Schöffling & Co. Fall 2012

2 

Schöffling & Co. 

Rights Guide 

Fall 2012 

3 

© Alexander Rötterink

Ulrich Becher, The Woodchuck Hunt 

Murmeljagd, novel, 2009 

704pp, 193,200 words 

4 

Literary Fiction Literary Fiction 

»An epochal novel. MURMELJAGD is one of the best books 

that have been published in the German language after 1945.« 

The Viennese journalist Trebla, fighter 

pilot in the First World War, is able to es - 

cape from Nazi-occupied Austria to neutral 

Switzerland. But news from the Reich 

reaches even this refuge, amid the banality 

of the tourism industry. 

photo: © Kurt Wyss 

Ulrich Becher 

born in Berlin in 1910, ranks among the most significant 

exile writers in the German language. Becher’s first book 

was burned in 1933 as »degenerate« literature. Becher fled 

to Vienna. After years in exile – in Brazil, Paris and New 

York, among other places – Becher lived in Basel until his 

death in 1990. 

Awards (selection): 

The German Bühnenverband Award for Drama 

The Swiss Schiller Foundation Award 

The Austrian Federal Cross of Merit, 

First Class, for Literature and Science 

Neue Zürcher ZeituNg 

»A masterpiece.« 

tages-aNZeiger 

Rights sold: 

Italy: Baldini 

audio book: Spektral 

paperback: Random House/btb 

previously published (rights reverted): 

France: Editions Seuil 

US: Crown Publishing 

Full English, French 

and Italian translations 

Mirko Bonné, Traklpark 

Traklpark, poems, 2012 

112pp, 7,850 words 

»It is to be hoped that Mirko Bonné will pull the ground 

from under the feet of many readers.« 


»There is a seriousness in his books that nowadays 

has become a very rare quality.« 

TRAKLPARK is a quiet patch of green on 

the Inn in Innsbruck – a place that the poet 

Georg Trakl often visited, and a place to 

which Bonné has been going for twentyfive 

years, to ask himself: what have you 

done with your time? What do you love? 

Do your poems give it back to you? What’s 

the point of poems? And what will they 

look like when the world no longer looks 

photo: © Philippe Matsas 

Mirko Bonné 

born in Tegernsee in 1965, lives in Hamburg. He has 

translated poetry by Keats, E. E. Cummings and 

W. B. Yeats, and has published several novels and 

volumes of poetry. 


Ernst Willner Award 

New York-Scholarship of the German Fund for Literature 

French Prix Relay du Roman d'Evasion 

Marie-Luise Kaschnitz Award 

Writer-in-Residence, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai 

Die literarische Welt 

like anything? With a serious intent now 

seldom found in poetry, Bonné probes 

questions that have become crucial to his 

life. 

Poems as green lungs in the midst of the 

languages of everyday, and the discourses 

breaking over us – TRAKLPARK is a 

park of meanings. 

Mirko Bonné 

Traklpark 

Gedichte 


5

Mirko Bonné, Excursion with Cerberus 

Ausflug mit dem Zerberus, essays, 2010 

288pp, 55,400 words 

Mirko Bonné chooses the whole world for 

his walk with the Hound of Hell. The journey 

takes him to South America and to the 

Antarctic, to New York and Amsterdam, 

to the places of childhood and family, to 

the moon and back. 

On the trail of Trakl, Sebald, Camus and 

Whitman the author also talks about the 

6 


writing of his own poetry and prose – 

with wit and intelligence, both critical 

and cosmopolitan. 

Rights sold: 

Mirko Bonné, As We Disappear 

Wie wir verschwinden, novel, 2009 

344pp, 86,000 words 

Raymond receives a letter from Maurice, a 

critically ill friend of his youth, after decades 

of silence. The letter takes him back to their 

shared past: to Villeblevin. For the two 

former friends, a small French town and a 

historic event become the symbolic crux of 

their recollections of the past fifty years and 

their recognition of the fatefulness of those 

memories. 


Ukraine: Vsesvit (first serial) 

Rights sold: 

China (Chinese simplified): Yilin Press 

The Netherlands: Querido 

paperback: S. Fischer 

Mirko Bonné, The Ice-Cold Heaven 

Der eiskalte Himmel, novel, 2006 

432pp, 99,000 words 

While the ›Great War‹ rears its head across 

Europe, Sir Ernest Shackleton begins a 

daring expedition in his ship Endurance. 

Hidden amidst oil skins and sea boots, 

17-year-old Merce Blackboro is on his way 

to the South Pole. An odyssey full of privations 

through the vastnesses of the south 

polar sea now begins for the 28 members 

of the expedition. 

Rights sold: 

France: Payot & Rivages; France Loisirs 

(book club) 

The Netherlands: Querido 

US (English World): The Overlook Press 

audio book: Jumbo 


Russia: Inostranka 

book club: Bertelsmann Club (D, CH), 

Buchgemeinschaft Donauland (A) 

paperback: Random House/Heyne 

Mirko Bonné 

Ausflug 

mit dem 

Zerberus 


English sample translation 

English and Spanish 

sample translations 

Full French translation 

Monica Cantieni, Greenhorn 

Grünschnabel, novel, 2011 

240pp, 46,800 words 

»Unusual wealth of images, original narrative style.« 

Felicitas hoppe 

»So funny, so touching, so artfully bizarre. An outstanding novel about 

the problems of integration.« 

In idiosyncratic and laconic terms a child 

describes how it was adopted, paints a 

picturesque image of how it acclimatized 

to its new life and surroundings as part of 

an immigrant family. 

Cantieni’s tragicomic tone breaks with familiar 

patterns of story-telling and, following 

traditions of east European literature, 

opens up imaginary spaces beyond place 

and time. 

photo: © Manuel Fischer FRESHPIXEL 

Monica Cantieni 

born 1965 in Thalwil, Switzerland, lives in Wettingen 

(Switzerland) and Vienna. She works for Swiss 

Television and has received various literary grants and 

scholarships for her short stories. With her debut 

novel GRÜNSCHNABEL she was finalist for the 

Swiss Book Award 2011. 

WieNer ZeituNg 

Rights sold: 

France: Buchet Chastel 

Hungary: Gondolat Kiadó 

India (English World): Seagull Books 

Italy: Longanesi 

Spain (Castilian World): Minúscula 

Spain (Catalan): Edicions de 1984 

Monica Cantieni 

Grünschnabel 

Roman 


English and French 


7

Bora Ćosić, A Brief Childhood in Agram 

Eine kurze Kindheit in Agram, 2011 

160pp, 21,500 words 

8 


»The great story-teller, satirist and critic of southeast Europe.« 

iNterNatioNal steFaN heym aWarD, JuDge’s statemeNt 

»Bora Ćosić, a master of the absurd, orbits the black core of 

the twentieth century with playful nonchalance, cushioning 

the blow with humour and a sense of the grotesque.« 

The great Serbian storyteller recalls his 

formative years in Agram, as Zagreb was 

once known. To do so, the author goes 

back to the outset of his world and thinks 

like a small child, revealing with amazement 

the puzzles of life and the secrets of 

language. 

The child and the book alike are constantly 

conquering new terrain. Together, they 

gradually overview the entire topography 

of Zagreb. 

photo: © Bodgan Pedović 

Bora Ćosić 

The Serbian and Croatian author and essayist Bora Ćosić, 

born in Zagreb in 1932, lives in Berlin and Rovinj. He is 

the author of some 30 novels, volumes of collected stories 

and essays. He is one of the last authors to describe his 

native language as Serbo-Croatian in a rejection of 

nationalist literature. 


Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding 

Albatross Award of the Günter Grass Foundation 

Bayerischer ruNDFuNk 

Rights sold: 

Croatia: Durieux 

Lithuania: Gimtasis Zodis 

Bora Ćosić 

Eine kurze Kindheit 

in Agram 


»Tanja Dückers develops a Poetics of the Extraordinary 

as her literature explores people’s lives and secrets.« 

Tanja Dückers, Lost Property Offices and 

Hiding Places 

Fundbüros und Verstecke, poems, 2012 

104pp, 5,000 words 

The interplay of public and private is 

explored in homages to Emily Dickinson, 

Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Fernando 

photo: © Anton Landgraf 

Tanja Dückers 

born in 1968, studied German Literature and Art History. 

She is the author of poems, essays, novels and stories, 

and she was a columnist for the Frankfurter Rundschau, 

Die ZEIT and for the periodical Bücher. 


Literature Award Ruhr for Emerging Talent 

Listed among the »10 most important authors in Germany« 

(National History Museum) 

süDDeutsche ZeituNg 

Tanja Dückers, Hauser’s Room 

Hausers Zimmer, novel, 2011 

496pp, 129,500 words 

West Berlin, 1982: A leaden year. At the 

end of the Cold War, re-unification seems 

inconceivable. The young narrator Julika 

Zürn dreams herself away into the wide 

world, to Patagonia. And with just as 

much longing she watches biker Peter 

Hauser in his room in the house opposite. 

