foreign books dominate german market

7/30/2019 Foreign Books Dominate German Market

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Foreign Books Dominate German Market

Germans tend to fancy foreign literature over their own -- seeking more diverse and light-

hearted reading, but small declines in foreign dominance may indicate a growing interest

in Germany's up-and-coming writers.

Foreign fiction

gives Germans a

wider cultural

experience

On a busy weekday

evening at Bonn's

Bouvier bookstore,customers perusing

the fiction shelves

were gravitating to

foreign selections.

Gesa Weinert was looking for a book for her sister. "She likes crime stories -- mostly

American and English, said Weinert, who herself only reads classical German literature

as part of her academic research job. If I read foreign literature, its old -- classical.

Weinert was an exception. Most customers, especially younger ones, said they usuallyprefer foreign fiction over German often because it's simply more interesting.

There are very good crime novels set in Cologne, said one customer. But crime novels

from the US present a different culture.

More culture, less angst

Ulrich Greiner, chief literature editor for the German paper Die Zeit, offered several

explanations for Germans' love of foreign books.

Tourists soak in the

rays and, hopefully,

the culture in Italy

"It could be because

the Germans love to

travel," Greiner

said. "If you read a


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foreign book, then you get to know another country." But, he added, "German literature

comes from a tradition of destruction and has been shaped by war. There is less to read

just for fun."

"English-language books, and particularly American, are the most translated due to the

sheer size of offerings," said Greiner, adding that the same domination of foreign titles

can be seen in other countries.

A fixation for the foreign

"The Lord of the

Rings" wasn't just a

blockbuster at the

movies

Popularity ratings

seem to back up

these allegations of

literary treason. A

2004 survey

conducted by

German broadcaster ZDF found that "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter and the

Sorcerers Stone" ranked in the top 10 of the all time favorite books among Germans.

Only one German book -- Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks" -- made it into the top 10.

The list of the top 100 included a majority of foreign titles.

While sales of foreign titles are not reported and are hard to estimate, the Association of

German Publishers and Booksellers reported that translated works made up the biggest

share of fiction books -- at 20 percent of total new fiction titles for 2004. The share of

foreign titles is more significant among individual publishers. For example, a

spokeswoman for C.Bertelsmann in Munich estimated a ratio of 80 percent foreign hard

cover titles and 20 percent German hard cover titles in fiction. The same figures generally

describe the ratio at the Goldmann Company, also part of the Random House family in

Munich, said press director Claudia Hanssen.Dominance declining?

Companies usually have an incentive to publish English language books because their

market performance is already known and critics have already reacted, said Greiner. But

publishing figures for 2004 showed a 15 percent decline in the number of English-

language titles among the new translated titles on the German market. Whereas in 2000,


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English titles accounted for 72 percent of new titles, by 2004 that figure had dropped to

57 percent. This can be partly explained by the increasing costs for English-language

book licenses, said Hanssen.

"The book market is depressed," she said. "Even titles from very famous authors don't

always bring a profit for the publisher, but it's good for a publisher's image to publish the

latest edition from an author they regularly publish."

Investing in new German talent

Many students of

the German

Literature Institute

in Leipzig have hit

the market with a

new literary style

In the fiction

market, there were

5 percent fewer

English titles

released in 2004 compared with 2000 -- a development that may also be explained by a

growing interest in promoting promising young German authors.

"In addition to attracting licenses from abroad, we also look at very talented young

German writers who are likely to be successful on the German market," said Hanssen.

Some, such as those trained at the Leipzig Literature Institute (photo), are writing in a

different style. Their writing represents something of a new movement and is growing in

popularity, said Greiner. While that may be good news for German literature's stake in the

market, foreign titles are not likely to lose their place on the bestseller lists.

DW.DE

Kudos for Germany's J.K. Rowling

She's been called the German answer to J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books,

but Cornelia Funke keeps a low profile and isn't even that well known in her native


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country. That could soon change.

Cornelia Funke

with "Inkheart,"

one of her most

successful books

On Time

magazine's list of

the top 100 people

who have

influenced the

world in the past

year, three Germans are present. They aren't perhaps who you'd think. Chancellor

Gerhard Schrder doesn't get a mention, nor does foreign minister Joschka Fischer or any

of the country's CEOs or top scientists.

Instead, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher made the grade, as did Cardinal

Ratzinger, the man some believe could become the next pope. The third German was

Cornelia Funke, the best-selling author of children's books whose fantasy-filled stories

are enchanting readers around the world.

With a sigh he sat down behind his desk. Then, behind the door, someone whispered.

They're probably admiring my sign, thought Victor. It was black and shiny and had gold

lettering: "Victor Getz, Detective. Investigations of Any Kind." The door knocker next to

the sign was in the shape of a lion's head with a brass ring in its mouth, which Victor has

just polished this morning.

Victor Getz doesn't know it yet, but on this very morning he will set out in search of two

street children, Prosper and Bo, and perhaps while he's at it, he will find himself. Victor is

one of the central characters in Cornelia Funke's book "The Thief Lord."

Complex characters, page-turner plots

Her characters are often not the nicest folks. They're often grumpy, shifty, timid,

complicated and cunning -- always three dimensional and without exception, loveable. InFunke's fantastical stories, the figures move through refreshingly unpredictable plots,

which are always immensely entertaining for readers.


