Für deutsche Verlage ist Österreich ein wichtiger, wenn auch nicht immer einfacher Regionalmarkt. Schriftsteller aus Österreich haben indessen seit mehr als einem Jahrhundert eine überaus starke Präsenz in der deutschsprachigen Literatur. Ähnliche Erfolge österreichischer Verlage sind indessen die Ausnahme, schon vor 100 Jahren, als Freuds “Traumdeutung” bei Deuticke in Wien erschien – oder heute, wenn [...]

Books and publishing are a key to be a part of the globalizing knowledge society. What does this mean for the Arab world? We could research a detailed report, together with Nasser Jarreous, commissioned by the Emirates Publishers Association. Publishing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a young industry, but with a significant potential [...]

Having the pleasure and the privilege to travel with this group of US non fiction editors to see a number of German publishers in Munich and Frankfurt – C.H. Beck, C. Hanser, Campus, Suhrkamp, S. Fischer, Random House  – the most interesting insight was at how many levels these markets have drifted apart: Selling a [...]

In only one day, I came across two just hilarious examples of how books and minds, across time and space, mock our funny lives as book worms. I currently tour German publishers with a group of US editors, courtesy to the German Book Office of the Frankfurt Book Fair. This morning, after a nice meeting [...]

“Wanted: The global bestseller. A new study shows: Only a few writers are successful on a global scale. Yet national bookmarkets are diverse (not homogenized).”

It is just amazing how a really big organization like Amazon in less then 2 weeks makes an about face in their strategy for their arguably most ambitious strategic project, the Kindle. After doing everything and a bit to roll out a radically proprietary machine, closing it like a can of Campell’s tomato soup to [...]

2 events on translation are forthcoming – one local, one European – an I have the privilege to participate: (a) “Literary Translation and Culture” is a one day conference, initiated and hosted by Manuel Baroso, the President of the European Commission, on April 20, 2009, in Brussels. The early alert reads: “In the context of [...]

According to our charts, he was probably the most stunning author across Europe in 2008, and now his book makes it to the movies: “Män som hatar kvinnor“. You don’t recognize the smash hit? This weekend, Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo”, volume one of his Millennium series, is opening – in Sweden [...]

It was Geety Dharmaraja of New Dehli, a beaming lady with an inescapable sense of mission and the founder of a stunning Indian translation project called Katha who made several of the most remarkable points at this week’s Salzburg Global Seminar on translation. “Perhaps we are about to go full cycle”, she told the startled: [...]

The Chinese internet platform Danwei reports, quoting an article in China Youth Daily, that the Chinese government is set to abandon direct control over most publishing companies by the end of 2010. The goal is to allow “for profit” media companies to get rid of direct state control, to end state restrictions on the allocation [...]