At the Literary Agents and Scouts Center at Frankfurter Buchmesse, 2022. Image: FBM, Marc Jacquemin
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Subhed
Welcome to an alarmist-free zone. No one here is going to tell you that “Frankfurt is just around the corner” or that “Frankfurt will be here before you know it.” Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 15 to 19) is actually more than five weeks away. And it will not be here before we know it, will it? No, we’ll know it.
Take a breath. And have a look at some of the books we have here today, thanks to some of the agents and rights directors who faithfully share their deal news with us for our monthly Rights Roundup.
We’re starting, for example, with agent Gina Winje’s presentation of the first of a new trilogy from Nobel Prize in Literature winner Jon Fosse.
It’s called Vaim. And that’s the name of both a boat and a girl. It publishes on September 5 in Norwegian and on October 7 in English.
We’re pairing something new with something old, too. Inka Ihmels at Aufbau Verlage in Berlin is flagging Karen W. to us, a book by Gerti Tetzner. In the 1970s, we’re told, it had serious rights interest, in at least seven languages.
GDR censorship suppressed it. And now, it’s being brought to us as a significant rediscovery. There’s an interview created for this re-release, an illuminating conversation with Tetzner by Carsten Gansel. You’ll find it here.
And we have not only several other books for your consideration here but we also have time for another Rights Roundup before Frankfurt—set for October 3.
So you see? It’s not right around the corner. It will not be here before we know it. And you can take another breath.
As in each roundup, we use some of the sales copy supplied to us by agents and rights directors, editing that copy to give you an idea about a book’s nature and tone, but limiting the promotional elements. If you’d like to submit a deal to Publishing Perspectives, see the instructions at the end of this article.
Vaim
By Jon Fosse
Publisher: Samlaget, Nynorsk
Rights contact: Gina Winje, Winje Agency
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales (this book is to be published on September 5 in Norwegian and on October 7 in English):
Brazilian Portuguese: Companhia das Letras
Catalan: Galaxia Gutenberg
Danish: Batzer & Co
Dutch: Uitgeverij Oevers
English (United Kingdom): Fitzcarraldo
English (North America): Transit Books
German: Rowohlt
Hebrew: Hakibbutz Hameuchad
Hungarian: Kalligram
Italian: La Nave di Teseo
Korean: Munhakdongne
Polish: ArtRage
Portuguese: Cavalo de Ferro
Spanish: Penguin Random House
Swedish: Albert Bonniers
Jon Fosse
“Vaim by Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Jon Fosse is the first of three books about a fictional small town, Vaim. Each volume of the trilogy is expected to focus on different characters. The three books’ titles are Vaim; Vaim Hotel; and The Vaim Weekly.
As Vaim opens, Jatgeir has come from Vaim to the big city, Bjørgvin, on his boat Eline. He wants to buy a needle and thread but is cheated, twice.
“Yet strangely, he finds and comes home with Eline herself—his long-lost love, who has left her husband Frank.
“The story of this triangle is a book about little boats and big boats, love and death, passive men and an unusually determined woman. It’s no use trying to argue with Eline.”
Karen W.
By Gerti Tetzner
Publisher: Aufbau Verlage, Berlin
Rights contact: Inka Ihmels, Aufbau Verlage GmbH & Co. KG
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales:
Newest – World English: Fig Tree, London
In the 1970s, we’re told, the novel was translated into Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Swedish, and Slovakian.
Aufbau is celebrating an 80th anniversary, and Karen W. is said to be a novel that was “forgotten because of German Democratic Republic censorship.” It’s being called “the rediscovery of an impressive author and contemporary witness who belonged to Christa Wolf’s so-called ‘women’s circle.’”
This edition includes an interview with Tetzner by Carsten Gansel.
Gerti Tetzner. Image: Aufbau
About the book: “Karen is leaving the city she once came to full of hope and dreams. And she’s leaving Peter, her great love, with whom she’s recently lived more side by side than together.
