors yes. we publish and what types of books speak to ◊

8 9

CONTEMPORARY GERMAN CRIME FICTION Dark Nights German crime fiction may have had a slow start, but today it’s thriving – you’ll find everything from lighthearted regional crime fiction to serious historical thrillers and gritty dystopian crime. If ever there was a time to discover the Krimi, it’s now.

book-fair.com / crimefiction More information hankfully, the days of having to defend crime novels’ – allowed a fresh crop of writers to about the German crime fiction – usually by emerge. Newer publishers like Emons and Gmei­ featured titles can mut­tering ‘it’s better than you think’ – ner were able to increase their output and consol- be found here. are long gone. But some of those early idate their position in the market. Established pub- criticisms did contain a grain of truth. Slow to de- lishing houses like Rowohlt and Ullstein began velop after the cultural isolation and devastation integrating their crime fiction into paperback se- of the Nazi era, it wasn’t until the late 1960s ries with broad appeal, rather than more special- that German crime fiction found something like ised ones. There was a bit of grumbling about an identity of its own. Inspired by Sjöwall and ‘over-saturation’, but once the fuss died down and

Wahlöö’s ‘Martin Beck’ series, the Soziokrimi or sales of the Krimi took off – helped by the com- Scherhaufer © Hans ‘social crime novel’ emerged at the same time as mercial success of international crime authors like iconic TV crime drama Tatort and its East German Donna Leon and Henning Mankell – the genre had German Crime counterpart Polizeiruf 110, which also tackled so- a solid foundation on which to build. Fiction Award 2018 cial themes. International audiences, however, had Today, German crime fiction is a picture of health. Oliver Bottini, author to wait until the 1990s to become properly ac- Spanning everything from bestselling murder of Zen and the Art quainted with German crime, and then it was later, mysteries to more avant-garde works, it embraces of Murder and other edgier writers like Pieke Biermann and Jakob Ar- virtually every subgenre and literary style, from highly acclaimed crime jouni who were the first to break through. the simple to the sophisticated. As in all publishing novels, has been The German book market only truly discovered sectors, there are trends and micro-trends, ebbs honoured again with home-grown crime fiction at the beginning of the and flows. The resulting diversity makes it almost the German Crime 2000s. Low overheads played a big role: trans­ impossible to predict future directions for the Fiction Award for his lation costs fell away and, to begin with at least, genre. Ultimately, what connects German crime latest book Der Tod author advances were relatively modest. In addi- fiction is its shared language, rather than a com- in den stillen Winkeln

© iStock by Getty Images by Getty © iStock tion, the growing boom in Regiokrimis – ‘regional mon setting or specifically ‘German’ themes. des Lebens (Dumont).

10 SYNDIKAT is a Entertaining and German-language­ Robert Hültner crime fiction authors’ gritty – historical Lazare und der tote Mann group with 750 mem- crime fiction am Strand bers – from aspiring © privat (btb) newcomers to estab- continues to boom A corpse on the beach of Sète. Can lished bestselling The Swiss writer Inspector Lazare authors. Friedrich Glauser get to the bottom (1896–1938) was the The same applies to the most recent wave of Ger- of the (deadly) plot of backroom creator of one of man historical crime fiction. Volker Kutscher’s use deals, corruption the first detective of a model pioneered by Philip Kerr, Richard and deception? characters in German-­ Birkefeld and Göran Hachmeister shows how past language fiction. publishing successes can help generate new liter- CRIMINALE is a ary formulas. In turn, Kutscher’s ‘Gereon Rath’ se- Robert Brack crime fiction festival ries has inspired further crime novels set in the Die Morde von St. Pauli with over 200 au- first half of the 20th century. As we know from (Ullstein) thors organised by Boeckheler © Christoph French and Latin American authors, crime fiction Hamburg in the SYNDIKAT, and held A peek at the shelves of the crime fiction bookstore is a good medium for thinking deeply about history Golden Twenties: Wendeltreppe in Frankfurt am Main a series of murders in a different location and articulating the forgotten or the repressed. keeps St. Pauli’s every year. Serious historical thrillers like those of Robert underworld on ten- Bong, alias Jean-Luc Bannalec, has successfully Brack, set in Weimar-era Hamburg, or Andreas terhooks. A crime Regional crime novel in the tra­ transposed the concept to Brittany, and fellow Kollender’s Kolbe, about an unsung resistance hero dition of Babylon The Friedrich Glauser fiction has a German authors are busy claiming all manner of during the Nazi years, form an important part of Berlin. Prize has been award- few surprises up tourist destinations as settings for their work. Germany’s ongoing engagement with the past. ed annually since 1987 But specific local settings can also be used to com- by SYNDIKAT for its sleeve municate serious themes – as Oliver Bottini skil- the categories ‘Best fully demonstrates in Der Tod in den stillen Winkeln The one to Zoë Beck Novel’, ‘Best Chil- des Lebens. This novel, recently awarded the Ger- Die Lieferantin (Suhrkamp) dren’s or YA Crime This argument holds true despite the apparent in- man Crime Fiction Award 2018, turns the bru­ The non-monetary watch: dystopian Ellie Johnson knows Novel’, ‘Best First fluence of the Regiokrimi. The use of this market- tality of industrialised­ agriculture into an exciting German Crime Fiction crime fiction she is in danger. Novel’, ‘Best Crime ing term often elides major differences, blurring thriller whose locations, Mecklenburg-Western Award (Deutscher She runs the hot- test – and also Fiction Short Story’ the distinctions between relatively unsophisticated Pomerania and the Romanian Banat, play a crucial Krimi Preis) is awarded is on the rise most illegal – start- and ‘Glauser novels – whose regional German settings mirror role in the narrative. Provincial Franconia of the annu­ally by a jury up in London: Honorary Award’. popular holiday destinations to maximise sales – 1970s is equally fundamental to the horrific tale of composed of literary through her app, you can order and more ambitious works. The former often have abuse in Ute Cohen’s Satans Spielfeld. Such works scholars, critics and Looking slightly further down the line, we can the highest quality comic elements, as illustrated by the thigh-slap- show how misguided it is to dismiss all regional booksellers, which see a trend for dystopian scenarios emerging in drugs … ping Bavarian crime novels of Rita Falk and au- crime fiction as trivial. The ‘regional’ isn’t always selects three winners contemporary German crime. The novels Score thor-duo Volker Klüpfel and Michael Kobr, or purely ‘regional’, and every novel should be judged each in the categories and Droh­nenland, by Martin Burckhardt and Tom Klaus-Peter Wolf’s East Frisian crime series. Jörg on its own merits. ‘national’ and ‘interna- Hil­len­brand respectively, helped to pave the way Christian tional’. for this development. Max Annas’s latest book, v. Ditfurth Finsterwalde, which shows racism triumphing in Giftflut (carl’s books) The Crime Fiction Germany, voices anxieties about the current polit- A bomb attack on Bestseller List ical climate. And Zoë Beck’s Die Lieferantin de- the Oberbaum Franz Dobler Sabine Trinkaus Oliver Bottini (KrimiBestenliste)­ picts a post-­Brexit England riven by class conflict Bridge shakes Berlin. Bridges are Ein Schlag ins Seelenfeindin Der Tod in den presents the 10 best and the growth of links between politics and or- Gesicht (Emons) stillen Winkeln also blown up in (Heyne) The psychiatrist des Lebens international crime ganised crime. Paris and London. Simone Thomas Nadja Schönberg­­ (Dumont) novels of the month. German crime fiction is also becoming increasing- There’s no doubt about it: someone has already been finds herself in a ‘Oliver Bottini’s Its jury is com­posed ly politicised in various ways. Argument Verlag through a lot, conundrum. Her new book is like is at war with so the last thing new patient is sup- autumn: gloomy, of 19 literary critics with its literary imprint Ariadne specialises in fem- Europe. she needs is to be posedly suffering dismal, barren. and crime fiction inist crime writing by authors like Monika Geier, threatened by a from delusions­ Yet the way its specialists from Ger- Christine Lehmann and Merle Kröger, while Polar stalker too. A case of persecution –­ deadly entangle- for ex-cop Robert but what if her ment unfolds is many, Austria and Verlag is launching a new ‘German Polar’ series Fallner. delusions are real? enthralling.’ RBB Switzerland. that draws on the French ‘polar’ tradition of police