Pessoa. At the same time Tanja Dückers 

is inspired by fairytale motifs and urban 

everyday poetry. 

During her sleepless nights Hauser’s 

orange-lit window casts its spell. 

Tanja Dückers 

Fundbüros 

und Verstecke 

Gedichte Schöffling & Co. 


9

Gunther Geltinger, Man Angel 

Mensch Engel, novel, 2008 

272pp, 71,000 words 

10 


»Without doubt one of the most stunning debuts this season.« 

Leonard Engel’s initial love for his friend 

Marius quickly gives way to emptiness and 

the feeling, that »there is something fundamentally 

wrong« with himself. He flees 

from erotic confusions and artificial excesses 

to Vienna to study. Only through meeting 

Boris does the restless search find its 

goal. 

photo: © Renate von Mangoldt 

Gunther Geltinger 

born in Erlenbach / Main in 1974, studied Script Writing 

and Drama in Vienna and at the Media Academy in 

Cologne. He took part in the prose authors’ workshop 

of the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (LCB). MENSCH 

ENGEL is his first novel and has been finalist for the 

ZDF-aspekte Award, the most highly regarded first-writers 

award in Germany. 

Awards: 

Rolf Dieter Brinkmann Scholarship 

Heinrich Heine Scholarship 

Sylt Island Chronicler 

spiegel oNliNe 

»Geltinger shows exceptional talent 

at this early stage of his career.« 

FraNkFurter allgemeiNe ZeituNg 

Rights sold: 

Czech Republic: Kniha Zlín 

The Netherlands: Ambo|Anthos 

Spain (Castilian World): Pre-Textos 

paperback: Suhrkamp 


US: Words Without Borders (first serial) 

Full Spanish translation 



»Willingly and sometimes breathlessly we let this be done to us.« 

Franziska Gerstenberg, Play With Her 

Spiel mit ihr, novel, 2012 

264pp, 52,000 words 

FraNFurter ruNDschau 

»Her style is concise and clear, her observation remarkable.« 

After his divorce, Reinhard, a fifty year-old 

lawyer, discovers two things: his body and 

the Internet. He looks for new female company 

on dating sites and turns the fantasies 

of others into his own. Kristine lets herself 

be seduced, yet at the same time she yearns 

photo: © Birgitta Kowsky 

Franziska Gerstenberg 

born in Dresden in 1979, studied at the German Institute 

for Literature in Leipzig and lives in Berlin. She 

was the co-editor of the literary magazine EDIT and 

has received numerous scholarships and awards. 


Lessing Award for Emerging Talent 


Hermann Hesse Award for Emerging Talent 

Scholarship at Casa Baldi in Italy from the German Academy 

Erostepost Literary Award 

Neue Zürcher ZeituNg am soNNtag 

for a father for her daughter. But what be- 

gins harmlessly enough ends in a disaster. 

Franziska 

Gerstenberg 

Spiel mit ihr 

Roman Schöffling & Co. 



11

Franziska Gerstenberg, Gifts Like These 

Solche Geschenke, stories, 2007 

248pp, 65,000 words 

Franziska Gerstenberg’s portrayal of the 

everyday life of young people is personal 

and often indiscreet. In a strikingly dispassionate 

tone she puts words to their smallest 

gestures and surface realities. She protects 

their dignity from the judgment of her 

readers, who know well that it is they who 

are being portrayed. 

12 


Rights sold: 

Hungary: L’Harmattan Könyvkiadó 

paperback: Random House / btb 


The Netherlands: Vrij Nederland (first serial) 


audio book: Eichborn / LIDO 

Franziska Gerstenberg, How Many Birds 

Wie viel Vögel, stories, 2004 

232pp, 51,700 words 

The Twin Towers are collapsing in New 

York – and on a holiday farm somewhere 

in the middle of Germany this global catastrophe 

suddenly transforms a delicate and 

endangered love story into a silly episode. 

This happens ever so softly. 

Rights sold: 





book club: Büchergilde Gutenberg 

»An excellent debut. Franziska Gerstenberg succeeds 

with glowing images and glittering twists.« 




Mareike Krügel, Stay Where You Are 

Bleib wo du bist, novel, 2010 

232pp, 53,500 words 

»Truly hilarious, with a hint of bittersweetness.« 

For the psychotherapist Matthias Harms a 

walk through the sunny postcard idyll of 

South Tyrol turns into a dangerous journey 

photo: © Peter Peitsch 

Mareike Krügel 

was born in Kiel in 1977 and studied at the German 

Institute for Literature in Leipzig. She has been awarded 

various scholarships and received honorable mention 

at the New York Book Festival. 

Awards: 

Award for Emerging Talent of the City of Hamburg 

Friedrich Hebbel Award 

HALMA Scholarship by the Literary Centres in Europe 

Buchkultur 

to the end of the night, a professional 

trip into a flight from himself. 

Mareike Krügel, My Father’s Daughter 

Die Tochter meines Vaters, novel, 2005 

316pp, 69,000 words 

The novel revolves around the world of F. 

Lauritzen Funeral Home and the life of 

their only daughter Felicia, called Felix, 

future heir of the family business. But – 

when death is your business, what is your 

life? 

Mareike Krügel takes a darkly comic look 

at Felicia and her family. Her dry wit elegantly 

maintains the balance between 

black humour and empathy. 

Rights sold: 

Estonia: Pegasus 

Italy: Meridiano Zero 

Latvia: ABC Zvaigzne 

Spain (Castilian World): Lengua de Trapo 

Taiwan (Chinese complex): Unitas 


paperback: Random House / Diana 

Mareike 

Krügel Bleib wo 

du bist Roman Schöffling & Co. 

Full Spanish translation 


13

Nadja Küchenmeister, All the Lights 

Alle Lichter, poems, 2010 

104pp, 7,620 words 

14 


»A unique lyrical voice.« 

literarische Welt 

»Nadja Küchenmeister is endowed with laconism, humour 

and wit. The beauty of her love poems is dazzling.« 

ALLE LICHTER displays the art of Nadja 

Küchenmeister, not least the wonderful 

scenic quality of her poetry, always finely 

balanced on the border between lyric and 

narrative. It is a book of very modern 

photo: © Franziska Buddrus 

Nadja Küchenmeister 

was born in 1981 in Berlin where she also lives. She studied 

German Literature and Sociology in Berlin and at the 

German Institute for Literature in Leipzig. 

Awards: 

Scholarship of the Cultural Foundation of Saxony 

Scholarship of the Berlin Senate 

Hermann Lenz Scholarship 

Mondsee Poetry Award 

lutZ seiler, literature aWarD oF BraNDeNBurg 

poems, which never deny their roots in 

the great tradition of lyrical speaking and 

writing, a book entirely of today, which 

points to what is still to come. 

Senger_Kaiserhofstr_Titel.qxd 10.11.2009 10:45 Uhr Seite 1 

nadja 

küchenmeister 

alle lichter 

gedichte 

schöffling & co. 

Christina Maria Landerl, Time to Leave Town 

Verlass die Stadt, novel, 2011 

136pp, 20,300 words 

»A sparkling little book.« 


»We rarely find those books, in which every sentence 

is right to the point. Which are simply perfect.« 

Gudrun and Max were a couple once. Now 

Laura is having Max’s child. And Peter 

sometimes wishes everything were just like 

it used to be. VERLASS DIE STADT is a 

photo: © Markus Bettesch 

Christina Maria Landerl 

born in Steyr / Austria in 1979, lives in Berlin. She has 

received various awards and grants for her prose. 

Most recently she was winner of the prose competition 

»You want to read in Frankfurt«. 

kulturspiegel 

book about seeking and not finding, 

while also creating a multi-layered portrait 

of the city of Vienna; a mosaic of 

colours, scents and moods. 

15

Gert Loschütz, On the Pear Tree Meadow 

Auf der Birnbaumwiese, children’s verses, 2011 

80pp, 5,900 words 

16 


»A stroke of luck for every reader.« 

FraNkFurter ruNDschau 

»Gert Loschütz ranks among the most important authors 

in German literature.« 

The witches Luzi, Heta and Vera are keeping 

their eyes on two small boys, brothers 

who have strayed onto the pear tree meadow 

with their hobby-horses. Whereas one 

brother goes riding on, the other finds 

photo: © Isolde Ohlbaum 

Gert Loschütz 

born in Genthin (Saxony-Anhalt) in 1946, has been a 

full-time writer since 1970, also working for the theatre 

and for radio. He has been awarded numerous awards 

and scholarships. 


Oldenburg Young Adult Literature Award 

Rheingau Literary Award 

NDr raDio 

himself involved in a strange game. Like 

the hero in the fairy tale he must fulfil a 

task and bring the wood carver at the 

edge of the meadow a pear tree bough. 

Gert Loschütz 

Auf der Birnbaumwiese 

Mit Zeichnungen von Philip Waechter 


Gert Loschütz, The Threat 

Die Bedrohung, novel, 2006 

192pp, 35,450 words 

Loose, an unsuccessful author and occasional 

ghost-writer, is invited by Professor 

Maurer to the annual meeting of a botanical 

society somewhere in the provinces. 

