Andrey Kurkov is interviewed and publishes articles about the war in Ukraine all over the world

Andrey Kurkov was interviewed by major media outlets from all over the globe and wrote articles for numerous papers in order to explain the war in Ukraine, here is merely a selection of them:

London newspaper The Times published an article by Kurkov titled »Ukrainians will never be Russians«. Swiss news station SRF broadcast and published his essay on his own life now – a protocol on the war zone. French-German TV station Arte broadcast an interview with him. He concludes: »If Ukraine doesn’t exist anymore, there will be no more liberties for Ukrainians.« El País from Madrid sent a correspondent to Western Ukraine to feature his life today. Taipei-based The Reporter published a big feature on Ukraine, Kurkov's books, fellow Russian-speaking authors from Ukraine and his books in Chinese. In Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Kurkov concludes »The earth is at stake.« Oslo-based TV station NRK broadcast and published a brief interview with him about the value of reading about Ukraine. German weekly Die Zeit published an article by him on his time in Ukraine. In France, there was a big interview with him in L’Express, titled »Anything that happens in Ukraine could happen to you very quickly in France«. Greek newspaper Ta Nea published an interview about historic parallels. Andrey Kurkov also participated in a hybrid event at De Balie, a venue for art, politics and culture in Amsterdam and in an online UK fundraiser for Ukraine. Further media and links with interviews and articles: CNN, Atlanta (7 March), Libération, Paris (3 March), Grid News, Washington (3 March), Le Figaro, Paris (2 March), BBC, London (2 March), BBC, London (1 March), The New York Times (25 February), Télérama, Paris (24 February), The Economist, London (24 February).

Over the last weeks, we sold Dutch rights of Kurkov's novels Grey Bees and Death and the Penguin in a pre-empt to Prometheus. We sold Estonian rights of Grey Bees to Tänapäev, Mongolian rights to Tagtaa, Chinese rights for simplified characters to Beijing Imaginist, and Japanese rights to Sayusha. There is a first offer from Portugal as well as Hungary, and strong interest from Spanish publishers. The book is therefore going to be published in 18 languages – to date.

Here’s the foreign rights list:

Chinese (CN, simplified characters): Beijing Imaginist
Croatian: Bozicevic
Danish: Mr. East
Dutch: Prometheus
English (UK): Quercus
English (US): Deep Vellum
Estonian: Tänapäev 
Farsi: Ofoq 
French: Liana Levi
Greek: Kastaniotis
Italian: Keller
Japanese: Sayusha
Mongolian: Tagtaa
Polish:  Noir sur Blanc
Romanian: Editura Paralela 45
Russian original: Folio
Ukrainian: Folio

Just published: The Heroine's Journey by Doris Dörrie

Heroes have to set out into the big wide world and have adventures in order to become heroes – otherwise there’d be no story. But what about heroines? 

Doris Dörrie recounts three journeys, to San Francisco, Japan and Morocco, describing what it’s like to travel the world as a woman. Facing the unknown and dealing with the foreign always means confronting your own fears, privileges and losses. But in the process, you become the heroine of your own tale.

Benedict Wells' Hard Land nominated for ›German Youth Literature Award‹

Benedict Wells' Hard Land is nominated for the ›German Youth Literature Award 2022‹. The youth jury made six nominations, one of which was Hard Land. The award ceremony will be held on 21 October 2022 during the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award comes with an honorarium of EUR 10'000.

Here are the jury's reasons for nominating the book: »At once playful and melancholy, Hard Land catapults us back into the time of Nena's 99 balloons and of dreamy summer days, and with its lively and witty characters it creates an atmosphere that binds the reader to Grady and its 49 secrets to the last page.«

Just published: Bear Loves Hippo by Julian and Timon Meyer

Bear and Hippo are the best of friends. Together they go on awesome adventures and have loads of fun. And even though they’re very different, they’re devoted to each other. A tribute to friendship and a celebration of being different. 

Hippo loves 
Nice gentle sounds 
Big fat books 
And pretty towns 

Only one thing 
Can compare: 
More than all that 
He loves Bear 

Bear loves stuff that’s 
Super crazy 
Loud and fast and 
Oopsie-daisy 

Bear loves that 
From head to paw 
But Hippo 
He loves even more

Now published in translation: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov in Greek

Greek edition by Kastaniotis, Athens

Now published in translation: US edition of Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees

US edition by Deep Vellum Press, Dallas, TX

Sasha Filipenko's The Hunt on the top 20 of the Spiegel bestseller list, Dutch rights sold

Sasha Filipenko's latest book to be published in German, The Hunt, shot to #19 of the Spiegel bestseller list on publication.

Just before publication, we have sold Dutch rights of The Hunt to Meridiaan. Here's the list of foreign rights sold:
Dutch (Meridiaan)
French (Syrtes)
Russian original publisher: Vremya

A journalist who knows too much. A son who betrays his father. A merciless oligarch. A corrupt, unscrupulous hack. Media that tear down reputations to order. Sasha Filipenko tells the story of Anton Quint, an idealistic journalist who decides to take on an oligarch. His powerful opponent gives the order to destroy Quint – and so the hunt is on. 