12 13 novels and political noir. Nearly every German A vibrant cultural publisher’s list features crime authors writing on the major political issues of the day. They include scene with Krimi Christian von Ditfurth at carl’s books, Ullrich prizes, bookshops Effenhauser at :transit, Norbert Horst at Gold- mann, Yassin Musharbash at KiWi and Leonhard F. and festivals Seidel at Nautilus. Nor should we forget the mavericks who infuse high-quality German crime with character and di- earning opportunities. Specialist bookshops like versity: Friedrich Ani, the melancholy creative; Hammett in Berlin or Wendeltreppe in Frankfurt Andreas Pflüger, author of classy action novels; supply expert advice. Das SYNDIKAT, a profes- the thoughtful Matthias Wittekindt; the calm, sional association for German-language crime quiet, lethally precise Regine Nössler; and more writers, recently celebrated its thirtieth anniver­ experimental authors like Anne Kuhlmeyer and sary. There are crime fiction prizes of varying im- Uta-Maria Heim. portance, and influential Krimi bestseller lists Names like these are proof of the fact that almost compiled by radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk every important publisher in the German-speak- and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. ing world is committed to fostering German crime Knowl­­­edgeable discussions about crime fiction fiction. This is as true of Suhrkamp, Klett-Cotta, take place on radio, TV and in almost all the lead- Galiani and Hanser / Zsolnay as it is of established ing newspapers. Crime events are frequently held imprints in the Random House Group, publishing for fans, like the Munich Crime Festival (Münch- companies such as Ullstein, Piper and Rowohlt, ner Krimifest), and for professionals working in the and smaller, more specialised publishers like Pen- field, such as the ‘Making Krimis’ (‘Krimis Machen’) dragon, KBV and Grafit. Indeed, it’s hard to find convention. The online magazine CrimeMag pro- any area of German publishing that’s a completely vides a forum for international reflections on crime crime-free zone. Steidl, Culturbooks and Konkurs- fiction, and many prominent critics also run their buch may only publish crime every so often, but own blogs. when they do, their titles are well worth the wait. So, in a nutshell, German crime fiction has come a Thomas Wörtche Add to this an extremely well-developed crime long way. It has moved from the margins to the is considered one of sector infrastructure. Countless TV series and very centre of German literature and publishing. Germany’s most spin-offs­ like Radio Tatort offer audiences multi- Or as we crime reviewers like to say – it’s a hit with important­ thriller media access to crime drama and boost authors’ readers and critics alike. ◊ critics. He has written © X Filme Creative Pool Entertainment GmbH The German crime series for a wide range of Babylon Berlin is based publications, including on Volker Kutscher’s novels featuring Detective DIE ZEIT, Süddeutsche Inspector Gereon Rath. Zeitung and Playboy. He is currently editing a series of thrillers for Suhrkamp.

Monika Geier Heinz Strunk Hans Schefczyk Alles so hell Regina Nössler Der goldene Das Ding drehn da vorn Uta-Maria Heim Schleierwolken Handschuh (Transit) (Argument) Toskanische (Konkursbuch) (Rowohlt) The former mem- A policeman is Beichte Elisabeth feels like In 1976, the serial bers of a military shot to death. In (Gmeiner) she’s being fol- killer of women cell want to ensure a brothel in Frank- A beautiful spot lowed: a former Fritz Honka their survival with furt. And, of all on the coast of girlfriend suddenly achieved gruesome one last coup. people, it’s Chief Tuscany becomes shows up at her notoriety: he picked A highly political Inspector Bettina the setting for a door, threatening up all his victims thriller set in Bar- Boll’s ex-partner sophisticated her. And a dark at the Ham­burg celona, Toulouse, and ex-almost-boy- intrigue within the secret pushes its pub Zum Goldenen Cologne and Paris. friend. Catholic Church. way to the surface. Handschuh …

14 15 BOOKS PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT The novel Die Hauptstadt, published in autumn 2017 – the first novel ever about the European Union – benefits from the essay that preceded it. Menasse has written an entertaining and intelli- gent book in which he portrays the workings of Mariana Leky Favourite Book of the Brussels machine in such a way that the reader Was man von hier the Independents aus sehen kann Authors, Books, Awards develops a genuine interest in it. The fact that Since 2014, Inde­pen­ (Dumont) the novel won the coveted German Book Prize ‘A wonderful, smart, dent Bookstore Week With their novels, essays and poems, Robert Menasse, for best German-lan­guage novel – selected from amusing and (WUB) has been profound­ book.’ Mariana Leky, Sasha Marianna Salzmann and Jan Wagner are among the most a­mong all the novels published in a given year, by a Deutschlandfunk held in Germany every outstanding German-language authors working today. jury whose members change annually – also helped Kultur November. In 2017, make Die Hauptstadt one of the bestselling books nearly 600 bookstores of the season. nominated 188 new fiction titles for ‘Favourite Book of the or his new novel, Vienna native Robert Mariana Leky Independents’. The Menasse moved to Brussels. The multiple Liebesperlen three ‘favourite books’ award-winning 63-year-old author wanted (Dumont) to date are by F With the ability to to write about the EU, so he rented a room in the find the comedy in Dörte Hansen, German Book Prize Belgian capital for a few years to study the Euro-­ tragedy, Mariana Benedict Wells and, The German Book politicians up close. Before this book came out, Leky shows a young most recently, woman navigating Prize, established in Robert Menasse (whose first novel was published the tricky transition Mariana Leky. 2005, is awarded in 1988) was best known as an essayist whose work to adulthood. annually to the best probed deeply into Austrian society.

German-language Now Brussels. ‘I was curious: what sort of people © Rafaela / Suhrkamp Proell ‘novel of the year’. are these, the ones who draw up the framework for

The winner receives the EU? Do they fit the cliché of ivory-tower Hauser © Franziska 25,000 euros. bureaucrats behind mirrored-glass façades?’ Like Robert Menasse Mariana Leky Authors who have won an ethnologist, Menasse examined the Brussels Die Herren­ the German Book bureaucrats and found himself debunking some of The world’s first novel about the EU: ausstatterin Mariana Leky (Dumont) Prize to date include the clichés about the supposedly ‘labyrinthine’ and in Brussels, everything converges – ‘An absurdly lovely Uwe Tellkamp, Lutz ‘paralysing’ EU administration. and a pig runs through the streets. Love and death in the Westerwald: and funny story Seiler, Terézia Mora Yet initially the material refused to come together whenever an okapi appears in about the worries of ghosts, space and, most recently, as a novel. ‘After a while in Brussels I noticed that Selma’s dreams, someone in town dies the food and adjustable Robert Menasse. I tend to fall into an essayistic tone when I write. next day. Who will it be this time? hearts.’ STERN I thought to myself: This isn’t a novel, this is like a Wut der Bürger und der Friede Europas, came out in thesis. So I decided that I would write the essay 2012. In it, the author convincingly celebrates the first, to get it out of my system’, says Menasse. European Union’s frequently vilified civil ser­vants The essay, entitled Der Europäische Landbote. Die as highly qualified and dedicated idealists. othing about the okapi seems to fit to- back their letters of confession – which are em- gether properly. The unusual creature barrassing to themselves and others. N looks like an odd cross between a zebra It is as though Leky is trying to show gently, empa- and a wild horse. Selma dreams about an animal thetically and with kind irony: that’s just how it is like this, driving an entire town in Germany’s Wes­ with people, they’re inconsistent, volatile, fickle – terwald region wild with fear. Because whenever yet loveable all the same. ‘When I take on heavy Robert Menasse Selma, whose granddaughter is the first-person themes like love and death it helps me a great deal Robert Menasse Robert Menasse Die Vertreibung Die Hauptstadt Don Juan de la aus der Hölle narrator Luise in Mariana Leky’s new novel Was to strike a light tone. I think it’s easier to penetrate (Suhrkamp) Mancha (Suhrkamp) man von hier aus sehen kann, sees an okapi, it’s a these themes if you occasionally write about them ‘In Die Haupt- (Suhrkamp) At a 25-year high sign that someone is going to die within the next with humour, from their tragicomic side’, says the stadt, Robert The portrait of a school reunion, Menasse balances generation, the there is happy com- 24 hours. Yet when that period of time has elapsed 44-year-old author. on a high-wire post-1968 society. placency – until and everyone is still alive, all of the town’s inhabit- Literature’s big themes – love and death – were stretched between ‘One of the most Viktor confronts his ants descend on the postman. There’s no way for also at the heart of her previous novel, Die Herren­ thriller and social entertaining light former classmates novel …’ Süd- reads of recent with their teachers’ any of them to know that death has merely been ausstatterin. With that humorous love triangle, she deutsche Zeitung years.’ DIE ZEIT Nazi past. delayed, so they ask the postman to give them proved what a wonderfully light touch she is able