“With her daughter Bettina, she returns to the Thuringian village from whose confines she fled 12 years ago. What does she hope to find here? Is she risking too much in her search?
“But Karen is certain: she must dare to step into the unknown, the open, if she truly wants to live.”
The Redhead
(Die Rote)
By Alfred Andersch
Publisher: Diogenes, Zurich
Rights contact: Susanne Bauknecht, Diogenes Verlag AG
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales:
Newest – Italian: Feltrinelli Gramma
Chinese/China: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press
French: Actes Sud
“With a startling sense of immediacy, this novel whirls the reader into the vortex of up-to-date life in cosmopolitan Europe. It’s a tale of personal flight.
“Franziska, a beautiful German woman, impulsively escapes from an unpleasant marriage and takes a train to Venice. There, in the bleak wintertime atmosphere of this fabulous city, she is unwittingly drawn into the cross-currents of a dangerous struggle whose source lies in the turbulence of war and international intrigue …
“Suspense, murder, and unexpected fulfillment mark the climax of this powerful and compelling story.
“In unfolding the fates of his characters caught in the complexities of their age, Alfred Andersch records a pattern of life in Europe today.”
If I Were Prime Minister
(Jeg Var Stats-Minister)
By Trygve Skaug
Illustrated by Ella Okstad
Publisher: Cappelen Damm, Oslo
Rights contact: Ingvild Haugland Blatt, Cappelen Damm Agency
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales:
Newest – France: Éditions La Plage
World English: Lantana Publishing (UK)
Denmark: Turbine
Finland: Art House
Greece: Brainfood
Italy: Mondadori)
Sweden: Opal
South Korea: Woongjin Thinkbig
German: Michael Fischer
Hungary: Kiado
Trygve Skaug and Ella Okstad
“‘If I were prime minister, everyone who wanted a dog would get a dog;
“Everyone who wanted a bike would get a bike; and
“Everyone who wanted a friend would get at least two.’
“This is a socially critical book in which Skaug’s poetic voice evokes a child’s perspective on several things the grown-ups running the country could have done better.”
All Around a Year
By Mariana Ruiz Johnson
Publisher: Greystone Books, Vancouver
Rights contact: Andrea Damiani, Greystone Books
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales:
Newest – World Greek: Metaichmio Publications SA
World Simplified Chinese, excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan: Citic Press Corporation, Shanghai Branch
The below listings are all “world” classification for their languages:
Italian: De Agostini Libri
French: Didier Jeunesse
Swedish: Bokförlaget Opal AB
“As the seasons pass by for a little mouse family, some things stay the same, while others are changing and growing.
“From reading under blankets in the winter and bike rides in the spring, to ice cream treats in the summer, All Around a Year considers the essence of each season and the changes happening around us, from small to big.”
Streaming Wars: How Getting Everything We Wanted Changed Entertainment Forever
By Charlotte Henry
Publisher: Kogan Page, London
Rights contact: Bleu Simpson, Kogan Page
Book info: Read more here
Reported rights sales (this book is publishing October 3):
Newest – Complex Chinese: Business Weekly Publications
Charlotte Henry
“Streaming Wars charts the rise of streaming and its impact across film, television, music, sport, and gaming, showing how businesses like Netflix have dismantled old hierarchies to reshape media.
“Charlotte Henry offers an analysis of the successes and failures that have changed entertainment forever.”
According to the publisher, this title is under review in at least 15 languages prior to publication in early October. The publisher reports that this book “builds on Fintech Wars, which is another Kogan Page release by a different author, James da Costa.
Submitting Rights Deals to Publishing Perspectives
Do you have rights deals to report? Agents and publishing-house rights directors can use our rights deal submission form to send us the information we need. If you have questions, please send them to Porter@PublishingPerspectives.com
We look forward to hearing from you.
More of Publishing Perspectives‘ rights roundups are here, and more from us on international rights trading is here.
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