»The topic unfolds in cinematic scenes, jumping between the perspectives of the author, conscious of his mission, and that of the pursuers, proud of being cynics.«
Kerstin Holm  / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

»Seen against the backdrop of current events, his latest novel The Hunt reads like a blueprint for Putin's course of action towards Ukraine.«
NDR Kulturjounal, Hamburg

»The Hunt by Sasha Filipenko is more a play than a traditional mystery, and yet, in the last few years there has hardly been a more up-to-date psycho-thriller than this.«
Ulli Wagner / SR 3, Saarbrucken 

Sasha Filipenko is a relentless contributor to the understanding of what is happening in Ukraine and Belarus: In Le Temps, he compares the current situation to a football match, in which the West is too slow, concluding with the sentence: »We need to stop half-measures, we need to stop being afraid ourselves and finally go on the attack, because the game is coming to an end and we still have so many goals to score.« During a podium discussion at lit.cologne, here recapped by daily taz and here on Deutsche Welle, he spoke his mind: »It won't do to spotlight the Eiffel Tower in yellow and blue, so that we feel better, while we watch online how Ukraine is destroyed.« And in Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, he said in an interview: »I believe that Lukashenko as well as Putin can be defined as heirs to Stalin: They think like him and adopt his methods.«

 

Joachim B. Schmidt's Tell warmly received by the press and shortlisted for ›Swiss Booksellers' Favourite Book‹

Tell by Joachim B. Schmidt has just been published, and it’s being enthusiastically welcomed by the readers and the media: the book went straight to #1 on the Swiss bestseller list, entered the Spiegel bestseller list on #45 and was shortlisted for ›Swiss Booksellers' Favourite Book‹ (one of five). The winner will be announced on the occasion of World Book Day (23 April) on www.daslieblingsbuch.ch.

Joachim B. Schmidt transforms the story of William Tell into a page-turner, a thriller, an event: Constructed from nearly a hundred fast-paced scenes and featuring twenty different protagonists, the narrative races towards its explosive showdown like a lit fuse.

Here is a first selection of press quotes:

»In this novel, for the first time, vignettes become human beings, complete with all their contradictions.«
NZZ am Sonntag, Zurich

»A Tell story that’s filled with suspense, and a showdown reminiscent of a Tarantino film.«
Annette König / SRF, Zurich

»With this novel, Joachim B. Schmidt has shattered the pedestal the Swiss have placed their national hero on, while also turning that hero into a human being.«
Lilo Solcher / Augsburger Allgemeine

»This fresh version of an old story reinvigorates enthusiasm for a classic.«
Irene Zöch / Die Presse am Sonntag, Vienna

»This is the original Swiss blockbuster - Diogenes hasn’t exaggerated.«
Jano Felice Pajarola / Südostschweiz, Chur

»Endless cliffhangers, twenty different perspectives, narrated at breakneck speed, sometimes by the grandmother, sometimes by the son Walter, rarely by Tell himself.«
Alexander Wasner / SWR2

»The book is a page turner that you just can't put down.«
Peter Zander / Berliner Morgenpost – full review enclosed

»His Tell is a psychological thriller with a cinematic, popcorn-worthy showdown.«
Christoph Leibold / ARD

Moreover, for those of you who are lucky enough to understand Icelandic: Joachim B. Schmidt has again been on Icelandic national television RÚV as a guest in Egill Helgason’s literature programme with his novels Kalmann (just published in Iceland) and Tell (21:10).

Tell was also featured in our podcast last month, where we give a personal insight into our most highly anticipated new publications (in German).

Just published: long overdue to grow wild by Simone Lappert

In Simone Lappert’s poetry, thoughts grow moss and the moon glows silicon-bright. Love tastes of quince, disaster of strawberry, and the poet asks herself, asks us: tell me, how do you get through the winter without a future? 

These are poems about departures, yearnings, self-determination and the fragile present, concentrating all the senses and materialising all sense in texts full of beauty, wisdom and wit. 

Now published in translation: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov in Romanian

Romanian edition by Paralela 45, Bucharest

Now published in translation: Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees in French

Last month, Grey Bees was published in its French edition by Liana Levi in Paris, here are some major quotes, reviews and interviews about it:

»Kurkov distils a happy desperation, a form of surreal pantheism that places him geographically, like his country, between Russian romanticism and Scandinavian fatalism, between Chekhov and Paasilinna, Gogol and Hamsun.«
Frédéric Beigbeder / Le Figaro, Paris

»In his book, the writer paints the ›grey zone‹ on the frontline with great humanity.«
Isabelle Mandraud / Le Monde, Paris

Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris. Livres Hebdo, Paris. TV5, Paris.