When Loose reads in the newspaper of a 

number of suicides, which have taken 

place close to the location of the meeting 

he accepts the invitation. Loose decides to 

get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounds 

the place. 

Rights sold: 

Turkey: Galata 

paperback: Piper 

Gert Loschütz, Dark Company. Novel in Ten 

Rainy Nights 

Dunkle Gesellschaft. Roman in zehn Regennächten, novel, 2005 

220pp, 44,400 Wörter 

Thomas, a bargeman, takes leave of the 

rivers, to which he has always stayed close, 

and withdraws to the North German provinces. 

Over ten rainy nights he remembers 

ten different stations of his life: uncanny 

incidents in which he was involved. 

Rights sold: 

India (English World): Seagull Publishing 


»With his DUNKLE GESELLSCHAFT Gert Loschütz has undeniably 

reached a peak of his prose art.« 

DeutschlaNDFuNk raDio 

17

Anna-Elisabeth Mayer, Flyweight 

Fliegengewicht, novel, 2010 

220pp, 47,000 words 

18 


»Highly recommendable.« 

WieNeriN 

»The strength of her writing is her ability to create dialogue that is 

absurd, at times extremely funny and above all very real.« 

The setting – cut off from the world: in a 

hospital a young woman joins three older 

women in a ward. The end is near – and all 

of them try to talk it down. In charge of 

the ward is Dr Winter. The ladies as well as 

the ward matron are spellbound by him. A 

bet pushes the young woman into a competition 

for his favour. 

photo: © Mercedes Vargas 

Anna-Elisabeth Mayer 

born in Salzburg in 1977, lives in Vienna. She studied 

Philosophy and Art History and subsequently 

taught literacy programmes for women immigrants. 

She continued her studies at the German Institute for 

Literature in Leipzig. 

Awards: 

Finalist for the Alpha Award 2011 (Austria) 

NeW Books iN germaN 

Rights sold: 

Bulgaria: Prozoretz 

Latvia: Zvaigzne ABC 

Slovenia: MIŠ založba 

Anna-Elisabeth 

Mayer 

Fliegengewicht 

Roman 


Helga M. Novak, Love Poems 

Liebesgedichte, poems, 2010 

160pp, 24,000 words 

»A unique voice within comtemporary literature.« 

LIEBESGEDICHTE contains everything 

that has distinguished Helga M. Novak’s 

poetry over the decades and still marks it 

out today: wit, directness, the archaic, erotic. 

And nature. Helga M. Novak’s love 

photo: © Renate von Mangoldt 

Helga M. Novak 

born in 1935, grew up in the German Democratic 

Republic, was expelled in 1966 as one of the first poets, 

lived in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Poland 

and now lives near Berlin, where she still writes. 


Honorary citizen of the City of Erkner 

Bremen Literature Award 

Brandenburg Literature Award 

Christian Wagner Award 

Saeume Literature Award 

Ida Dehmel Literature Award 

Die Zeit 

Helga M. Novak, Where I am Now 

wo ich jetzt bin, poems, 2005 

240pp, 24,000 words 

A representative selection of Helga M. 

Novak’s poems; she is regarded as one of 

the most important German poets currently 

writing. Compiled by Michael Lentz, a 

significant member of the younger generation 

of poets and winner of the most prestigious 

Ingeborg Bachmann Award. 

poems sometimes echo the great comedies 

or they are infinitely tragic, but 

always there lurks somewhere in the 

background the utopian possibility of an 

idyll. 

Rights sold: 

France: Buchet / Chastel 

Helga M. 

Novak 

Liebesgedichte 

Herausgegeben 

von Silke Scheuermann 


Helga M. Novak 

wo ich jetzt bin 

Gedichte 

Ausgewählt 

von Michael Lentz 


19

Helga M. Novak, As Long As Love Letters 

Continue to Arrive 

solange noch Liebesbriefe eintreffen, poems, 1999 

832pp, 68,300 words 

This volume brings together for the first 

time her complete body of poetry, from the 

first book of poems, never published in 

Germany, to the major works which established 

Helga M. Novak’s reputation and 

confirmed it through the decades. 

20 


Rights sold: 


audio book: Gugis 

(Finalist for the German Audio Book Award) 

»Both Novak’s poetry and prose belong to the finest 

of German literature.« 

Helga M. Novak, Residence in a Madhouse 

Aufenthalt in einem irren Haus, prose, 1995 

342pp, 90,000 words 

AUFENTHALT IN EINEM IRREN HAUS 

is a collection of Helga M. Novak’s prose 

of thirty years, beginning with her first 

mittelDeutsche ZeituNg 

»Her work stands past comparison within German post-war literature.« 

hessischer ruNDFuNk 

book of prose ›Geselliges Beisammensein‹ 

(1968) to unpublished texts from recent 

years. 

»Markus Orths proves himself to be a brilliant narrator.« 

Markus Orths, The Magic Cap 

Die Tarnkappe, novel, 2011 

224pp, 71,000 words 

Die Zeit 

»Passionate, gripping, revealing a mature literary talent.« 

To be invisible. To see without being seen. 

To do things without having to fear the 

consequences: Simon Bloch quite unexpectedly 

comes into possession of a strange 

cap. When he puts it on, he disappears 

before his own eyes. But: What is it doing 

to him? 

photo: © Isolde Ohlbaum 

Markus Orths 

born in 1969, studied Philosophy, French and English 

Literature and lives in Karlsruhe. For his novels and 

short stories he has received various awards. 


Sir Walter Scott Award 

Floriana Award 

North Rhine-Westphalia Award 

Marburg Literature Award 

Wetzlar Fantasy Award 

Die tagesZeituNg 

Rights sold: 


Spain (Castilian World): Seix Barral 

Sweden: Lindskog 

Taiwan (Chinese complex): Muses Publishing 


21

Markus Orths, The Chambermaid 

Das Zimmermädchen, novel, 2008 

144pp, 20,500 words 

Lynn Zapatek cleans rooms in the Eden 

Hotel and she cleans them very thoroughly 

indeed. She doesn’t only take a good look 

at the strangers’ clothes, she puts them on 

too. 

One Tuesday Lynn is nearly caught and 

hides under the bed. With the guest on top. 

From now on she lies under the guests’ 

beds every Tuesday and eavesdrops on 

what is going on above her. And then, on 

the seventh Tuesday, something happens 

that could change everything. 

22 


Rights sold: 

Markus Orths, Escape Attempts 

Fluchtversuche, stories, 2006 

168pp, 30,000 words 

Markus Orths writes of insane attempts to 

escape, of breakups and breakdowns. He 

looks at our lives, the lives that we all too 

often postpone until some distant time in 

the future. Or he considers those chances 

to finally take the bull by the horns, even if 

we can never know how things will turn 

out. 

Brazil: L&PM Editores 

Bulgaria: Lettera 


France: Liana Levi (including French theatre 

rights – Théâtre 13, winner of the Prix du 

théâtre 13) 

Italy: Voland 

Korea: Sallim Books 


The Netherlands: Podium 


Sweden: Lindskog 


audio book: Buchfunk 


film rights: Pandora 

Rights sold: 




Japan: Mayonaka cultural magazine 

(first serial) 

Ukraine: Vsesvit literary magazine 

(first serial) 

Full French and Spanish 

translations 



Markus Orths, Catalina 

Catalina, novel, 2004 

320pp, 74,000 words 

CATALINA is the true story of Catalina de 

Erauso, born in San Sebastian. Her brother 

Miguel, fiercely loved by Catalina, is sent 

to the New World to see to the family’s 

fortunes. When Miguel takes his leave 

from his family forever and sets out for the 

silver mines of Potosi, the richest town in 

South America, Catalina has only one 

wish: to follow him. 

Markus Orths, Staff Room 

Lehrerzimmer, novel, 2003 

164pp, 27,500 words 

Kranich is a newly qualified teacher about 

to take up his first post. As soon as he 

arrives at the school he is plunged into a 

nightmare kafkaesque world which has all 

the worst features of a totalitarian state. 

The four pillars of the school system, as 

the headmaster explains on Kranich’s very 

first day there, are »fear, misery, pretence 

and lies«. 

Rights sold: 

Bulgaria: Lettera 

Israel: Toby Publishing 

Lithuania: Mintis 

The Netherlands: A.W. Bruna / Signature 

Portugal: Difel 

Serbia: Laguna 

Slovenia: Založba Morfem 

Spain (Castilian World): Salamandra 

US (English World): The Toby Press 

paperback: Random House / Goldmann 


Italy: Piemme 

Rights sold: 

China (simplified Chinese): People’s 

Literature Publishing House 

India (Malayalam): DC Books 

Italy: Voland Edizioni 




UK / Commonwealth (English World): Dedalus 




The Netherlands: Podium 

paperback: dtv 

Full English translation 


23

Inka Parei, The Cooling Station 

Die Kältezentrale, novel, 2011 

216pp, 44,300 words 

24 


»Literary perfection.« 

FraNkFurter Neue presse 

»Inka Parei writes the social novels of our times.« 

Berlin, 2006: A man worked as a mechanic 

in the building of the East German party 

newspaper Neues Deutschland during the 

1980s and later left the GDR. 