16 17 Sasha Marianna Salzmann Außer sich Jan Wagner Jan Wagner Jan Wagner (Suhrkamp) Selbstporträt mit Regentonnen- Der verschlossene ‘My name begins Bienenschwarm variationen Raum with the first letter Georg Büchner Prize (Hanser Berlin) (Hanser Berlin) (Hanser Berlin) of the alphabet – An anthology as In this poetry col­ The finest literary it is a scream, a Since 1951, the self-portrait:­ lec­tion Jan Wagner essays: on libraries, stagnation, a fall- Büchner Prize has Jan Wagner brings takes the poetic bookshops, poetry, ing, a promise been awarded by together his best measure of the art and the epipha- of a B and a C that work from one and world – from black- ny of a rosemary can’t exist in a the German Academy a half decades thorn in the frost bush in a Swabian history devoid of for Language and of poetic creation. to donkeys in Sicily. garden. causality.’ Poetry and is con­ sidered the most renowned and lucra- tive prize (worth to bring to heavy subjects. Ever since then, this lates from the English. His poems, which have asha Marianna Salzmann is one of today’s ing flashbacks, Salzmann writes about the major 50,000 euros) avail­ writer has been one to watch for her tender explo- been translated into some 30 languages, regularly hottest young playwrights. Some even con- dramas of the 20th and 21st centuries – and, again able to German- rations of relationships and emotional states. win awards. So it seems rather fitting that last au- S sider the 32-year-old, who was born in and again, about starting over in new places and Literary Advancement language authors. Mariana Leky isn’t one of those writers who has tumn he also won the Georg Büchner Prize – Ger- Volgograd in Russia and grew up in Moscow, the new configurations. ◊ Award of the Jürgen Büchner Prize laure- been showered with accolades. But that never many’s most important literary award, worth ‘German-language dramatist of the moment’. In Ponto Foundation ates to date include made this native of Cologne, who has been living in 50,000 euros. any event, Studio R , which she directs at Berlin’s The prize, awarded Paul Celan, Berlin for some time now, want to stop writing. In This Berliner by choice, who admits to always Maxim Gorki Theatre, is considered one of the annually since 1978 for Friedrich Dürrenmatt, October 2017, her most recent novel was voted carrying ‘20 possibilities for poems’ around with most exciting venues for experimental theatre in an outstanding literary Elfriede Jelinek ‘Favorite Book of the Independents’ by hundreds him, once described his way of working as fol- Germany. début, is named after and, most recently, of booksellers from around Germany. For Mariana lows: ‘I collect for a long time, giving something a Based on the writer’s early years, one hardly would the banker Jürgen Jan Wagner. Leky, who once wanted to become a bookseller chance to mature. There’s nothing worse than have predicted such a career. In 1995, Sasha Mari­ Ponto, who was assas­ herself, this is a special distinction since it comes haste. I’d rather remain dissatisfied for a long time anna Salzmann arrived with her family in Germany sinated by the Red from, as she puts it, ‘the book’s first readers’. than slam the door too soon and miss the possibil- as a 10-year-old Jewish ‘quota refugee’. She got Army Faction terrorist ities that lie slumbering in the poems.’ So far, this off to a rough start in provincial Germany. In group. Since 2002, or the writer Jan Wagner, there is nothing approach certainly seems to be working. school, her teacher told the newcomer she should the award has been too small or insignificant to consider turn- probably simply accept that she would never really worth 15,000 euros. F ing into a poem. And so he writes about a master the German language. Perhaps this was the © Heike / Suhrkamp Steinweg Ponto prize winners teabag or a nail, about rain barrels, pussy willows, sentence that made the immigrant girl become a to date include koalas and bees. ‘A successful poem is surprising writer. At the age of 17, she was already jotting An­dreas Maier, Zsuzsa and novel’, he says, ‘because it captures something down dialogue that would later become a play. Sasha Marianna Bánk, and, most in a way that’s never been said before, yet at the She studied literature and dramatic writing and recently,­ Sasha same time it should seem like the most natural wrote more plays, which soon began to garner Salzmann Marianna Salzmann. thing in the world.’ It is an invitation to the reader, prizes. ‘I want to see a reality on stage that reflects ‘irresistible, to see the world in a new light and thus my everyday reality’, she says. Who tells you who you are?

to think in a new way’. Massimo Villa Considering her compelling life, it’s only fitting This question – and the insatiable / Many have accepted this invitation. Wagner has that the celebrated dramatist has also won readers longing for life itself and the Midas touch of poetry, seemingly able to pull over with her prose. ‘There’s nothing calculated its challenging boundlessness –

off anything successfully. The virtually weightless © Alberto Novelli about how I write. Maybe there’s such a thing as are the subject of quality of his compositions attests to his tremen- exigency beyond volition’, she says. Sasha Mari­ Sasha Marianna Salzmann’s dous artistry – and, unusually for poetry, there is anna Salzmann’s first novel Außer sich won not just novel Außer sich. widespread interest in his accessible work. His Jan Wagner one but two prizes awarded for a prose début, 2014 collection Regentonnenvariationen not only both worth 15,000 euros: the literary prize of Holger Heimann won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, but also became a ‘I make verse out of the conviction the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and the Mara Cas- is a literary critic bestseller. that even the slightest thing sens Prize. and works for Die Jan Wagner, who was born in Hamburg in 1971 and can become a poem and that, In the novel she tells the story of an immigrant WELT, Deutschland- whose debut poetry collection was entitled Probe- if you have an eye and child – a story that is also her own. Außer sich re- funk, WDR and bohrung im Himmel, has published seven volumes an ear, a poem contains the most turns to Moscow in the post-Soviet years, and other broadcasters. of poetry to date. He also writes essays and trans- complex things.’ moves from there to Berlin and Istanbul. In sweep- He lives in Berlin.

18 19 FIFTY YEARS 1968 THE CHILDREN OF MARX AND COCA-COLA

What was 1968 really? Glorified and demonised more than almost any other social phenomenon, the student movement is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The sociologist Heinz Bude reflects on the myth of 1968 and people’s different interpretations of it.

book-fair.com / hen we think of 1968 we think of the struggle and historical end games according to 1968 sit-ins and go-ins, of the Rolling the motto ‘Socialism or Barbarism’. But the revo- More information Stones’ I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, lutionary awakening came to public attention by about the of the raised and black-gloved fists of constantly coming up with clever new ways to flout featured titles can Wthe American sprinters Tommie Smith and John the rules. ‘If it serves to help establish the truth’, be found here. Carlos on the winners’ podium at the 1968 Olym- was the answer given by the defendant Fritz Teufel pic Games in Mexico, of Why Don’t We Do It In when a judge ordered him to rise before the court. The Road, of the American national anthem dis- torted by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, the protests against the Vietnam War and of course Karl Marx. The last Not least of Bob Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize

for Literature in 2016 and didn’t appear for the hot revolution Smetek © Wieslaw award ceremony, and Ulrike Meinhof as painted by Gerhard Richter in his Stammheim cycle. and the Karl Marx would have Today, ’68 is seen by a liberal, cosmopolitan-­ celebrated his 200th minded class as the start of a fundamental liberal­ first cool revolt birthday on 5 May isation process in Western societies, and by right- this year. wing populists as the beginning of the decline of the Western world, which can no longer sum- It wasn’t due to the size of the crowds – dem-­­ mon the strength to resist settlers from all over on­stra­tions with 10,000 or 15,000 participants the world. were simply too small for that – but to a thousand But what was ’68 really? The French historian Paul tiny provocations that the revolt broke new ground Veyne, to whom we owe a big book about the re- and dominated the media. The whole world was

publican pleasures of the ancient Romans, entitled watching. © SZ Photo Bread and Circuses, once described ’68 as the last The 1968 movement was ignited both by a deadly 21.10.1967: at the interna- hot revolution and the first cool revolt. For the serious desire to improve the world, and a cheerful The former fashion tional day of demonstrations last time, the whole revolutionary register was disarrangement of the world. Jean-Luc Godard, model Uschi Ober- against the Vietnam war, over 7,000 people took to drawn upon with readings of Das Kapital, distinc- who said he made his films not when shooting, maier was the sex the street in West Berlin. Ruetz © Michael tions between friends and enemies in the class but when eating, drinking, reading and dreaming, symbol of the ’68-ers.

20 21 lectic which never led to the final sublation. It is The banner with part of the passion of 1968 that philosophy, rock, the slogan ‘Unter den cinema and happening created a sound from which Talaren / Muff von no one who felt young could exclude themselves. 1000 Jahren’ was The movement thus became the movement by revealed on 9 No­­ simply crossing boundaries­ which, a generation be- vember 1967 at the fore, had been the prerequisites for civility, free- transfer of office dom and affluence. at Hamburg Univer­ ­ But the interpretation of 1968 was disputed from sity, by students the outset. At the time, for example, Jürgen re­jecting the elitist Haber­mas and Karl Heinz Bohrer put forward structures and out- com­peting interpretations of the events playing moded traditions

© Barbara Klemm © Barbara out in front of their eyes. One as a radical demo- of the universities. The philosophers Theodor W. Adorno (l.) and Jürgen crat, the other as an absolute aesthete. What Habermas (r.) with SDS members Hans-Jürgen Krahl Habermas saw as models of civil disobedience, and K. D. Wolff. Bohrer dismissed as the self-justifications of a new left-wing ‘juste milieu’. While Bohrer saw the re-

