Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

Take a look at the Spiegel Bestsellers list and it will come as no surprise that the mood at the Diogenes office is as bright as the sun glittering on the lake in the first week of June – we are in the charts with 10 titles, 5 of which are foreign rights favourites: 

Donna Leon's So Shall You Reap (#2) has climbed high upon release, Martin Suter’s Melody, still on #1 in Switzerland, was in the German top three for 11 weeks, while Michel Bergmann's Mameleben keeps receiving favourable press (#29). Luca Ventura's Pale as the Moon seems to be a perfect summer read in trade paperback (#10), and Benedict Wells delighted fans again on the second part of his tour with Hard Land (#12). 

In other news, Bernhard Schlink's The Granddaughter remains a talking point in France, Joachim B. Schmidt enjoyed speaking about Kalmann in Prague while Andrey Kurkov joined Sasha Filipenko at the bookfair in Leipzig and Tomi Ungerer’s titles are officially among the best children’s books of all times – check out the news items below for more!

Sunny greetings from Zurich, 
Susanne, Jana, Andrej, Suzanne and Josefine

 

Diogenes Verlag AG   Sprecherstrasse   8032 Zurich   Switzerland
Fon +41 44 254 85 54   Fax +41 44 252 84 07 
susanne.bauknecht@diogenes.ch   www.diogenes.ch
English rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain sold to Bitter Lemon

English rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain sold to Bitter Lemon

Bitter Lemon join Icelandic publisher Forlagið in acquring translation rights before our German publishing date in September 2023. 

»An incredibly vivid sense of place, and a gifted storyteller.« 
Welt am Sonntag, Berlin

»Schmidt reveals himself to be an incredibly empathetic and skilled narrator with a strong sense for light humour.«
Hanspeter Eggenberger / Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich


Rights currently sold:
English/world (Bitter Lemon)
Icelandic (Forlagið)

→ To the page
Greek rights for Stefanie vor Schulte's Boy with a Black Rooster sold to Kapsimi

Greek rights for Stefanie vor Schulte's Boy with a Black Rooster sold to Kapsimi

»With her magical sentences, Stefanie vor Schulte draws the reader into an ever more surreal world.«
Doris Emonts / Aachener Zeitung, Aachen 

»And this is the fascinating thing about this book: How do people stay alive? Through us thinking about and remembering them.« 
Margarete von Schwarzkopf / NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Hanover

»Comforting, subtle and endearingly crazy.«
Petra Schulte / emotion, Hamburg


Rights currently sold:
English/world (Indigo Press)
French (Héloïse d'Ormesson)
Greek (Kapsimi)
Italian (Mondadori)
Russian (Foliant)
Serbian (Plato)
Spanish/world (Planeta MX)

→ To the page
Spanish rights for Andrey Kurkov's Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv sold to Alfaguara

Spanish rights for Andrey Kurkov's Jimi Hendrix live in Lviv sold to Alfaguara

»Longlisted for the 2023 ›International Booker‹ prize, the newly translated novel by Ukraine’s leading author is, in today’s context, poignantly playful and ebullient.« 
Luke Harding, The Guardian, London


Rights currently sold:
English/world (MacLehose)
French (Liana Levi)
Italian (Keller)
Polish (Noir sur Blanc)
Russian original (Folio)
Spanish/world (Alfaguara)
Ukrainian (Folio)

→ To the page
Wolkenbruch finds millions of international viewers on Netflix

Wolkenbruch finds millions of international viewers on Netflix

The Swiss film adaptation of Thomas Meyer's novel Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse, which enjoyed commercial and critical success upon release, is now attracting a large international audience on Netflix. 

It's especially popular in the US and Brazil under the titles The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch and O Despertar de Motti, respectively.

All foreign language editions can be found here. 

»Language itself becomes an event in this novel, as it should in all good literature. It is lightness in writing.«
Thomas Widmer / Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich 

»Thomas Meyer’s novel is an effervescent, dizzying and bold read, like non-kosher champagne.«
Alexandra Stäheli / Neue Zürcher Zeitung


Rights currently sold: 
Russian (Knizhniki)

→ To the page
Italian and French rights for Tomi Unger's Mr Tall and Mr Small sold to Lupo Guido and to Ecole des Loisirs

Italian and French rights for Tomi Unger's Mr Tall and Mr Small sold to Lupo Guido and to Ecole des Loisirs

Originally published in 1965, now to be published in German for the first time in November 2023, a major rediscovery and an endearing story of two animal friends – with significant differences.


Rights sold: 
French (École des Loisirs)
Italian (Lupo Guido)

→ To the page
Hebrew rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Kalmann sold to Keter

Hebrew rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Kalmann sold to Keter

Rights currently sold:
Arabic (Al-Arabi)
Czech (Prostor)
English/world (Bitter Lemon)
French (Gallimard)
Greek (Metaichmio)
Hebrew (Keter)
Icelandic (Forlagið)
Italian (SEM Libri)
Persian (Nam Books)
Slovak (Literárna bašta)
Spanish/world (Gatopardo)

→ To the page
Greek rights for Lukas Hartmann's Into the Unknown sold to Kapsimi

Greek rights for Lukas Hartmann's Into the Unknown sold to Kapsimi

#1 Swiss bestseller
 

»Hartmann tells of departures into the unknown, of transformations of the world and the self.« 
Alexander Kluy / Der Standard, Vienna


Rights currently sold:
Greek (Kapsimi)

→ To the page
Italian rights for All the Lost Things by Lukas Hartmann with illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann sold to Iperborea

Italian rights for All the Lost Things by Lukas Hartmann with illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann sold to Iperborea

»Literally a dream of a story, thoughtfully told, about the independent life of things and the secret meaning of searching.«
Die Welt, Berlin


Rights currently sold: 
Italian (Iperborea)
Chinese/CN (Ginkgo)

→ To the page
Italian rights for Such a Long Nose by Lukas Hartmann sold to Iperborea

Italian rights for Such a Long Nose by Lukas Hartmann sold to Iperborea

1995 ›Swiss Youth Novel of the Year‹

»Lukas Hartmann's ability to see the world through a child's eyes is outstanding.«
Hits for Kids, Gustavsburg


Rights currently sold: 
Italian (Iperborea)
Latvian (Janis Roze)

→ To the page
The 100 Best Children's Books of all Time, a survey by the BBC

The 100 Best Children's Books of all Time, a survey by the BBC

The selection by international industry experts from illustrators to publishers to translators is inspiring and ranges from picture books to young adult novels - you can find the full list here.

Of course, we were excited to learn that Tomi Ungerer’s The Three Robbers and No Kiss for Mother are on places 30 and 79, respectively. Clearly, Tomi’s works are classics which have inspired many generations and continue to delight and fascinate new readers across the globe.

»No one, I dare say, no one was as original. Tomi influenced everybody.«
Maurice Sendak

→ To the page