One day his ex-wife, Martha, calls him up. 

She is in hospital, waiting for an exact diagnosis 

of her cancer. He returns to Berlin 

and tries to reconstruct the events of several 

days in early May 1986. 

Was a Ukrainian truck Martha came into 

contact with contaminated with radiation? 

Why does the death of a workmate, for 

which he blamed himself for many years, 

suddenly appear dubious? 

photo: © Henry Mex 

Inka Parei 

born in Frankfurt / Main in 1967, has lived in Berlin since 

1987. Her first novel DIE SCHATTENBOXERIN has 

been translated into 13 languages and with her second 

WAS DUNKELHEIT WAR she won the Ingeborg 

Bachmann-Award. Inka Parei has received the New York 

Scholarship of the German Fund for Literature for 2013. 

Awards: 

Ingeborg Bachmann Award and Audience Award (Days of 

German Language Literature, Klagenfurt) 

Hans Erich Nossack Award 


Die Zeit 

Rights sold: 

India (English World): Seagull Books 


Spain (Castilian World): El Acantilado 

INKA PAREI Die 

Kältezentrale Roman 



Inka Parei, What Darkness Was 

Was Dunkelheit war, novel, 2005 

176pp, 29,000 words 

An old man lies in his bed near death, 

when he sees a suspicious-looking stranger 

in the stairway. The night seems interminable 

as each noise stirs up memories and 

fears. His observations throughout the 

gruelingly long night hint at his own life 

story, centered around his post-war guilt. 

Discovering the identity of the stranger in 

his house becomes the old man’s final mission 

in life. 

Rights sold: 


Poland: Prószynski 

Romania: Corint 


Turkey: Can Yayinlari 


Russia: Centrepolygraph 



Inka Parei, The Shadowboxing Woman 

Die Schattenboxerin, novel, 1999 

184pp, 37,000 words 

Berlin, the Nineties: When one day Dunkel 

disappears without a trace, Hell, living 

opposite her in a dilapidated side wing, 

decides to track her down. The trail leads 

to March, a young man who carries the 

spoils from a bank robbery around in his 

rucksack, but it also leads to the man, 

whose attack led Hell to become a shad owboxer. 

Rights sold: 


Romania: Corint 

Serbia: Fabrika knjiga 



Bulgaria: Colibri 

China (Chinese simplified): Shanghai 

Translation 

Croatia: Devedeset stupnjeva 

France: Éditions Pauvert 

Italy: instar libri 


Sweden: Norstedts 

Taiwan (Chinese complex): New Rain 

Turkey: Can Yayinlari 


paperbacks: S. Fischer, Random House / btb 

Inka Parei 

Was 

Dunkelheit 

war 

Roman 


Full English and Spanish 

translations 


25

Ulrike Almut Sandig, Thicket 

Dickicht, poems, 2011 

80pp, 5,800 words 

26 


»Every word is well considered, yet written with an enviable lightness.« 

In her new poetry volume DICKICHT 

Ulrike Almut Sandig is on her way to imaginary 

territories. The long journey to a 

magical fantastic south leads vertically 

photo: © Tanja Kernweiss 

Ulrike Almut Sandig 

born in 1979, lives in Berlin. She studied Religion and 

Indian Studies and subsequently enrolled at the German 

Institute for Literature in Leipzig. Previous publications 

include two poetry volumes, an audio book and radio 

plays. 


Award of Emerging Talent of the City of Meersburg 

Leonce and Lena Award 

Meran Lyric Award 

Silberschwein Award of the LIT.Cologne 

Independent Publishers’ Award (»Hotlist«) 

Neues DeutschlaND 

Ulrike Almut Sandig, Flamingos 

Flamingos, stories, 2010 

176pp, 36,900 words 

Her stories are characterised by the play of 

memory and the creative power of the imagination, 

not forgetting fairy tale elements, 

which she deploys with admirable sureness 

of touch and precision. 

down through the globe and, not least, 

also intersects with »the right way to the 

common meeting point, to the middle of 

the world«. 

Rights sold: 

Bulgaria: Black Flamingo 



India (Hindi): Saar Sansaar (first serial) 

Ukraine: Courier Cryvbasu (first serial) 


Projekt1 16.11.2009 9:31 Uhr Seite 1 

Ulrike Almut 

Sandig 

Flamingos 

Geschichten 



Jana Scheerer, My Inner Elvis 

Mein innerer Elvis, novel, 2010 

248pp, 57,600 words 

photo: © Franziska Buddrus 

Jana Scheerer 

born in Bochum in 1978, lives in Berlin. After studying 

German Literature, American Studies and Media Studies 

she now works in the Institute of German Studies at the 

University of Potsdam. 

Awards: 

Prenzlauer Berg Literature Award 

LUCHS Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature 

»Pointed and imaginative, exhilaration guaranteed.« 

Elvis lives. Antje is convinced of that. And 

she wants to meet him on her sixteenth 

birthday. And indeed, the family has decided 

to spend its summer holiday in the 

United States. There’s only one problem: 

they are going in the wrong direction. But 

her »friend« Nelly’s sudden disappearance 

opens up unsuspected possibilities: Graceland 

seems tangibly close. 


Rights sold: 


paperback: S. Fischer Schatzinsel 

stage rights (premiere): Deutsches Theater 

Göttingen 

Jana Scheerer, My Father, His Pig and Me 

Mein Vater, sein Schwein und Ich, novel, 2004 

148pp, 26,000 words 

Sometimes, family life resembles a madhouse. 

The model of »caring for senior 

citizens« leads to the diabolical plan of 

marooning an unwelcome pensioner on 

Mallorca, and the father employs a poor 

double to replace the daughter’s recent exboyfriend. 

On top of it all, the apartment 

looks like a pigpen – because it actually is 

one. 

Rights sold: 

Brazil: Rocco 

China (Chinese complex): Babel 

Thailand: Circle 




France: Buchet / Chastel 

Korea: Dulnyouk 

Russia: Limbus 


27

Silke Scheuermann, Other People’s Houses 

Die Häuser der anderen, novel, 2012 

264pp, 60,650 words 

28 


»Silke Scheuermann’s narrative tone is wonderfully poetic, 

with an underlying melancholy.« 

Christopher and Luisa have married and 

established themselves in life. They moved 

into a house on the edge of the city, a visible 

sign of their ambitions. It is here in the 

street on Frankfurt’s Kuhlmühlgraben that 

their marriage must prove itself, here that 

they must measure their dreams against 

what they have achieved. But not every- 

photo: © Kirsten Bucher 

Silke Scheuermann 

born in 1973, lives in Offenbach. She studied Drama and 

German Literature in Frankfurt, Leipzig and Paris. Her 

poems, short stories and novels have been translated into 

various languages. She was member of the Jury of the 

Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. 

For 2012/2013 Silke Scheuermann will be holding a Poetics 

lecturing post in Wiesbaden. 


Leonce and Lena Award 

Scholarship of the Arts and Culture Trust Baden-Württemberg 

Hermann Hesse Award for Emerging Talent 

Scholarships at Casa Baldi, Villa Aurora, Villa Massimo 

New York-Scholarship of the German Fund for Literature 

Focus 

thing can be brought about by will and 

self-dramatization, as they, just like the 

other inhabitants of the neighbourhood 

will have to learn. 


Die Häuser der anderen 



Silke Scheuermann, Shanghai Performance 

Shangai Performance, novel, 2011 

312pp, 71,000 words 

The famous performance artist Margot 

Wincraft works with models all over the 

world. When one day she accepts an offer 

from a small gallery in Shanghai to put on 

a new performance there, her assistant 

Luisa cannot see much in the project – to 

her China as an art market is past its sellby 

date. And so she does not understand 

either why Margot suddenly starts behaving 

so strangely. 

Rights sold: 

Bulgaria: Atlantis 

Sweden: Weyler Bokförlag 


Silke Scheuermann, The Hour Between Dog 

and Wolf 

Die Stunde zwischen Hund und Wolf, novel, 2007 

174pp, 38,800 words 

Two sisters meet again after a long es - 

t rangement. Ines, an impulsive artist, needs 

help, but is met with cold rejection because 

her sister has no desire to resume her old 

role as Ines’s rescuer. She wants nothing 

more to do with her sister’s world and yet 

increasingly is fascinated by it. At the outset 

of an affair with Ines’s boyfriend, she 

loses herself in a dubious, delirious state of 

happiness – which leads her back to Ines in 

an unexpected way. 

