»By no means was Teresa what one would call a monastic creature. She was bored as much by the religious books as by the daily recitation of the prayers. Men should be happy down to the heart and cheer up the others, that was her sole wish.«

Interviews are an art form in and of themselves – the German journalist Thomas David talks in depth with the great figures of English-language literature of the past twenty years.

Featuring a foreword by Graham Swift.

Thomas David has been in a continuing conversation with contemporary writers since the mid-1990s. He has interviewed big names on individual novels, their writing practice and the social and political subjects of their times. The result is a book on what is essential, not just in writing but also in life.

Thomas David in conversation with
John Banville, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Bret Easton Ellis, Patricia Highsmith, John Irving, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Ottessa Moshfegh, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, James Salter, Zadie Smith, Muriel Spark, Graham Swift and William Trevor.

A book about a man who will not let anyone keep him down: neither as a German Jew in Europe nor as a homosexual in America.

Two generations separate them, but a friendship unites them: Friedrich Dönhoff (45) and Gerald B. Rosenstein, known as Jerry (86). In summer 2013 they set off on a road trip from Amsterdam to Bensheim, following the path of Jerry’s childhood and youth. A few weeks later they meet up again in San Francisco, where Jerry has lived since 1949.

Because Jerry wants to tell his story. After spending his whole life dodging questions about his past, he now wants to tell the account of what he survived as a Jew in Germany, Holland and Auschwitz – how he coped as a homosexual in the USA and how he found his inner freedom.

In Friedrich Dönhoff he has an attentive listener, one who writes his story without any trace of pathos, but with a great deal of sensitivity.

With a picture section.

English translation available.

Dürrenmatt's essays are among his most impressive achievements. Their range alone is astonishing: he wrote with authority and charm about art, literature, philosophy, politics, and the theatre. His best known essays are Theatre Problems, The Bridge, The Brain, Vinter, Monster Essay on Justice and Law and The Winter War in Tibet, a fantasy of a third world war waged in a vast subterranean labyrinth - a Plato's Cave allegory rewritten for our own troubled times.

Donna Leon has led an adventurous life, and with her tell-tale knack for observation, she turns her experiences in America, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy (of course) and Switzerland into a captivating read. She takes us on a journey around the world, from growing up on a farm, to curfew pajama parties in Iran, financial straits, and a Fiat 600. And we join Donna as she arrives in Italy as a chaperone, as she hunts for the perfect cappuccino, and as she encounters small marvels in the mountains.

»There is no worse crime than not having loved.«
Donna Leon

On the 25 December 1956, Robert Walser was found, stretched out in the snow, having died while taking a Christmas Day stroll. Thus the life of one of Switzerland's greatest ever writers came to an end. A life that with the passage of the years had come increasingly apart at the seams, which had driven Walser into isolation, to the verge of suicide and into the madhouse – but during which he created prose that, in its thoroughly unique mixture of humour and melancholy, surpassed everything that had gone before. Jürg Amann approaches Robert Walser in a literary essay based around the stages of the writer's life, supported by images of Walser's life and an accompanying chronicle. Due to their autobiographical hue, the quotations from Walser's writing ideally complement this portrait of his life. This creates a unique type of biography, which in no way attempts to pigeonhole Walser, but offers readers the opportunity to rediscover this fascinating author for themselves.

»In the hands of great authors, characters are like real people, merely realer«, Donna Leon once said. Perhaps this is why her life is so rich in characters and people accompanying her, both real and fictional.

Backstage presents a colorful troupe: the rock genius Frank Zappa, Veniceʼs most famous diamond dealer, a courageous sex worker and womenʼs rights activist, a clever composer, tragic heroes and admired colleagues. In the hands of Donna Leon, these encounters turn into sparkling jewels. A treasure trove of delightful discoveries.