The Socialist German referred to the activists, with wicked precision, turn of Surrealism in the best parts of 1968, für Universitätsgeschichte Bibliothek © Hamburger Students’ Association as ‘the children of Marx and Coca-Cola’. Their Habermas drew a line between unprincipled activ- ‘Unter den Talaren / Muff von 1000 Jahren’ – ‘Under the gowns / the mildew of a thousand years’ (SDS), founded in activities – particularly those of the students – ists for whom ‘direct action’ was more important 1946 as the student were aimed at breaking down the clean divisions of

association of the bourgeois life, where work, love, politics, art, pleas- An­gela Merkel; the other insists even today on revolution, influenced by Marx and Freud, Herbert © AKG SPD, became the core ure and science could communicate but not inter- A sound of the madness of an interruption that cannot be Marcuse and Louis Althusser, R. D. Laing and Shu- of the Extra-Parlia- mingle. In post-war societies, which still had World claimed for any idea. Both referred to the inspi­ lamith Firestone, emerged from a post-war world The young people’s mentary Opposition War II and genocide in their bones, there was a philosophy, rock, ration of Walter Benjamin, who famously consid- peopled by isolated existences in an atmosphere magazine twen (Außerparlamenta- powerful anxiety that the whole thing might oth- ered it a disaster that everything continued on based on the communicative silencing of Stalin- (1959–1971) broke rische Opposition / erwise come crashing down. cinema its course. grad and Auschwitz. many taboos and APO) until it dissolved But the ’68-ers, born between 1938 and 1948, 1968 consisted in the discovery of society as a cat- The concept of society was much more than an paved the way for itself in 1970. didn’t give a damn about any of that. And in any and happening egory for the understanding of the personal prac- instru­ment for the sociological explanation of the the sexual revolution. case, as Theodor Adorno insisted, it was inauthen- tice of life. For subsequent generations, who make world; it contained the promise that the self- tic. People heard the big words of this small man jokes about floating signifiers such as ‘socialisa- doubting ego might overcome itself. There was a with the child’s eyes and knew, even though they than ‘domination-free discourse’, and the majority tion’, ‘communication’ and ‘interaction’, that is connection between personal unhappiness and didn’t understand the full import, that these were who were mainly fed up with the ‘mildew of a thou- hard to understand. One needs to consult novels social injustice. For this reason the laments of the the right words. A rebellious experience was one sand years’ at the universities. One drew a long like Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates or televi- self could become a legitimate object of political which delivered itself up to a negative, endless dia- line extending from 1968 to Barack Obama and sion series like Mad Men to understand how the demands. Not only sociology, but also linguistics, © AKG © AKG © AKG © AKG © privat © AKG

Santiago de Cuba: Fidel Castro and Berlin: The first major student New York City: 300,000 people Berlin: The leaders of the Socialist German Frankfurt am Main: Andreas Baader and Paris: The eviction of students occu- Che Guevara proclaim the triumph of demonstration against the Vietnam protest against the American Student’s Association (SDS), Rudi Dutschke Gudrun Ensslin, accused of setting fire to a pying the university leads to general the Cuban Revolution. War ends in a melee. bombing of North Vietnam. and Karl Dietrich (KD) Wolff, organise the department store, are sentenced to three strikes throughout France. Vietnam Congress. years in prison each. / / © SZ Photo © AKG Thomas Hesterberg Thomas © SZ Photo Ruetz © Michael © AKG © Michael Ruetz © Michael

Washington, D.C.: Martin Luther King Berlin: ‘Kommune I’, the most Berlin: The student Benno Ohnesorg Warsaw: A demonstration on the Berlin: Student leader Bonn: Emergency laws are enacted Jr. gives his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ notorious commune in the world, is shot dead in front of the Deutsche campus of the University of Rudi Dutschke is severely amidst major protests by the APO speech in front of 250,000 people. is founded. Oper during a protest against the visit Warsaw is brutally broken up by wounded in an assassination (Extra-Parliamentary Opposition) and of the Shah of Persia. ‘worker activists’. attempt. large sections of the population.

1959 1963 1966 1967 APRIL JUNE 1968 MARCH APRIL MAY

22 23 psychoanalysis and social history or social psychia- by the Social Democratic parties, the Eichmann try constituted a new kind of knowledge that com- trial had been held in Jerusalem. The search for the G. Kaiser, bined precise description with normative demands. social and historical tendency expressed in 1968 C. Jürgensen, This new knowledge of ’68, as French sociologist only conceals the mixture of melancholy and long- A. Weixler Eckhard Michel Younger Than Gisela von Wysocki Pierre Bourdieu put it, promised a lot but demand- ing, radical reflection and rebellious energy, politi­­ Schahbesuch 1967 Yesterday Wiesengrund ed little. cal Dadaism and attempts at existential rebellion (Ch. Links) (Wagenbach) (Suhrkamp) For contemporaries, 1968 came out of the blue. which were typical of the breach opened up by ‘This fascinating The 1967 Beatles ‘A sensuous, funny, book is a rich album Sgt. Pep- luxurious story In spite of Jefferson Airplane, who first performed that year. Did the generation of 1968 believe in source of material per’s Lonely beneath which you in 1965, in spite of the critique of empty lives in their myths? When they chanted in the street that offers a new Hearts Club Band can still sense look at the genesis ushers in a new the vast body of © Michael Ruetz © Michael the suburbs, in spite of the feeling of a latent ‘Wer zweimal mit derselben pennt, gehört schon of the student era: from now on, thought of Theodor depression, the revolt of the younger generation zum Establishment’ (‘Sleep with the same girl movement.’ Süd- pop music aspires W. Adorno.’ Icons of the ’68-ers: was clearly unexpected. But when this movement twice, you’re part of the establishment’), yes; when deutsche Zeitung to be art. DIE ZEIT the co-founders of un­derground art, campus revolts and revolu- they went home at night, scrawny figures in their of ‘Kommune I’, Fritz tionary circles suddenly emerged, a rigid society bellbottoms and fringed jackets, no. The paradox is Teufel and Rainer was freed to become itself. People were waiting that today’s culturally militant right wing is accus- Langhans. for something different, but couldn’t imagine what ing 1968 of doing something that it seeks to do it- it might be. self: making history by setting a supposed apoca- lypse against another one, to create a new order Elisabeth Zöller Anke Jaspers, Verändert die Claudia Michalski, from this chaos. Welt! Morten Paul Norbert Frei Between 1997 and ‘Sleep with the But today’s young left is also trying to find connec­ (Hanser) Ein kleines 1968 2015 Heinz Bude tions with 1968. For a moment it actually looked as The first biography rotes Buch (dtv) of Rudi Dutschke (Matthes & Seitz ‘1968’ stands for ran the ‘Society in same girl twice, if Occupy Wall Street, the Indignados in Spain or for young people: Berlin) a decade of rebel- the Federal Republic’ Syriza in Greece represented a new ’68. The ’68- the revolution of This anthology lion. This book ex- section at the Ham- ers were concerned with liberation, and the anti-­ 1968 and the fight shows how the Mao amines the German you’re part of the for equality, Bible became the student movement burg Insitute for racist, post-colonial, post-imperialist left of today social justice and ultimate revolu- in an in­ternational Social Research. Since establishment’ is concerned with justice. The call for justice seeks democracy. tionary accessory. context. 2000 he has held to extend and deepen rights, while the desire for the chair of Macro­­ liberation wants to shake everything up. The legacy sociology at the This is why all evolutionary interpretations of ’68 of ’68 consists in a sense of wonder that fifty years University of Kassel. are misleading. It wasn’t the start of anything that ago, for a brief moment and as the result of a radi­ C.-J. Göpfert, Ulla Hahn In January 2018 he hadn’t existed before. Not the sexual revolution cal impulse, this desire actually bore fruit. ◊ Bernd Messinger Wir werden published Adorno für nor the democratisation of society, and certainly Das Jahr der erwartet Revolte Michael Ruetz (DVA) Ruinenkinder. Eine not the confrontation with Auschwitz. The Kinsey (Schöffling & Co.) Sea Change The last part of Geschichte von 1968 Report was much earlier, the theory of Social In no other German (Nimbus) the autobiographi- (Hanser). Democracy was already being discussed in Europe city did the revolt Rudi Dutschke at cal Lommer jonn- of 1968 leave such the microphone, Tetralogie is the strong traces as in the demonstrations riveting story of Frankfurt am Main. following Benno a searching young 50 years later, Ohnesorg’s death, woman in the tur­ famous figures who protest posters: bulent years be- lived through it look striking images of tween 1968 and the back on the era. global reknown. German Autumn. © AKG © SZ Photo © AKG

Prague: In reaction to the ‘Prague Woodstock: The legendary open- Brokdorf: After work begins on the Spring’, Warsaw Pact troops march air music festival is considered nuclear power plant Brokdorf, into the country. the high – and end – point of the the anti-nuclear movement spreads Barbara and Kai US hippie movement. throughout the country. Patu, Sichtermann, Antje Schrupp Das ist unser Haus Kleine Geschichte (Aufbau) Anne Ameri- des Feminismus Starting in the Siemens, (Unrast) 1970s, the battle for Ein Tag im Herbst Women philoso- housing raged, not (Rowohlt Berlin) © SZ Photo © AKG © AKG phers, rebels, activ- just in Berlin, Frank­ From various Mexico City: 300 peacefully Athens: The military dictatorship Cologne: The kidnapping and killing ists: this graphic furt and Hamburg perspectives, Anne protesting students are killed in (junta) violently suppresses the of BDA President Hanns Martin novel recounts the but in many other Ameri-Siemens the ‘Tlatelolco massacre’. Greek student uprising. Schleyer by the RAF heralds the dawn of the ‘German Autumn’. history of feminism, places too. The era’s recounts how terror from ancient times most important pro- gripped an entire AUGUST OCTOBER 1969 1973 1976 1977 © Michael Ruetz © Michael to the present. tagonists remember. nation in 1977.