Rights sold: 

Brazil: Record 



Italy: Voland 

Mexico (Castilian / Latin America): sextopiso 

The Netherlands: Cossée 

Spain (Castilian / Spain): Siruela 







first serial: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 

Silke 

Scheuermann 

Shanghai 

Performance 


English and Spanish 



DIE STUNDE 

ZWISCHEN 

HUND UND WOLF 


Full Italian and Spanish 

translations 


29

Silke Scheuermann, Rich Girls 

Reiche Mädchen, stories, 2005 

164pp, 35,400 words 

In seven luminous stories of love and 

loss, loneliness and desperation, Silke 

Scheuermann’s debut collection paints a 

vivid and poignant picture of a generation 

searching for identity. Unfulfilled desire, 

stalled communication, and the vagaries of 

memory are the themes woven through the 

spare stories in this book. 

30 


Rights sold: 


Italy: Voland 


Syria (Arabic World): Cadmus 



China (Chinese simplified): New Star 

The Netherlands: Cossée 


Thailand: Circle (first serial) 


»Silke Scheuermann is a big talent, she is one of German literature’s 

great hopes – hence hope for us readers to learn more 

about us and our times. A brilliant piece of literature. 

Not since Judith Hermann’s stories did I read anything so beautiful.« 

Die Welt – Book oF the Week 

»One of the most talented young authors … 

Happiness and similar illusions of life cannot possibly 

be put into more beautiful words than these.« 


Full Italian translation 


Margit Schreiner, The Beasts of Paris 

Die Tiere von Paris, novel, 2011 

192pp, 40,000 words 

A woman reports on the complicated 

three-way relationship between herself, her 

ex-husband and their daughter. The narrator, 

an academic and non-fiction author, 

attempts to cope with life as a single 

mother without self-pity. Yet piece by 

piece, the catastrophe of a divorced family 

photo: © Oktavia Schreiner 

Margit Schreiner 

born in Linz, Austria, in 1953, is currently living there again 

after many years in Tokyo, Paris, Rome and Berlin. She has 

won various scholarships and awards for her writing. 

Awards: 

Cultural Award of the Province of Upper Austria 

Arts Award of the City of Linz 

Austrian State Award for Literature (honorary prize) 

»Her prose reads like music.« 

NDr-kultur 

is revealed. Torn between her parents, the 

daughter has to find her own way. 

Rights sold: 

India (Hindi): Saar Sansaar 

Margit Schreiner, Does Thomas Bernhard 

write Women’s Literature? On literature, 

life, and other delusions 

Schreibt Thomas Bernhard Frauenliteratur? Über Literatur, das Leben und andere 

Täuschungen, essays, 2008 

320pp, 67,200 words 

This comprehensive collection of Margit 

Schreiner’s essays and prose texts is a very 

welcome addition to her novels and stories. 

Margit 

Schreiner 

Die Tiere 

von Paris 

Roman 


31

Margit Schreiner, Trespass 

Haus, Friedens, Bruch, novel, 2007 

248pp, 48,200 words 

Following on from the huge success of 

HAUS, FRAUEN, SEX comes a new, rousing 

piece of gender prose from the pen of 

one of the greatest Austrian authors: 

merciless, dramatic, provocative, bitterly 

angry – and funny. 

32 


Rights sold: 




book club (Austria): Donauland 

first serial: Perlentaucher, Volltext (Austria) 

Margit Schreiner, Book of Disillusionments 

Buch der Enttäuschungen, novel, 2005 

176pp, 34,000 words 

What is life? Childhood in which the possibilities 

seem endless and we embark on a 

journey of discovery, misunderstood, 

however, by our parents? Does life begin at 

thirty when we are making decisions – and 

when at the same time there is gnawing 

uncertainty that they could be the wrong 

ones? Or at fifty when we are paying the 

price for those decisions and turning into 

whiners? 

Rights sold: 

Turkey: Metis 




Margit Schreiner, They Call it Love 

Heisst lieben, novel, 2003 

152pp 

»In the end we kill our mothers because we 

don’t want to tell any more lies«, begins 

HEISST LIEBEN by Margit Schreiner. She 

writes about the death of a mother, about 

an imaginary love, a wedding in Italy and 

the birth of a daughter. 

Rights sold: 


Fritz Senn, Even more about Joyce 

Noch mehr über Joyce, essays, 2012 

328pp, 63,200 words 

»Light-handed brilliance.« 

FraNFurter allgemeiNe ZeituNg 

»Elegant and with unobtrusive wit. Senn explains in a highly 

competent way the nuances and secrets of ›Ulysses‹ and ›Finnegan’s 

Wake‹, without falling into an abstract language and without letting 

himself being tied to any dogmata. His book is a masterpiece of 

secondary literature about Joyce and it reads with intellectual pleasure.« 

Joyce, so it is often said, is difficult. Fritz 

Senn, a doyen of Joyce research and director 

of the James Joyce Foundation Zurich, 

doesn’t deny it. With his cheerful scholarship, 

which does without footnotes and the 

rest of the academic apparatus, he nevertheless 

encourages the reader to cast off his 

or her timidity in the face of the great Irish 

writer. 

photo: © James Joyce Stiftung Zürich 

Fritz Senn 

born 1928 in Basel, has a world-wide reputation as a Joyce 

expert. He was president of the International James Joyce 

Foundation and co-editor of the Frankfurt Joyce Edition. 

Since 1985 he has been director of the James Joyce 

Foundation Zurich. 

DeNkBilDer 

A unique introduction to the work of 

perhaps the most famous author of literary 

modernism for all curious and adventurous 

readers! 

Fritz Senn 

Noch mehr 

über Joyce 


33

Burkhard Spinnen, Nevena 

Nevena, novel, 2012 

384pp, 95,280 words 

34 


»The exceptionally gifted observer of everyday life.« 

Henner sometimes thinks that he has lost 

his son to an internet computer game. For 

months, as the Blood Elf Pocahonta, seventeen-year-old 

Patrick has been spending 

every free minute with Mr Smith, the 

Barbarian. Mr Smith is Nevena, a seventeen-year-old 

girl who supposedly lives in 

Belgrade. In e-mails to Patrick she describes 

a world that he has lost since his 

mother’s death. 

photo: © Hermann Köhler 

Burkhard Spinnen 

was born in 1956 and lives in Münster. He has received 

many awards for his work and is Head of the Jury for the 

prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Award at the Days of 

German Language Literature held annually in Klagenfurt, 

Austria. 


ZDF-aspekte Award 

Kranichstein Literature Award 

Adenauer Literary Award 

Oldenburg Young Adult Literature Award 

Lower Rhine Literature Award 

German Audio Book Award 

sterN 

When Nevena suddenly disappears, 

Henner and Patrick set off on a journey 

that takes them through the terrible 

history of former Yugoslavia and, unexpectedly, 

becomes an exciting journey 

into their own identities. 

Burkhard 

Spinnen 

Nevena 

Roman 


Burkhard Spinnen, Müller to the Third Power 

Müller hoch Drei, novel, 2009 

296pp, 58,000 words 

Seven days before his 14th birthday, Paul 

Müller’s parents abandon him. They are 

going on a tour around the world. Paul is 

now supposed to grow up fast and get 

along on his own. But this is only the 

beginning. Suddenly Paul’s sheltered life in 

sleepy Neustadt seems to have gone topsyturvy. 

An untrained dog with a dangerous 

appetite and his twin sister, Paula burst 

into his confusion in rapid succession. Paul 

and Paula, together with the dog Piet, 

begin an adventure-filled journey. 

Rights sold: 

Indonesia: Gramedia 

paperback: Random House / Omnibus 

audio book: Hörbuch Hamburg 

Burkhard Spinnen, The Substitute Goalie 

Der Reservetorwart, stories, 2004 

216pp, 41,400 words 

A professional footballer resigns himself to 

being only a reserve. A married man simulates 

the break-up of his marriage, a rock 

fan half-heartedly goes in search of his old 

idol. And a would-be murderer of tyrants, 

prepared to go to any lengths, waits on for 

a suitable victim. Burkhard Spinnen’s 

heroes are men who have come to terms 

with a middling way of life and the middle 

road is, and remains, the most dangerous 

of all. 

Rights sold: 



The Netherlands: Vrij Nederland (first serial) 



35

Burkhard Spinnen, The Black Ridge. 

The Story of Mid-Sized Entrepreneur 

Walter Lindenmaier from Laupheim 

Der schwarze Grat. Die Geschichte des mittelständigen Unternehmers 

Walter Lindenmaier aus Laupheim, 2003, 312pp 

DER SCHWARZE GRAT opens the door 

to the authentic life of an entrepreneur and 

to a real existing firm. It deals with the 

sometimes spectacular ups and downs, with 

the very individual and extremely exciting 

story of a family firm. Simultaneously, the 

economic history of the Federal Republic of 

Germany appears from its beginnings 

amongst the rubble of war up to the present 

day beneath the sword of Damocles provided 

by globalisation. 

36 


DER SCHWARZE GRAT told from a 

documentary angle, is a lesson about success 

and failure, about the power and 

weakness of the entrepreneur and in particular 

about the human factor of the 

economy. 

