Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In football, three goals scored by the same player in one match are called a hat trick – what are four top ten Spiegel bestsellers by the same publisher? Over the last three weeks, the answer has been: Diogenes books. In the Spiegel bestseller list of this week, Donna Leon’s Unto Us a Son is Given ranks #1, Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me #3, Daniela Krien’s Love in Case of Emergency #5 (which climbed from #9 to #5 again) and Martin Walker’s Menu surprise #7. Cheers to our authors!

But there’s more to toast to – see for yourselves.

With best wishes,

Susanne Bauknecht
Rights Director

Diogenes Verlag AG   Sprecherstrasse   8032 Zurich   Switzerland
Fon +41 44 254 85 54   Fax +41 44 252 84 07   bau@diogenes.ch   www.diogenes.ch
»This is the one book that I would like to hand to everyone who wants to know something about contemporary German literature, the country and its people.« Denis Scheck

»This is the one book that I would like to hand to everyone who wants to know something about contemporary German literature, the country and its people.«
Denis Scheck

Rights sales of Daniela Krien’s Love in Case of Emergency have made a leap in the last few weeks with Spanish, Italian and Catalan rights sold. This gives us a total of seven languages. Here’s the list of international publishers: 

Catalan (Bromera)
Danish (Arvids)
Dutch (Ambo|Anthos)
English/UK (MacLehose Press)
Italian (Corbaccio)
Spanish (Grijalbo)

Aside from that, much-feared German critic Denis Scheck said on German public TV WDR: »This is the one book that I would like to hand to everyone who wants to know something about contemporary German literature, the country and its people.«

Here are further recent press quotes:
»This is a touching and moving read, without ideological furore, but with an incredibly exact stance on everyday experiences.«
Julia Schröder / Deutschlandfunk, Berlin

»Nothing in this life is for free. And this is why this book entertains and is food for thought, with remarkable women in their thirties and forties.«
Cornelia Geißler / Berliner Zeitung

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»Don't hope, cope!« Tomi Ungerer

»Don't hope, cope!«
Tomi Ungerer

Selling rights felt different to us for Non Stop, the first Tomi Ungerer book published after the author’s passing. We were happy to see the resonance for his works in the world – and Non Stop is about to be published in seven languages already:

Catalan (Kalandraka)
Chinese (Feel)
English (Phaidon)
French (Ecole de Loisirs)
Italian (Orecchio Acerbo)
Spanish (Kalandraka)

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Andrej Kurkow’s Grey Bees to be published in eight languages

Andrej Kurkow’s Grey Bees to be published in eight languages

We have recently sold Italian rights of Andrej Kurkow’s latest novel Grey Bees to Keller Editore. Here’s the list of languages and international publishers of Grey Bees:

Danish (Mr. East)
English (Quercus)
French (Liana Levi)
Italian (Keller)
Persian (Ofoq)
Russian (Folio)
Ukrainian (Folio)

The Ukrainian edition and the Russian original have already been published, the Diogenes edition will follow in July this year – we are looking forward to sharing related press with you by then.

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»This is not a book, but an event.« Nordwest-Zeitung Italian rights of The Singer to Guanda in a pre-empt deal

»This is not a book, but an event.«
Nordwest-Zeitung

Italian rights of The Singer to Guanda in a pre-empt deal

In the six weeks since its publication, The Singer remains in the top five of the Swiss bestseller list.

The press is enthusiastic, here are a few quotes: 
»[With his language] Hartmann succeeds in striking a soft chord, and he also manages to describe the horror [of war camps].«
Christian Berzins / Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich

»This is not a book, but an event.«
Reinhard Tschapke / Nordwest-Zeitung Oldenburg

»Although Hartmann writes in the third-person and in a matter-of-fact style, he always stays very close to his protagonist.«
Peter Zander / Berliner Morgenpost

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»A masterful novel« New Books in German

»A masterful novel«
New Books in German

We were happy to sell Dutch rights of Charles Lewinsky’s The Stutterer to Meridiaan. Foreign rights are sold to the following publishers:

Arabic (Al Arabi)
Chinese (Archipel Press)
Dutch (Meridiaan)

What an illustrious quartet including its German original. The book is no less popular among anglophone critics, as this quote shows:
»This is a masterful novel by a writer who has already created a reputation for himself in English with the sweeping family saga Melnitz […].«
New Books in German, London

 

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»He lifted German mystery writing onto a new level« SWR

Photo: Fauser Archives

»He lifted German mystery writing onto a new level«
SWR

Diogenes is currently republishing Jörg Fauser’s oeuvre on the occasion of his 75th birthday, beginning with Raw Material and The Snake Mouth in May. Literary critics agree: This author remains topical until today. Here are the first few quotes:

»... the master of West-German pulp. [...] [Raw Material is] one of the best German novels of the 20th century.«
Michel Decar / Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich

»But the beat [...] goes on.«
Julia Encke / Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 

»It is only after the author’s death that his importance was recognized.«
Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich

»He lifted German mystery writing onto a new level with The Snowman and The Snake Mouth.«
Insa Wilke / SWR Fernsehen, Stuttgart

»Every chapter has such a fast pace, a punch line, and a psychologically clear view, that it is a pleasure to read.«
Ijoma Mangold / SWR Fernsehen, Stuttgart

»This is about sex, about drugs, about a satire on Germany, in other words: absolutely compulsory reading in schools!«
Denis Scheck / SWR Fernsehen, Stuttgart

»This author’s absence is noticeable.«
Philipp Haibach / Die Welt, Berlin

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