24 25 A glance at the year in This year’s crop of exhibitions also includes strong between those two artists, is being hailed by the ART EXHIBITION CATALOGUES shows that tackle art in a historical context. Lead- press as one of the highlights of the year. exhibitions in Germany, Austria ing the way are the exhibitions around the Gurlitt Exhibitions developed in cooperation with the art- and Switzerland reveals several Collection in Bonn and Bern, which deal sensitive- ists themselves offer viewers a chance to get bet- different thematic threads. ly with the complicated subject of looted and ‘de- ter acquainted with major contemporary artists generate’ art in the Nazi era. Solid insight into the such as Gregor Schneider, Clemens von Wede- he exhibition Photographs Become Pictures period leading up to this era is provided by Splen- meyer (with his first solo show in a German mu­ WHEN is dedicated to the Düsseldorf School dour and Misery in the Weimar Republic. seum), Katharina Sieverding, Ulay (with the first T of Photography with its world-renowned The Fondation Beyeler presents the classic theme major overview of his work ever), Wolfgang Till- found­ers Bernd and Hilla Becher and their disci- Kandinsky, Marc & Der Blaue Reiter – that turning manns and James Rosenquist. ples. The school’s internationally known represen­ point in the Western concept of art that has Some 2017 / 2018 shows portend future events: in PICTURES Caroline Keller tatives are also the subject of other shows: Axel shaped generations of artists right up to the pres- addition to being the first major show outside the has been an editor Hütte, with a double exhibition in Düsseldorf and ent day. Until April 2018, the Lenbachhaus in US to examine photography at the New Bauhaus, of exhibition cata- Bottrop, and Thomas Struth in Munich. And, as a Munich is showing paintings and photographs by New Bauhaus Chicago, by the Bauhaus Archive in logues and books counterpoint to these shows, the parallel scenes in Gabriele Münter. A touring exhibition of the work Berlin, will kick off celebrations for the 2019 cen- BECOME on art, architecture Berlin and Essen (the latter still nascent at the of Gerhard Richter is on view in Bonn, Gent and tennial of the founding of the Bauhaus. ◊ and culture for time) are the focus of Workshop for Photography Wiesbaden until June 2018. And Matisse – Bon- over twenty years. in Berlin, Essen and Hannover. nard in Frankfurt, which documents the friendship BOOKS book-fair.com / exhibitioncatalogues

Tobias G. Natter, More information Beat Wismer Max Hollein, Axel Hütte. about the Klaus A. Schröder Night and Day / Art for All. featured titles can Frühwerk The Colour Woodcut in Anna Szech, be found here. Florina Ebner, Museum Kunstpalast Vienna around 1900 Fondation Beyeler Felix Hoffmann, Düsseldorf, Josef- Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Paul Klee. Die Inka Schube Albers-Museum Bottrop Albertina Wien abstrakte Dimension Werkstatt für Photo­ (Walther König) (Taschen) graphie 1976–1986 Fondation Beyeler C / O Berlin, Museum Basel (Hatje Folkwang Essen, Sprengel Cantz) Museum Hannover (Walther König)

Isabelle Jansen, Matthias Mühling Martin Engler Gabriele Münter. Fotografien Malen ohne Umschweife werden Bilder. Städtische Galerie im Die Becher-Klasse Lenbachhaus und Städel Museum Kunstbau München Frankfurt (Prestel) (Hirmer) Kunstsammlung Quinn Latimer, Nordrhein-Westfalen Adam Szymczyk Otto Dix. Der documenta 14 The Evil Eye Reader K 20 Düsseldorf, documenta 14 Tate Liverpool Kassel (Prestel) (Prestel) © for all photographs in this article by Hartmuth Schröder © for all photographs in this article by Hartmuth

Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BundesrepublikDeutschland Ulf Küster, Katharina Sieverding. Fondation Beyeler Kunst und Kapital Kandinsky, Marc Bundeskunsthalle Bonn und der Blaue Reiter (Hirmer) Fondation Beyeler Basel (Hatje Cantz) 26 27 Ulrich Loock Gregor Schneider. Wand vor Wand Bundeskunsthalle Stephan Diederich, Bonn (Distanz) Yilmaz Dziewior James Rosenquist. Eintauchen ins Bild Museum Ludwig Köln (Prestel)

Matthias Ulrich Ulay. Life-Sized Ingrid Pfeiffer Schirn Kunsthalle Glanz und Elend in Frankfurt der Weimarer Republik (Spector Books) Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Hirmer)

Thomas Weski Thomas Struth. Kunstmuseum Bern, Figure Ground Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle Haus der Kunst München der Bundesrepublik (Schirmer Mosel) Deutschland Bestandsaufnahme Gurlitt. Der NS-Kunstraub und die Folgen Kunstmuseum Bern, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (Hirmer)

Ludger Derenthal, Felix Krämer Yu Zhang Geschlechterkampf. Arbeiten in Geschichte. Franz von Stuck Zeitgenössische bis Frida Kahlo chinesische Fotografie und Städel Museum die Kulturrevolution Frankfurt (Prestel) Museum für Fotografie Berlin (Kerber) SELECTED TRANSLATIONS

Susan Kreller Elefanten sieht Torben Kuhlmann man nicht Armstrong Fifty Books That (Carlsen) (Nordsüd) A beautifully writ- A trip to the moon ten novel about a and beyond, to a teenage girl who world where dreams is fighting against are determined only Travel the abuse of her by the size of your friends. imagination. The most intriguing German-to-English translations of the latest publishing programs

Peter Schössow hen we were first asked to choose fif- a Nobel laureate’s meditations on growing old; Antonie Schneider Wo ist Oma? book-fair.com / Herr Glück und (Hanser) 50books ty books that have recently been trans­ we explored settings that ranged from post-World Frau Unglück An adventure, on lated from German into English, we War II Palestine to a houseboat on the Morava (Thienemann) which Henry finds More information Wfound it a daunting task. After all, allegedly just River. An imaginatively friends, humour, about the illustrated children’s lots of information three percent of the books published in English We are thrilled that British and American pub­ featured titles can book about friend- and, at last, are translations – from any language. How could lishers both large and small have been so prolific ship. Grandma. be found here. we possibly come up with enough compelling rec- in acquiring translations – and that they continue ommendations from such a small pool? to bring the best German-language books to the As it turned out, our challenge was exactly the English-language market. Selecting and present- From best friends and lost grannies to opposite: we simply had too many outstanding ing these books has been a privilege. It has also Riky Stock titles to choose from. Award-winning titles, lyrical been enormously fun. We’re proud to share this flying mice – the German children’s book has been in charge of novels, thrillers, picture books, poetry, and non-­ list of books that travel the world – so leave some cultural projects at fiction works all crossed our desks. We pondered space in your suitcases! ◊ is full of wit and imagination the New York office of the Frankfurter Buchmesse New York (formerly the German ‘In this age of Book Office) since Emanuel Bergmann Jan Brandt 2002. globalization, one of Der Trick Gegen die Welt Charlotte Ryland (Diogenes) (Dumont) is the editor of the Stephan Abarbanell Ilse Aichinger An outstanding The story of the the best ways Morgenland Schlechte Wörter first novel recalling nominal heir to a magazine and (Heyne) (Fischer TB) the melancholy drugstore dynasty, website New Books to preserve the A deeply intelligent This volume pre- humor of Isaac and his struggle in German, which literary thriller – sents the whole of Bashevis Singer and to free himself set in a world still the original Bad the heartbreaking from the suspicions has been promoting uniqueness of reeling from World Words in English pathos of the film and violence of German-language War II. for the first time. Life is Beautiful. small-town life. literature inter­­ cultures is through nationally for over twenty years. the trans­lation

and appreciation of Alina Bronsky Sherko Fatah Baba Dunja’s Jenny Erpenbeck Das dunkle Schiff Sebastian Fitzek letzte Liebe Gehen, ging, (btb) Der Nachtwandler international (Kiepenheuer & gegangen A story of the kind (Droemer / Knaur) Witsch) (Knaus) of trauma and A nightmarish literary works.’ The story of an un- A passionate striving that leads page-turner about usual woman, Baba contribution to the a man from reli- a sleepwalker whose Dunja, who, late debate on race, gious extremism wife disappears Chad Post, Publisher, in life, finds her privilege and na- to a vain hope for under mysterious Open Letter Books version of paradise. tionality. redemption. circumstances.