Rights sold: 

Burkhard Spinnen, 

The Great Rabbit Revenge Plan 

Belgische Riesen, novel, 2000 

292pp, 53,250 words 

Konrad Bantelmann is no expert when it 

comes to divorce. But Friederike, Fridz to 

her friends, is unfortunately all too well 

acquainted with it as her parents have just 

separated. For some time now Konrad has 

successfully avoided problems in general 

and girls in particular, but by a stroke of 

misfortune he somehow plants in Fridz’s 

mind the idea of seeking revenge on her 

father’s girlfriend. Nor is that the worst of 

it – he himself, peace-loving model son that 

he is, is dragged into organising this turbulent 

red-headed girl’s crusade of vengeance. 

And their secret weapon is nothing other 

than an extraordinarily large rabbit. 

»A stroke of luck for the German 

Youth Literature.« 

Jury for the German Youth 

Literature Award 


Rights sold: 

Brazil: Companhia das Letras 

Japan: Tokuma Shoten 

Korea: Dulnyouk 


UK / Commonwealth: Little Island 

paperback: Random House / Omnibus 


China (simplified Chinese): Shanghai 

Translation 

Georgia: Ibis 

Hungary: Europa 

Italy: Fabbri RCS Rizzoli 

Poland: Bertelsmann Media 

Spain (Castilian World): Ediciones Siruela 

Taiwan (Chinese complex): New Sprouts 

audio book: Patmos 



»The Jewish Buddenbrooks.« FraNkFurter allgemeiNe ZeituNg 

Silvia Tennenbaum, Yesterday’s Streets 

Straßen von gestern, novel, 2012 

656pp, 202,400 words 

Lene Wertheim is born in 1903, in 

Frankfurt. The Wertheims are an old-established 

Jewish family with firm principles: 

Christmas is celebrated as a splendid family 

festival – to the dismay of the orthodox 

relatives. In 1938, in Paris, Lene obtains 

visas for the USA for herself, her husband 

and her daughter. But many of the 

Wertheims are unable to escape the Nazis 

in time. 

photo: © Silvia Tennenbaum 

Silvia Tennenbaum 

was born in Frankfurt in 1928 and emigrated to the 

United States in 1938. She studied art history at Columbia 

University and worked as an art critic. Her first novel, 

»Rachel, the Rabbi’s Wife«, was published in the USA in 

1978 and immediately became a bestseller. Silvia 

Tennenbaum lives on Long Island. 

Awards: 

Goethe-Medal of the City of Frankfurt am Main 

In vivid images Silvia Tennenbaum brings 

to life the rise of a Jewish family in the 

German Empire, follows their entwined 

paths through the Weimar Republic and 

powerfully describes flight and death in 

the »Third Reich«, expulsion and rescue. 

A great epic novel of our times. 

Rights sold: 

The Netherlands: Nieuw Amsterdam 


audiobook: Audiobuch 

»A sleek, full-bodied saga overall, intensified throughout by the Frankfurt-born author’s 

unmistakable personal involvement.« 

Kirkus Reviews 

»An excellently written novel. Full of lovingly described places the effect of hearing about 

the way in which the Jews have been deprived of their rights on all fronts is even bigger 

against this backdrop. And when unjustness, death and murder is overrunning Frankfurt 

it just feels to us now the way it must have to the Wertheims then.« 

Frankfurter Allgemeine 

Sonntagszeitung 

Silvia Tennenbaum 

Straßen 

von gestern 

Roman 


Full English original 

37

Simon Urban, Plan D 

Plan D, novel, 2011 

552pp, 110,000 words 

38 


»Let’s rejoice in this new author.« Die Zeit 

»Powerfully eloquent and highly exciting, serious and entertaining, 

political and intimate, brutal and harshly affectionate.« 

What if German reunification had never 

happened? 

East Berlin, 2011: The Wall is still in place, 

Egon Krenz has been in power for 22 

years, and the German Democratic 

Republic is on the brink of bankruptcy 

while West Germany enjoys all the trappings 

of capitalism. The last hope for 

socialism is the upcoming economic talk 

with the West German chancellor Oskar 

Lafontaine. 

But then a former government advisor is 

found hanged in the forest – and all 

the leads suggest that his killers come from 

the ranks of the Stasi. Detective Martin 

photo: © Fedja Kehl 

Simon Urban 

was born in Hagen, West Germany, in 1975. After studying 

German Literature in Münster and training at the renowned 

copywriter school Texterschmiede Hamburg, he studied 

Creative Writing at the German Institute for Literature in 

Leipzig. Simon Urban lives in Hamburg and Techau (East 

Holstein). He currently works as a copywriter for the 

leading creative agency Jung von Matt. 


Stuttgart Crime Award for Best Debut Crime Novel 

Ruhr Region Emerging Writers Award 

Limburg Award 

Neue Zürcher ZeituNg am soNNtag 

Wegener from the People’s Police and 

his West German counterpart Richard 

Brendel set out to find the killers. 

Rights sold: 


Czech Republic: Odeon / Euromedia (preempt) 

France: Éditions Stock 

Italy: Mondadori (pre-empt) 

Norway: Forlaget Press 

Romania: RAO 

Spain (Castilian World): Grijalbo / Random 

House Mondadori (pre-empt) 

UK / Commonwealth: Harvill Secker / Random 

House 

paperback: Random House / btb (pre-empt) 

audio book: Random House Audio 

Simon 

URban 

PlanD 

Roman 

Schöffling & co. 


photo: © Jürgen Bauer 

Ror Wolf 

born in 1932, is one of the most idiosyncratic and 

prominent authors of German literature after 1945. 

He is also a master of fine arts. Since the early sixties 

he creates surrealistic collages. His radio dramas count 

among the most successful of German radio plays. 

Awards: 

Bremen Literature Award 

Heimito von Doderer Award 

Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Award 

Main Award of the Bavarian Academy of Arts 

Friedrich Hölderlin Award 

»Ror Wolf has created an opus that is singular in its powerful visual 

intricateness, its wild, chilly humour, and its magical simulation of 

reality. He is a classic of postmodern literature.« 


Ror Wolf, The Advantages of Darkness 

Die Vorzüge der Dunkelheit, prose, 2012 

272pp, 21,400 words 

The novel reports on the departure of the 

narrator into an unleashed reality, of his 

journey through rampant, seemingly apocalyptic 

landscapes inhabited by nameless, 

voracious creatures, and his meetings with 

mysterious ladies in station hotels and in 

beer halls. The continents change within 

the batting of an eyelid. Detached from 

Ror Wolf, Continuation of the Report 

Fortsetzung des Berichts, prose, 2010 

296pp, 62,400 words 

FORTSETZUNG DES BERICHTS, Ror 

Wolf’s debut, first published in 1964, has 

not lost anything of its subversive restlessness 

and disturbing pictorial force. 

space and time a part of the unique universe 

of Ror Wolf emerges: a cabinet of 

curiosities at once nightmarish and fascinating, 

full of false bottoms, concealed 

doors and suddenly appearing chasms. 

Rights sold: 

audio book: parlando 

Rights sold: 

newspaper edition: Süddeutsche Zeitung 

Bibliothek 

ROR WOLF 

DIE VORZÜGE 

DER DUNKELHEIT 

Neunundzwanzig Versuche 

die Welt zu verschlingen 

Horrorroman 

bei Schöffling & Co. 

in Frankfurt am Main 

39

Ror Wolf, Various Ways of Losing One’s 

Peace of Mind. 

Verschiedene Möglichkeiten, die Ruhe zu verlieren, prose, 2008 

208pp, 49,500 words 

The anthology is an invitation to make 

the acquaintance of a unique, distinctive 

author – or to rediscover him. 

Ror Wolf, Two or Three Years Later. 

Forty-nine Digressions 

Zwei oder drei Jahre später. Neunundvierzig Ausschweifungen, prose, 2007 

200pp, 36,200 words 

»Seldom in German literature has the seemingly 

solid ground of traditional narrative 

been so earthshakingly shattered.« 

Die ZEIT 

40 


Rights sold: 

USA (English World): Open Letter Books 

audio book: parlando 

Ror Wolf, Raoul Tranchirer’s Observations 

on Silence 

Raoul Tranchirers Bemerkungen über die Stille, prose, 2005 

160pp, 8,200 words 

Raoul Tranchirers BEMERKUNGEN 

ÜBER DIE STILLE is the keystone to the 

comprehensive Encyclopedia for Intrepid 

Readers, a lexicon comprising purely of 

literature: it brings the reader to his or her 

senses, a radical examination of the world. 

An indispensable book for all lovers of the 

unconventional elements of literature, 

complemented by the unmistakable collages 

of the author who has long-since 

enjoyed cult status in Germany. 

French sample translation 



Juli Zeh, Decompression 

Nullzeit, novel, 2012 

256pp, 62,500 words 

»Playfully light, clever, cool, quick and wicked.« 

Die Zeit 

» ›The world belongs to those who can explain it‹, 

claims Juli Zeh – and she can.« 

Actress Jola has actually come to the island 

with her partner Theo to prepare for her 

next part. When she meets Sven, a harmless 

flirtation turns into a deadly triangle 

that sweeps away all existing rules. Truth 

and lies, perpetrators and victims swap 

places. Sven has left Germany and taken 

on a life as diving instructor on the island. 