London, 1951. Nanette Blitz and John Konig meet at a party. She is the only survivor in her family, and deeply traumatised. He is also an orphan, and already has a ticket for the crossing to Brazil. Their encounter is a moment of happiness and intimacy — something neither of them expected to feel again. They write to one another for almost two years before Nanette decides to follow John to São Paulo. This is a book about rediscovered hope and joy for life, and an extraordinary love.

Who was Jörg Fauser? What were his influences, his annoyances, what did he dream of and what enraged him? Matthias Penzel and Ambros Waibel let nothing deter them from uncovering the real Jörg Fauser, the rebel and junkie, the son and man. The only biography of the author of unparalleled novels, invaluable reportage, tender poetry and rebellious prose. This new edition expanded with fresh insights and stripped of misinformation is both an enthralling read and important witness to its time.

Children sometimes imagine themselves waking up one day to find that they are all alone. The school is closed, their parents have disappeared, the world is empty and everyone – apart from themselves - has been wiped out. For Marianne Gilbert, 8 years old when the novel begins, this childish nightmare comes true in 1939. With her Jewish origins, she has been excluded from school. Her mother Elke, an up-and-coming singer from a strictly Lutheran family, whose marriage little Marianne cannot patch up, often leaves the child alone in a never-ending string of apartments in Berlin and Paris. Her Jewish father, Robert Gilbert, since the 1920s recognised as the lyricist and arranger of popular songs and musical films (such as Once in a Lifetime, Three Good Friends and The White Horse Inn), has an affair and is then forced to flee abroad – a private catastrophe in the midst of a political one. Elke does not want to give Robert up and, with the help of their little daughter – who, as a »mischling«, is in as much danger as her father – she catches up with him and ships the »family« off to New York. The Gilberts may have been saved, but are ill prepared for life in the new world. From their tiny apartment in the Bronx, surrounded by other German-Jewish refugees (like Hannah Ahrendt and Heinrich Blücher), they plan to continue on Broadway the success they had enjoyed in Berlin. But to be successful in America, they must first learn how to assimilate. How to become an American when, although one may be intellectually brilliant, one cannot express one's complex ideas in English? Marianne, the lonely only child, shows them how it's done…

Today, Rembrandt's significance is unquestioned, he is accepted as one of the great masters. Vincent van Gogh, a great admirer of Rembrandt, once said: »You cannot sincerely love Rembrandt without knowing that God exists.« The theologian Walter Nigg is overwhelmed by Rembrandt's art - and with good reason. No other painter has understood the Bible so thoroughly nor interpreted it so timelessly in paintings and drawings. Nigg's biography shows impressively how much his art was connected to his belief and to his doubts.

In this book, Highsmith analyzes the key elements of suspense fiction, drawing upon her own experience in four decades as a working writer. Throughout the book, Highsmith illustrates her points with plentiful examples from her own work, and by discussing her own inspirations, false starts, dead ends, successes, and failures, she presents a lively and highly readable picture of the novelist at work.

When Picasso meets hairdresser Eugenio Arias in 1947, they develop a deep relationship.
It is principally their communist conviction that unites the two Spaniards in exile in the South of France, but they also share a great love of bullfighting and a mischievous sense of humour. Picasso’s Hairdresser not only depicts the intense friendship between these two extraordinary men but also offers a fresh look on the world-famous painter as a generous and loyal companion.

Dürrenmatt's essays are among his most impressive achievements. Their range alone is astonishing: he wrote with authority and charm about art, literature, philosophy, politics, and the theatre. His best-known essays are Theatre Problems, The Bridge, The Brain, Vinter, Monster Essay on Justice and Law and The Winter War in Tibet, a fantasy of a third world war waged in a vast subterranean labyrinth - a Plato's Cave allegory rewritten for our own troubled times.

In 2002, Sławomir Mrożek had a stroke, after which he suffered from aphasia and gradually had to learn the use of language again. As Baltazar (the name he gave himself to indicate that he was no longer the same person), he looks back on his eventful life, a life in which there was only one constant: the theatre.