30 31 Nele Neuhaus Maja Haderlap Tiefe Wunden Günter Grass Engel des Herta Müller (List) Vonne Endlichkait Vergessens Clemens Meyer Der Fuchs war Bestselling German (Steidl) (Wallstein) Im Stein damals schon author Nele The last work Illuminating an al- (S. Fischer) der Jäger Neuhaus’ The Ice of Nobel Prize- most forgotten The story of the sex (Hanser) Queen is a winning writer chapter of Europe- trade in a big city A hauntingly cine- character-­ and Peter Handke Günter Grass. A an history, the book in the former GDR, matic portrayal plot-driven­ mystery Die Moravische sensual, melancholy deals with family from just before of the corruption about revenge, Nacht summation of dynamics scarred 1989 to the present of the soul under power, and long-­ (Suhrkamp) a life fully lived. by war and torture. day. totalitarianism. forgotten secrets. Powerfully alive, honest, and at times deliciously satirical, The Moravian Night Ralf Rothmann explores the Im Frühling mind and memory Fifty Books That Travel sterben Literary gems, debuts, of an aging writer. (Suhrkamp) ‘The haunting por- trayal of conflict lyrical novels, and and carnage in Heinz Helle the final weeks of prize-winning fiction– Der beruhigende WW II makes this Klang von Daniel Kehlmann German novel explodierendem Wolfgang Hilbig Du hättest gehen a modern classic.’ a journey through Kerosin Der Schlaf der sollen The Guardian (Suhrkamp) Gerechten (Rowohlt) Alone in New York, (S. Fischer) An eerie tale of a the world as we know it separated from A power­ ful,­ apoca- writer’s emotional his girlfriend by the lyptic, utterly collapse, from the (or don’t) Atlantic Ocean, personal account internationally the nameless narra- of this century- bestselling author tor is sinking slowly defining nation’s of Measuring the into crisis. post-war struggles. World and F.

Christian Kracht Imperium (Kiepenheuer & Norbert Scheuer Monique Schwitter Rafik Schami Walter Kempowski Witsch) Die Sprache der Goldfisch­ Sophia oder Alles umsonst In 1902, a radical Vögel gedächtnis der Anfang aller (Knaus) Michael Köhlmeier vegetarian and a (C. H. Beck) (Droschl) Geschichten A devastating por- Yiza nudist from Nurem- A meditative novel With its contem­ (Hanser) trait of the com- (Hanser) berg set sail for that shows a new porary style that’s An intricately plot- plicities and denials Part dark fairy tale, what was then side to the conflict cool, quick and ted, lyrical novel of the German part mystery, Yiza called the Bismarck in Afghanistan and funny, this collec- about the power of people as the Third is the story of three Archipelago, questions what it tion is a refreshing love to overcome Reich comes to homeless street in German New truly means to fight new voice, not to all bar­riers of time an end. children on the run. Guinea. for freedom. be missed. and circumstance.

Volker Kutscher Der nasse Fisch Peter Stamm (Kiepenheuer & Robert Seethaler Lutz Seiler Weit über das Witsch) Charles Lewinsky Ein ganzes Leben Kruso Land The first book in Melnitz (Hanser) (Suhrkamp) (S. Fischer) the internationally (Nagel & Kimche) Set in the mid­ 1989: A literature Man Booker Merle Kröger bestselling series The saga of the twentieth century student travels International Prize Havarie that centers on Swiss-Jewish Meijer and told with beau- to the island of finalist Peter (Argument) Detective Gereon family, spanning ty and tenderness, Hiddensee, a Stamm explores A maritime thriller Rath in Berlin, five generations Seethaler’s novel is notorious destina- what it means to by one of Germa- as the city teeters from the Franco-­ a story of man’s tion for those at be in the middle ny’s most celebrat- on the edge of Prussian War relationship with an odds with the East of nowhere, in mind ed crime writers. Nazism. to World War II. ancient landscape. German state. and in body.

32 33 Saša Stanišic Steven Uhly Vor dem Fest Martin Suter Königreich der The Joy of Being Translated (Luchterhand) Montecristo Yoko Tawada Dämmerung A novel about a (Diogenes) Etüden im Schnee (btb) long night, a mosaic A fast-paced con- (Konkursbuch) One night in of village life, in spiracy thriller full Through the stories autumn 1944, in a ‘Writers are anxious, translators bold and daring. They’re which the long- of betrayal and of three polar bears, small town in oc­ re­luctant to admit it, though; as soon as I mention it, I’m established and the underhand tactics, Tawada reflects on cupied Poland, an newcomers, the set in the tangled our own humanity SS officer is shot met with objections from all sides. When I throw love and dead and the living world of finance, and the ways in dead by a young bump into each politics and the which we belong to Polish Jew, Marga- trust into the mix – the only means by which writing and other. media. one another. rita Ejzenstain. trans­­lation are possible in the short term – they tend to duck a little, as if they still do not know what I myself have long since realized: they are just the better ones in this game. Let’s be honest: what is the original against a success- Fifty Books That Travel ful translation, what can the captive poet do against the most powerful craft in the world, what is the self-assertion against the serving deed?’ Bestselling nonfiction, biographies First published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6.1.2018 and essays that explore past and Felicitas Hoppe, who was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 2012, is an author of novels and children’s books and present, from forests to birds, paper writes for various news­papers, magazines and radio stations. Her books have been translated into 16 languages. Most

to human organs © Anita Affentranger recently she published Picknick der Friseure in English.

Ulrich Raulff Martin Walser Bernd Brunner Das letzte Ein springender Hannah Arendt, Ornithomania Jahrhundert­­ der Reiner Stach Brunnen Gershom Scholem (Kiepenheuer & Norman Ohler Pferde Kafka – Die (Suhrkamp) Der Briefwechsel Witsch) Der totale Rausch (C. H. Beck) frühen Jahre This masterful novel (Jüdischer Verlag) Packed with in- (Kiepenheuer & Ulrich Raulff’s (Fischer TB) by one of the fore- This landmark triguing facts and Witsch) bestseller is a How did Kafka be- most figures of volume reveals over rare and exquisite Norman Ohler’s superb monument come Kafka? The post-war­ German two decades of artwork, Birdmania gripping bestseller to the endlessly complex personal, literature is an in- correspondence showcases an reveals that the diverse creature political, and cul- delible portrait of between two crucial eclectic and fasci- entire Third Reich who has so often tural circumstances Nazism slowly over- thinkers and power- nating selection of was permeated shared and shaped that shaped the taking a small town. ful personalities. bird devotees. by drugs. our fate. young Franz Kafka.

Robert Walser Peter Wohlleben Giulia Enders Navid Kermani Von Bildern Das geheime Darm mit Einbruch der Lothar Müller (Insel) Volker Weidermann Leben der Bäume Charme Wirklichkeit Weiße Magie Walser’s essays Ostende (Ludwig) (Ullstein) (C. H. Beck) (Hanser) consider famous (Kiepenheuer & Are trees social With quirky charm, In the autumn of In this brilliant new painters such as Witsch) beings? In this in- this international 2015, award-win- book, Lothar Müller Van Gogh, Manet The true story ternational best- bestseller gives the ning writer Navid describes how and Rembrandt. of two of the twen- seller Peter Wohl­ alimentary canal its Kermani decided to paper made its way An elegant col­ tieth century’s leben convincingly long-overdue accompany refu- from China through lection, with gor- great writers, makes the case moment in the gees on the ‘Balkan the Arab world to geous full-colour Stefan Zweig and that the forest is a spotlight. route’ into Europe. Europe. art reproductions. Joseph Roth. social network.