Don’t get involved in other people’s problems 

– that’s his motto. Now Sven has to 

experience what it’s like to go from witness 

to accomplice. Until he finally understands 

photo: © David Finck 

Juli Zeh 

was born in 1974 and lives in Brandenburg. She has a 

doctorate in International Law, worked with the UN in New 

York, and completed her studies at the German Institute for 

Literature in Leipzig, where she later held a lecturing post. 

She writes theatre plays, publishes widely in newspapers and 

magazines and is a member of the PEN club. Altogether her 

work has been translated into 35 languages. 


German Book Prize (most successful debut) 

Bremen Literature Prize 

Rauris Literature Prize 

Per Olov Enquist-Award 

Prix des Cévennes for Best European Novel 

haNNoversche allgemeiNe ZeituNg 

that he is only part of a murderous game 

in which he never had a chance. 

Rights sold: 

France: Actes Sud 

Korea: Minumsa 



UK: Random House / HarvillSecker 

US: Random House / Nan Talese 


audio book: Der Audio Verlag 


Juli zeh 

nullzeit 

Roman 

Schöffling & co. 


41

Juli Zeh, The Method 

Corpus Delicti, novel, 2009, 272pp, 46,600 words 

Mia Holl lives in a state governed by The 

Method, where good health is the highest 

duty of the citizen. Everyone must submit 

medical data to the authorities. Mia is a 

successful scientist who is outwardly 

obedient but with an intellect that marks 

her as subversive. Convinced that her brother 

has been wrongfully convicted of a 

terrible crime, Mia comes up against the 

full force of a regime determined to control 

every aspect of its citizens’ lives. 

Rights sold: 



Croatia: Fraktura 

Denmark: Samleren / Rosinante 

Juli Zeh, Dark Matter 

Schilf, novel, 2007, 384pp, 84,000 words 

Against the backdrop of Germany and 

Switzerland, two physicists begin a dangerous 

dance of distrust. Friends since their 

university days, when they were aspiring 

Nobel Award candidates, they now interact 

in an atmosphere of tension. When 

Sebastian’s son, Liam, is apparently kidnapped, 

their fragile friendship is further 

tested. Superintendent Schilf discerns a web 

of blackmail, while at the same time the 

reality of his personal life falls into doubt. 

Rights sold: 


China (Chinese simplified): Shanghai 99 

Czech Republic: Odeon / Euromedia 

Denmark: Samleren / Rosinante 


Israel: Keter 

Italy: Baldini 

42 



Italy: Ponte Alle Grazie 



Poland: W.A.B. 

Russia: Azbooka 

Spain (Castilian World): Random House 

Mondadori 


Taiwan (Chinese complex): Linking 

Publishing 

Turkey: Metis 

UK / Commonwealth excl. Canada: Random 

House / HarvillSecker 



film rights: cine plus 



Japan: Hayakawa Shobo 




Romania: Polirom 



Taiwan (Chinese complex): The Eurasian 

Publishing Group 

Turkey: Metis 

UK / Commonwealth: Random House UK / 

Harvill Secker 

US: Random House US / Nan Talese 



book club: Bertelsmann Club, 

Buchgemeinschaft Donauland 

film rights: X-Filme 

stage adaptation (world premiere): 

Münchner Volkstheater 




Full English and French 

translations 

Juli Zeh, Gaming Instinct 

Spieltrieb, novel, 2004, 576pp, 151,000 words 

This is the breath-taking story of highschool 

students Ada and Alev and their 

malicious game: Sex, seduction and power, 

hate and love – until the game turns into 

bitter reality and performs acts which 

overstep all moral bounds, all human compassion, 

and are beyond any form of predictable 

behaviour. 

Rights sold: 


Brazil (stage rights): Paso d’Arte / CIA Teatro 

Epigenia 

France: Actes Sud / Babel 

Georgia: Ibis 


Norway: Gyldendal 

Juli Zeh, Eagles and Angels 

Adler und Engel, novel, 2001, 448pp, 104,400 words 

Jessie is dead. She shot herself while on the 

phone to Max. At school a born loser, 

Max turned himself into his own life’s project: 

a successful lawyer. But then Jessie 

cropped up again and with her the only 

genuine feeling in Max’s life: bottomless 

love for the daughter of a drug-dealer. 

Rights sold: 


Canada: Anansi 

China (Chinese simplified): Beijing Lire 


Israel: Keter 

Latvia: Mansards 

Lithuania: baltos lankos 



Slovenia: Ucila 

Turkey: Metis 

Ukraine: Nora-Druk 


film rights: Olga Film 

audio book: Random House Audio 


Slovenia: Ucila 


Turkey: Metis 



stage adaptation (world premiere): 

Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg) 

film rights: optioned 


Czech Republic: Odeon 

Denmark: Samleren 

Greece: Opus Magnum 

Italy: Fazi 

Spain (Castilian World): Kailas 

Sweden (1st ed.): Norstedts 



Bulgaria: Colibri 

Croatia: Durieux 

Czech Republic: Odeon 

Denmark: Rosinante 

Finland: Tammi 

France: Belfond, Editions 10 / 18 

Georgia: Ibis 

Greece: Opus Magnum 

Hungary: Athenaeum 2000 

Italy: Fazi 

Macedonia (Albanian): Asdreni 

The Netherlands (1st ed.): Van Gennep 

Norway: Gyldendal 

Polen: W.A.B. 

Portugal: Guimarães 

Romania: Niculescu 

Russia (1st ed.): Limbus 

Serbia: Dereta 

Spain (Castilian World): Siruela 

Spain (Catalan): Empúries 

Sweden: Norstedts 

UK / Commonwealth: Granta 

US: Granta 

book club: Bertelsmann Club, 

Buchgemeinschaft Donauland 


Full French, Italian and 

Spanish translations 



43

44 

Memoir 

»A spectacular discovery of documents from the NS era. 

An opulent and very personal book 

about the deportation of Frankfurt Jews.« 

Inge Geiler, Our Days are Like a Shadow 

Wie ein Schatten sind unsere Tage, memoir, 2012 

528pp, 94,200 words 

One day, in a wall panel behind the radiator 

in her flat, Inge Geiler finds a bundle 

of papers. They are loose notes, photographs, 

newspapers, postcards and letters, 

addressed to a couple who had lived in 

that room in the early 1940s. Meier and 

Elise Grünbaum had moved to a Jewish 

old people’s home in Frankfurt. From there 

they rented a room in the Jewish Nussbaum 

pension, where they lived until their depor- 

photo: Oliver Schleiter-Hofer 

Inge Geiler 

was born in Mainz in 1935. After an apprenticeship 

in Zurich, Geiler moved to Frankfurt / Main in 1957, 

studied at Frankfurt School of Clothing and Fashion and 

subsequently taught there until 1963. 

After her marriage she worked in her husband’s practice, 

where she established her first contacts with returning 

Jewish immigrants. 

FraNkFurter Neue presse 

»A moving book.« 

BilD 

tation to Theresienstadt. Only years later 

did Inge Geiler find the time to follow the 

traces of her »guests«. Embedded in the 

history of the 19th and 20th centuries, 

Inge Geiler tells the very moving story of 

the Grünbaum family, from its origins in 

Geisa and Forchheim to the USA, where 

descendants of the far-ranging family live 

today. 

photo: Anita Schiffer-Fuchs 

Memoir 

Reinhard Kaiser 

born in 1950, lives as translator, editor and author in 

Frankfurt / Main. He received various awards for his work, 

amongst which the German Youth Literature Award and 

the Ernst Maria Ledig-Rowohlt-Award for translation. 


Lower Rhine Literature Award 

Geschwister Scholl Award 

German Youth Literature Award 

Reinhard Kaiser, »Let this Child Live«. 

The Writings of Helene Holzman 1941–1944 

»Dies Kind soll leben«. Die Aufzeichnungen der Helene Holzman 1941–1944, 

memoir, 2000, 416pp, 99,000 words 

This is the personal testimony of a woman 

who survived three years of Nazi occupation 

in Lithuania and escaped deportation 

to Russia’s Caucasus region, which became 

the fate of many German Jews who fell 

into the hands of the Russians. 

Rights sold: 

Spain (Castillian World): Galaxia Gutenberg, 

Circulo de Lectores, Ediciones el Andén 

Reinhard Kaiser, Paper Kisses 

Sweden: Lind och Co. 


China (Chinese simplified): Worker 

Publishing House 


Italy: Marsilio 

Lithuania: baltos lankos 

Poland: Bertelsmann Media 

Russia: New Literary Review 

paperback: Ullstein/ List 

Königskinder. Eine wahre Liebe, memoir, 1996, 128pp, 25,600 words 

Rudolf Kaufmann, a young Jewish geologist, 

met Ingeborg Magnusson, a young 

Swede, in Italy in 1935, and the two quickly 

fell in love. They spent just a few days together 

before they had to part. After that 

they had to make do with an exchange of 

letters - telling the story of a love that blossomed 

under traumatic circumstances. 

Rights sold: 

Czech Republic: Kartuziánské nakladatelství 

Spain (Castilian World): Alba Editorial 

US (English World): Other Press 


Denmark: Tyskforlaget 

France: Autrement 

Greece: Boukoumanis 

Italy: Longanesi, TEA (paperback) / 

Mondadori bookclub 

Japan: Hakushuisha 

Korea: Motive Publishing 

Sweden: Alfabeta 

Taiwan (Chinese complex): New Sprouts 

paperbacks: S. Fischer, Berlin Verlag 

audio book: der Diwan 


Full English, French and 

Spanish translations 

45

Ana Novac, The Beautiful Days of My Youth 

Die schönen Tage meiner Jugend, memoir, 2009 

320pp, 62,000 words 

DIE SCHÖNEN TAGE MEINER JUGEND 

is a unique document: the diary of a fourteen-year-old 

Jewish girl from Transylvania, 

which she kept in Auschwitz and other 

concentration camps. Neither a subsequently 

remembered account nor a non-fiction 

novel, it presents authentic testimony that 

even horror has an everyday dimension. 

46 

photo: David Ignazewski 

Memoir Memoir 

Ana Novac 

born in Transylvania (Romania) in 1929, was deported 

to Auschwitz in 1944. Transferred from one camp to the 

next, she lived to witness the liberation in May 1945. After 

periods in Bucharest and Berlin, Ana Novac settled in Paris, 

where she published a number of novels and was also a 

noted playwright. She died in March 2010. 

»It is a first-grade literary testimony 

of earth-shaking momentum.« 

Welt am soNNtag 

»This book is an invaluable treasure.« 

JüDische ZeituNg 

Rights sold: 

Brazil: Companhia das Letras 

Czech Republic: Paseka 

Denmark: People‘s Press 

France: Gallimard / Folio 


Japan: Hakusuisha 

The Netherlands: Signatuur (pre-empt) 

Romania: Editura Dacia 

Spain (Castilian World): Destino 



US: Henry Holt 

Full English and French 

translations 

Valentin Senger, Kaiserhofstrasse 12 

Kaiserhofstrasse 12, memoir, 2010 

320pp, 71,600 words 

»An amazing story.« 

the caNaDiaN JeWish NeWs 

»An authentic piece of contemporary history that, very clearly, 

very vividly, and with a hint of humour, tells much more about 

everyday life in the Third Reich than a stack of history books.« 

The 1930’s: On Kaiserhofstrasse in 

Frankfurt / Main live actors, transvestites, 

ladies of easy virtue, members of student 

fraternities – and the Senger family. 

Because they were Jews and Communists 

they had fled Tsarist Russia and found a 

new home here – until Adolf Hitler seizes 

power in 1933. Valentin Senger’s mother 

recognises the seriousness of the situation 

early on. With forged documents she conceals 

the traces of her origin. But the fear 

of being uncovered is now with the family 

every day. 

photo: Manfred Schad 

Valentin Senger 

born in Frankfurt / Main in 1918, worked as a technical 

designer after training as a draughtsman. After the Second 

World War he became a journalist and worked first for the 

Sozialistische Volkszeitung and later for the Hessischer 

Rundfunk. Valentin Senger died in Frankfurt / Main in 

1997. 

Zeit magaZiN 

Rights sold: 


Israel: Kinneret-Zmora 

Italy: Neri Pozza 

audio book: Eichborn 



The Netherlands: De Kern 

Norway: Aschehoug 

Sweden: Tryckt Hos Schmidt 

UK / Commonwealth: Sidgwick and Jackson 

US: Dutton 

Senger_Kaiserhofstr_Titel.qxd 10.11.2009 10:35 Uhr Seite 1 

Valentin Senger 

Kaiserhofstraße 12 



47

48 

Garden 

Paula Almqvist, Everything in the Garden 

Was mir blüht, literary garden prose, 2012 

176pp, 22,500 words 

WAS MIR BLÜHT now presents the 

second volume of stories from Paula 

Almqvist’s garden. Whether she’s writing 

about taste deserts, about eternal gardeners, 

about fashionable blooms and male 

paradises (huts!), about de luxe gardening 

photo: Paula Almqvist 

Paula Almqvist 

was a reporter and columnist for STERN magazine and 

writes a gardening column for BRIGITTE woman. 

She also publishes books which deal playfully with 

women’s themes. Paula Almqvist lives and gardens in 

Hamburg and in the Normandy. 

Awards: 

Egon Erwin Kisch Award 

»An absolutely pleasant read.« 

garteNliteratur.De 

tools or the gardener as party-pooper: 

»Hardly anyone writes as entertainingly 

about garden pleasures and sorrows as 

Paula Almqvist«, writes a reviewer in 

BLOOM’S. 

Paula Almqvist, News from My Garden 

Mitteilungen aus meinem Garten, literary garden prose, 2011 

168pp, 23,500 words 

Paula Almqvist simply seems to know 

what is preoccupying us in our gardens. 

When, with the best intentions, you go to 

your flowerbeds and then everything turns 

out differently from what you planned, 

you read in her consoling column that it is 

just the same for her. When you make fun 

of men with chainsaws, that’s what she 

writes about. When your thoughts turn to 

murder, because snails like fresh lettuce 

just as much as you do, once again you 

find yourself in good hands. 


Was mir blüht 



Mitteilungen 

aus meinem Garten 

Schöffl ing & Co. 

Elsemarie Maletzke, Garden Happiness 

Gartenglück, literary garden prose, 2010 

160pp, 22,000 words 

Elsemarie Maletzke has not only made a 

name for herself with major biographies of 

the Brontës, Jane Austen and Elizabeth 

Bowen. She has also written stories about 

Peter Würth, Go for Green 

Alles auf Grün, literary garden prose, 2012 

112pp, 14,500 words 

Architects, cooks, gardeners, furniture 

designers, roofers, town planners, researchers, 

agricultural economists and guerrilla 

gardeners – they all contribute ideas to 

making our technology-dependent world 

worth living in and to preserving it. 

photo: Elsemarie Maletzke 

photo: Peter Würth 

Garden 

Elsemarie Maletzke 

born in 1947, lives and works as a travel writer and author in 

Frankfurt / Main. She is also a specialist in English-language 

literature and an acclaimed biographer of female writers of the 

19th / 20th century, like Elizabeth Bowen and Jane Austen. 

her travels to European gardens all across 

the continent which are now brought to - 

gether in this book for the first time. 

»A clever, humorously-ironic ›greenology‹ 

about the yearning for nature.« 

Brigitte WomaN 

ALLES AUF GRÜN provides answers to 

the question, how urban people in the 21st 

century can treat »their« green, how they 

can use it intensively and increase it. 

Elsemarie Maletzke 

Gartenglück 

Schöffl ing & Co. 

Peter Würth 

born in Munich in 1954, is journalist, documentary film-maker, 

author and lives in Hamburg. 

Peter Würth 

Alles auf Grün 


49


Contact 

50 

About us 

The authors in the focus – it is this simple credo that makes all the difference, and that has 

won Schöffling & Co. its reputation of being »the publishing house that plays a significant 

role in the shaping of Germany’s literary future« (SPIEGEL online). Founded in November 

1993, Schöffling & Co. remains one of Germany’s few independent publishers of contemporary 

literature. Run by its founder and sole owner, Klaus Schöffling, it has long since 

emerged as one of Germany’s most interesting and innovative literary publishing houses with 

a tightly-woven international network. 

Schöffling & Co. has published more than 350 titles of more than 120 authors. Among them 

are established and renowned voices like Helga M. Novak and Ror Wolf, but we have also 

led new German voices like Juli Zeh from their very beginnings to great acclaim. Their success 

encourages us to continue our quest for young talents. 

Our line of German contemporary fiction is complemented by an ever-growing list of contemporary 

authors in translation, among them David Albahari, Jennifer Egan, Mario 

Fortunato, Gaute Heivoll, Miljenko Jergović, Morten Ramsland, Olga Tokarczuk or Juan 

Gabriel Vásquez. 

Rediscoveries of pivotal modern novels and books reverberating around urgent topics of 

contemporary history once more put the focus on important authors and unique voices that 

resound in the present. 

We always provide English sample translations, which you can download from our website 

http://www.schoeffling.de/content/foreignrights/list-new.html (where you will also find our 

complete catalogue) or request directly from us: 

Kathrin Scheel 

Foreign Rights, Film Rights 

kathrin.scheel@schoeffling.de 

phone: +49 69 92 07 87 16 

fax: +49 69 92 07 87 20 

Kristina Wittkopf 

Domestic Rights, Permissions 

kristina.wittkopf@schoeffling.de 

phone: +49 69 92 07 87 27 

fax: +49 69 92 07 87 20 

Anke Grahl (on maternity leave until February 2013) 

Schöffling & Co. Kaiserstraße 79 D-60329 Frankfurt / Main 

www.schoeffling.de

Schöffling & Co. Fall 2012

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