34 35 Five International Loca­- Book Heroes Five Promising Openings The Five Most Beautiful Books tions in German Novels 2017 to a Novel of 2017 Art Books Art Boo In the ‘Most Beautiful German Books’ com­ petition, two expert juries chose 25 books which ‘Every country has its Samarkand and they considered to be its Numancia. That night, both places exemplary in terms of were here with us on the Morava.’ their design, concept and DAMASKUS 1 2 Olga Grjasnowa Weiß © Christina Peter Handke Die Morawische Nacht (Suhrkamp) production quality. Gott ist nicht schüchtern (Aufbau) 3 Fiction ‘On a February morning in the year Paul Auster 4 3 2 1 © FBM / Anett Weirauch 1933 Andreas Egger lifted the dying (Rowohlt) goatherd Johannes Kalischka, known 1 The finalists of the German Book Prize to all the valley dwellers as Horned 2017 (f. l. t. r.): Sasha Marianna Salzmann, © FBM / Bernd Hartung Hannes, off his sodden and rather sour-smelling Gerhard Falkner, Franzobel, Thomas Lehr, CAMBRIDGE Marion Poschmann and Robert Menasse. pallet to carry him down to the village along the Takis Würger 2 The Canadian author, essayist and poet Margaret Atwood was awarded the Peace Prize of three-kilometre mountain path that lay buried be- Der Club (Kein & Aber) the German Book Trade in the Church of St. Paul in Frankfurt on 15 October 2017. | 3 ‘You neath a thick layer of snow.’ have to tell our stories if we cannot do it anymore’ – the Turkish journalists Asli Erdoğan and Can Dündar in an appeal to their German colleagues during the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2017. Robert Seethaler Ein ganzes Leben (Hanser) Nonfiction Ulrike Surmann, Mirjam Verhey glauben – Andachtsbildchen ‘I’m awoken in the night again by Mar- von A–Z ja’s rooster, Konstantin. He’s like an (Kolumba) Art Books SILICON VALLEY ersatz husband for Marja. She raised Olivier Kaeppelin, Reading places in him, and she pampered and spoiled him even as a Daniele Cohn, Jonas Lüscher Ulf Jensen u. a. Kraft (btb) Frankfurt chick; now he’s full-grown and good for nothing.’ A.R. Penck Alina Bronsky Baba Dunjas letzte Liebe (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) (Walther König) 1 A house of many rooms for literature: Literaturhaus Frankfurt | 2 The Frank­ furter Buchmesse: the perfect location for good stories | 3 Reading and relaxing by the Frankfurt riverside ‘The Georgenhof estate was not far from Mitkau, a small town in East Prussia, and now, in winter, the Geor- ISTANBUL genhof, surrounded by old oaks, lay in Feridun Zaimoglu the landscape like a black island in a white sea.’ Food and 1 2 Siebentürmeviertel (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) © Literaturhaus Frankfurt Walter Kempowski Alles umsonst (Knaus) More Ursula Heinzelmann 3 Monsieur Vuong – das Kochbuch (Suhrkamp) ‘Grandmother signals with her hand, Children’s she wants me to follow. We pass Books through the smoke kitchen into the Felix Bork

Associated Press larder. Old smoke clings to the vaulted ceiling like More information about Oh, ein Tier! / PARIS dark, greasy resin. It smells of smoked meat and the featured titles can be (Eichborn) Navid Kermani freshly baked bread.’ found here: © Background image by Adobe Stock © Background © FBM / Anett Weirauch Sozusagen Paris (Hanser) Alliance © Picture Maja Haderlap Engel des Vergessens (Wallstein) stiftung-buchkunst.de

© Photographs by Uwe Dettmar READING TIPS FOR PARENTS AND KIDS A writer who draws, an artist who writes – Jan Birck

A FOREST OF BOOKS Jan Birck is an author-illustrator who is down to earth and always on the same level as his young readers. That much is clear from the global success The children’s book market in Germany is one of the liveliest anywhere. of his illustrations in The Wild Football Lads (Die 8000 new titles a year is ‘a lot of wood’ – wilden Fußballkerle, dtv) – and he was one of the Jan Birck Animal Heroes and wood just happens to be a hot publishing trend as well! Paxmann © Christine first to use these to brand a series. But for this (Ravensburger) Munich comic artist and cartoonist, the idea of Animal heroes – Jan Birck draws his ‘just illustrating’ isn’t enough. Too many topics fire their magic ani­mals figures first, before him up, such as: how do we get boys to read? His turn them into superheroes.­­ A se- early a third of Germany is covered with want a more in-depth look at biology can immerse using a computer to work may be full of humour, but these are issues ries for boys aged forest, making it the most densely wooded themselves in the stylishly presented What’s That add dramatic ele- he takes seriously. With Kirsten Boje, he published eight and up. N country in Europe. One reason, perhaps, Going to be? Exciting Plant and Animal Transfor- ments. He always Everything Will Be OK (Bestimmt wird alles gut, why leafy habitats are currently in vogue in books. mations (Was wird denn das? Spannende Verwand- works standing up. Klett), a book about refugees. With Zarah and Zot- It all started with forester Peter Wohlleben, who lungen von Tieren und Pflanzen, Kosmos) or enjoy tel (Fischer Sauerländer), he ventures into the translated the language of trees so deftly that mil- the treasure trove of information and fresh layout world of girls’ books for the first time and com- lions of readers became forest fans. Now, in Can in The World of Plants (Welt der Pflanzen, Tessloff). pletely subverts our ideas about pony books. His Jan Birck You Hear the Trees Talking? (Hörst du wie die Bäu­ Sticking as closely as possible to nature, Really Big text and illustrations emphasize his female prota­ ­ Zarah und Zottel me sprechen?, Oetinger) he translates this secret and Teeny Weeny (Ganz schön groß und klitzeklein, gonist’s confidence – and the wonderful love be- (Fischer Sauer- länder) Illustrator Joëlle knowledge for children, opening their eyes to the Arena) shows animals together in their correct size tween parent and child. In the ‘Flätscher’ series, he This magical story Tourlonias brings the natural world over 128 pages. Another big issue is ratio. And you can get your hands dirty with Gar- complements Antje Szillat’s story with filmic ele- about the begin­- character of Hummel the conservation of species, especially bees. So it’s den Projects for Children (Gartenprojekte für Kin­ ments and dramatic composition. In short, even ning of a great friendship tells of Bommel to life. no wonder insects are creating a buzz in the book der, Kosmos) – because nature itself is the most when he isn’t doing the writing, Birck perfectly un- childish yearnings market. In the classic series ‘WAS IST WAS’, Sur- beautiful thing of all. Amidst all the hype about derstands the stories his author colleagues create. for security. vival Artists with Six Legs (Insekten. Überlebens­ nature, titles drawing on other genres ensure that In Animal Heroes (Ravensburger), we find just the künstler auf sechs Beinen, Tessloff) are given an ex- its poetic side isn’t lost: Britta Sabbag’s and Maite kind of suspense that Birck needs for his dynamic tensive outing. Bumblebee Rider Friedrich Löwen- Kelly’s Little Bumblebee Bommel Goes Looking for illustrations – images that get boys reading and maul (Der Hummelreiter Friedrich Löwenmaul, Happiness (Die kleine Hummel Bommel sucht das transform girls into heroes. ◊ Beltz & Gelberg) is wild and poetic, a good-versus- Glück, arsEdition) rolls pictures, philosophy and book-fair.com / bad epic in which expertise and the fantastical poetry into one, as well as being a musical hit. And children combine to produce fast-paced aerial acrobatics. Dr. Barbara Kindermann gives us a modern take Reading as sport! More information That dinosaurs avoided extinction is clear from a on mystical nature in her bewitching­ adaptation, about the constant stream of new books about the giant Summer Night’s Dream (Ein Sommernachtstraum, Learning pays off featured titles can creatures who once populated our world – once Kindermann). Nature is taking centre stage! be found here. again using the ‘WAS IST WAS’ format. Those who ◊ Sports are Wonderful (Sport ist herrlich, Hanser) by acclaimed author Ole Könnecke will encourage kids who are allergic to sport or reading to get active. As will There’s Stuff Going on in my Body (In meinem Körper ist was los, Loewe) – you’d better watch out when those little critters in our bodies are let loose. The GEOlino Experiments with Verena Reinhardt, Water (GEOlino Experimente mit Wasser, Moses) are very enticing thanks to their Peter Wohlleben, Eva Schöffmann- Manfred Baur Stefanie Reich & Davidov (ill.) WAS IST WAS – packaging – the 24 cards in their cool-looking box boost intelligence through play. Ole Könnecke Dagmar Herrmann Der Hummel-­ Welt der Pflanzen A bit more commitment may be needed for Philosophical Leaps of Thought (Philoso- Sport ist herrlich (ill.) reiter Friedrich (Tessloff) phische Gedankensprünge, Beltz & Gelberg), but the mental workout is definitely worth (Hanser) Hörst du, wie die Löwenmaul 192 pages of con- Ole Könnecke Bäume sprechen? (Beltz & Gelberg) centrated informa- it. For those who are inquisitive, but not very keen on reading, turn history into a bril- presents the most (Oetinger) Bumblebee rider tion on the art of liant quiz: My Big Adventure and Discovery Book – On Knights, Vikings and Pirates beautiful sports – Can trees talk? Friedrich Löwenmaul transformation­ – (Mein großes Abenteuer-Wimmelbuch – Von Rittern, Wikingern und Piraten, Esslinger). often laconic, some- Wohlleben­ decodes rescues the tiniest of reference books times instructive, the secrets of the creatures in a fa­ spark a love of sci- All that activity is enough to bring you out in a sweat. There’s no age limit where but always with forest for children. bulous insect world. ence in children. brain-training books are concerned – it’s never too late to learn! ◊ plenty of humor.

38 39 For the youngest book fans, everyday life is an important topic. As a child’s world is a small place, it can sometimes­ feel like everything’s been done before. So it’s all the more pleasing when authors The Big and il­lustrators successfully breathe new life into standard storylines. Animal protagonists often come into their own here. And let’s be honest, pic- Picture Show ture books can stand or fall on how expressively drawn they are. German-language picture books are all set In Martin Baltscheit’s Max Just Wants to Kiss (Max will immer küssen, Beltz & Gelberg), for ex- to impress – bright and beautiful, with plenty ample, the delightful facial expressions of the Adventure Calls! of animal antics. characters that have to deal with the overbearing Adventure comes in all shapes and sizes – from the fantastical affections of a kiss-mad gorilla help make this little book a gem. The same goes for Andrea Schütze to the realistic and from grand heroic journeys to teensy weensy and Joëlle Tourlonias’ approach to themes like se- adventures in your own back garden. curity and parental love in The Greatest Treasure in the World (Der größte Schatz der Welt, Ravens­ burger). If you’re looking for exciting bedtime he universal longing for the countryside Everyday life can become an adventure in the city In Die Nacht des stories that don’t wind the kids up too much, then and a tendency to romanticize country too (whether big or small), as shown in titles like Kometen, Mona and ani­mal protagonists are always a safe bet; Tafiti and life are evident in children’s books too. Paul & Papa (Mixtvision), with its tender father-­ Jonah make a very the Mysterious Cuddly Pillow Thief (Tafiti und der These promise fun, adventure and, not son stories for reading out loud. These short, special trip during the geheim­nis­­volle Kuschelkissendieb, Loewe) by the Tleast, unfettered freedom. June in the Blue Land self-contained tales are perfectly suited for the holidays – a journey two Julias – Böhme and Ginsbach – is just one suc- (Juni im Blauen Land, Arena), written by a father-­ evening bedtime reading ritual. They’ll definitely through time! cessful example. daughter duo, is just one example of this growing be a favourite of children called Paul, but others But animal picture books can add zest to more genre – complete with swimming trips, pony riding will love them too. And it’s not just sons who have than just everyday life. They can tackle diffi- and fun in haylofts. The story’s setting is smuggled dads! Especially Jette! (Jette erst recht!, Fischer cult topical issues, like Charlotte Habersack and into its title – the ‘Blue Land’ is one of Bavaria’s Sauerländer) shows how adventurous the day-to- Christine Paxmann Sabine Buechner’s­­ charming Scary Schusch (Der most beautiful­ regions. In Peggy Diggle­dey (Eller- day life of a father and daughter can be. Particu- is the author of Martin Baltscheit, the schaurige Schusch, Ravensburger), which shows mann) we find ourselves in another idyllic spot: an larly when a strict parent and a stubborn little girl numerous children’s creator of kissing kids how to conquer their fears and prejudices island in the middle of the sea. The Night of the come up against each other. books and the Max, is the author and about newcomers by getting to know them. Comets (Die Nacht des Kometen, Hanser) tells of Starting school is an adventure in its own right, of publisher of Eselsohr, illustrator of numerous And sometimes they’re literally a big picture show. a holiday that’s both adventurous and close to course. In Pepper, Mint and the School (Pfeffer, one of the most children’s books. In Ulff, the Chipmunks and a Crazy Chase (Ulff, die nature – a very special story for the Christmas Minze und die Schule, Loewe) the two eponymous important German-­ Backenhörnchen und eine irre Verfolgungsjagd, season. heroes use plenty of humour to show that prepara- language journals for Mixt­­vision), the hungry croco-dino-Gruffalo-style And it’s not just people who feel this way; animals tion is everything! And sometimes the adventure children’s and young Katja Alves, monster is tricked and out-manoeuvred by the do too. Mucker the city hare is keen for adventure begins even before the first day at school, like when adult literature. Trixi Schneefuß (ill.) chip­­munks meant to be his prey. Thanks to a spe- when he heads to the countryside in Mucker & a new neighbour arrives in Tessa, Me, and the Se- Sylvia Mucke has been Ulff, die Backen­ hörnchen und cial transparency you place over the page, the Rosine (Beltz & Gelberg) and joins forces with cret of the Pea (Ich, Tessa und das Erbsengeheimnis­ , editor-in-chief at eine irre Verfol- illus­trations turn into moving pictures. ◊ country mouse Rosine. Beltz & Gelberg). ◊ Eselsohr for ten years. gungsjagd (Mixtvision) A cheeky chase and vibrant illustrations.

Julia Boehme, Charlotte Haber- Jörg & Jona Julia Ginsbach (ill.) sack, Sabine Steinleitner, Fee Krämer, Tafiti und der Büchner (ill.) Ulla Mersmeyer (ill.) Judith Drews (ill.) Franz Hohler, geheimnisvolle Der schaurige Juni im Blauen Jette erst recht! Kathrin Schärer (ill.) Kuschelkissen­ Schusch Land (Fischer Sauer- Die Nacht des dieb (Loewe) (Ravensburger) (Arena) länder) Kometen We’ve all been Tackling prejudices When city kids A funny, feel- (Hanser) there: time to about foreigners move to the good adventure ‘Terrific … Ideal for sleep? Not without via the animal country, adventure about family and the Advent season.’ my cuddly pillow! world. follows. friendship. NDR

40 41 WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY ABOUT GERMANY

Dr. Heimat

The dentist with the Clark Gable moustache A column by Saša Stanišić

When people ask what ‘Heimat’ – the idea of home – means to me, I like to tell them about my former dentist, Dr. Heinz Heimat, the father of my first amalgam filling. I got to know Dr. Heimat in the summer of 1992, around a month after coming to Germany as a war refugee. An old man in his garden, wearing just a moustache and Speedo swimming trunks, watering his hydrangeas. He gave me a friendly greeting, tried to make conversation, got little in return as my German was still miserable, but for now his friend- liness was enough. Dr. Heimat had a pencil moustache, a Clark-Gable-stripe, that sadly dying breed of facial hair. I was four- teen and the moustache inspired both fear and trust, as did the whole of the country. It was August,

© Katja Sämann © Katja asylum-seeker housing in Rostock was burning to the ground, and Dr. Heimat lived not far from our refu­ gee accommodation in Heidelberg. He was Silesian, and I had no idea Silesia even existed, but that didn’t Saša Stanišić matter – Dr. Heimat knew of Bosnia only from grim news reports, and in any case, he was more interest- was born in Višegrad, ed in my wrecked teeth than where I came from. Bosnia-Herzegovina­ Dr. Heimat raised the subject of my teeth just the second time we met – I should call in at his dental in 1978, and has lived surgery some time. He had divined the apocalypse in my mouth through my cheeks. I had no health in- in Germany since surance, but Dr. Heimat didn’t care. 1992. His novels have He treated all our dental cavities: Bosnian cavities, Somalian cavities, Polish-German cavities, German-­ been translated into German cavities. At some point, he invited my parents over. Not out of false politeness, but because he over 30 languages and was interested in Marx and my mother had studied Marxism. ‘Karl Marx had bad teeth, but good ideas’ is received numerous one of Dr. Heimat’s many pearls of wisdom. prizes. His latest work When people ask what ‘Heimat’ means to me, I tell them about a friendly greeting. About showing inter- is the short story est in a person, rather than the chance circumstances of his birth. I tell them how Dr. Heimat would take collection Fallensteller me fishing on the river Neckar. How we stood side by side for hours, an old Silesian, a fourteen-year-old (Luchterhand). Bosnian, and how nothing in this world could make us feel afraid. ◊

IMPRINT

Publisher: Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, Brauchbachstraße 16, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main | Director: Juergen Boos Project Lead: Bärbel Becker (responsible according to German press law) | Responsible Editor (text and pictures): Susanne Van Volxem Art Director: Hendrik Hellige, Maike Truschkowski | Graphics and design: textgrafik, Maike Truschkowski | Translation: Sophie Schlöndorff, Kat Hall (p. 3, 38–41, 42), Shaun Whiteside (p. 21–25) | Copy Editors (English translation): Romy Fursland, Kat Hall Photographs: Barbara Klemm (cover, p. 22); Boris Breuer (p. 6, 8, 9); Michael Ruetz (p. 20, 23, 24 – taken from: Michael Ruetz, Sea Change. Facing The Sixties, Nimbus, 2017); Hartmuth Schröder (p. 26–29); for further information see copyrights on the pictures Illustrations: Sabine Timmann (p. 2); Wieslaw Smetek (p. 21); Joëlle Tourlonias (p. 38); Martin Baltscheit (p. 40); Ole Könnecke (p. 39 – taken from: Ole Könnecke, Sport ist herrlich, Hanser, 2017); Kathrin Schärer (p. 41 – taken from: Franz Hohler, Die Nacht des Kometen, illustr. by Kathrin Schärer, Hanser, 2015); Simone Seidel & Sophie Marie Pulkus (p. 43) | Lithography: Jens Ripperger | Printing: Henrich Druck + Medien GmbH © Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, March 2018 | No reproduction without prior permission to the publisher. With friendly support from the Federal Foreign Office Simone Seidel & Sophie Marie Pulkus Seidel & Sophie Marie Simone / © FBM CREATIVE BUSINESS FESTIVAL AT FRANKFURTER BUCHMESSE

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