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"Inkheart"

"I like to show children

things that I myself find

incredibly wonderful, for

example, Venice," she

said. "Of course other

things creep in that

occupy one's mind, like

the unbelievable lack of

compassion that exists so

often between humans and

animals, or humans and

humans. But I always try

to bind it all in the story. The story comes first."

The former book illustrator began writing her own books 15 years ago; most have been

bestsellers. But her phenomenal success has been so quiet that most Germans haven't yet

noticed this new global writer in their midst. It's mostly parents for whom the name

"Cornelia Funke" has taken on special meaning, since it so often pops up in the juvenile

section of libraries or on the wish lists of their children.

Magical but sophisticated

US-based Time magazine has been more alert to her talent than her compatriots since it

awarded her a place in the magazine's top 100 list.

"She has become truly international and everyone who discovers her books really loves

them," said Adi Ignacius, Time's executive editor. "They just find them to be very, you

know, magical and enchanting and also sophisticated."

The 46-year-old has

sold more than

three million booksin her career,

winning several

prestigious awards

in the process. Her

most well-known


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works, "The Thief Lord, "Dragonrider" and "Inkheart" have been translated into 20

languages. "The Thief Lord" has been made into a film and will hit German cinemas this

fall. Big-screen productions of "Inkheart" and the girl's series "Wilde Hhner" (Wild

Chickens) are also being planned.

"It's true that right now I'm reaching millions of children. But I'm not very optimistic

what kind of influence I have," Funke said. "But if it means that children in for example

America are told stories by a European, then that's something at least."

Prolific author

In the UK especially, Funke is often described as the German response to J.K. Rowling,

the British superstar author of the Harry Potter series. Rowling, who is nine years

younger than Funke, is now working on her sixth Harry Potter book. Funke, on the other

hand, has written more than 40 books in 15 years. One of her most successful, "Inkheart,"

is an homage to reading and the power of the written word.

On that night -- when so much began and so much changed forever -- one of Meggie's

favorite books lay under her pillow and since the rain wasn't letting her sleep, she sat up,

rubbed her eyes and pulled the book out. The page rustled promisingly as she opened it.

Meggie thought that this first sound of pages was different in every book, depending on if

she already knew what it was going to tell her or not.

Seemingly unmoved by her many literary awards and the Time magazine list, Cornelia

Funke simply goes on doing what she does best -- write. Right now she's working on a

sequel to "Inkheart" called "Inkblood." Like her colleague J.K. Rowling on the other side

of the Channel, she will continue with each new book to turn both children and adults

alike back to the pleasures of reading. And that, really, is her goal.

DW.DE

Reading at Leipzig's Book Fair

With more than 2,000 exhibitors from 29 countries, numerous events and prominent

German literati, the Leipzig book fair, which opens Thursday, is hoping to become a

major player on the international book scene.


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Heaven for book

lovers.

The annual

Frankfurt book fairmay still be

Germany's seminal

event in the

international world

of books, but in

recent years it's been facing stiff competition from Leipzig, the up-and-comming city in

former communist eastern Germany.

This year is no different with Leipzig, seemingly under the motto "bigger is better,"

kicking off its annual book trade show with an even greater slew of exhibitors and events.

Book industry optimistic

Over 2,000 exhibitors from 29 countries set up their stands in the cavernous trade center

on the outskirts of the city. Oliver Zille, head of the Leipzig book fair, said the number of

exhibitors rose five percent compared to the previous year.

Leipzig book fair

"An appearance in

Leipzig offers in

particular small

publishers an

unrivalled price

advantage," said

Zille, who added he

expected more than

100,000 visitors to

the fair by Sunday. Indeed, the opportunity to attract nation-wide media attention in

Germany and win new readers and buyers at a reasonable budget is increasingly luring

new exhibitors to Saxony's second city.

Dieter Schormann, director of a German book industry trade organization, said the

positive news coming from Leipzig is a sign of upturn in the ailing book trade and

publishing industry, which has been plagued by crisis in the past two years.


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"A lot has happened in the publishing houses. We have new collections and modernized

retail stores that have adapted to market changes. That's why I'm an optimist and think

that I'll be able to announce a growth rate of at least three percent by the end of the year,

could be four," Schormann said.

"Leipzig Reads" set to dazzle

But away from the optimistic business aspect of the fair, the Leipzig book fair is also

gearing up for its literary event "Leipzig Reads" -- an inseparable part of the annual trade

that aims to show the city can lay claim to the slogan, "The biggest literature festival in

Europe."

American writer

Jeffrey Eugenides

In over 1,200

events round the

clock in bars, cafes

and theatres in the

city, famous authors

such as Christa

Wolf, Christoph

Hein, Adolf

Muschg, current Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides (photo), actors and politicians

like Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel will read from their works and hold discussions.

It's an aspect that marks out the Leipzig book fair from the cool professionalism of the

Frankfurt book show. "Leipzig has a significantly more familiar atmosphere than

Frankfurt. There's more reading involved," author and journalist Wibke Bruhns told the

daily newspaper Handelsblatt.

Audio book a hit

Another continuing highlight at this year's Leipzig book fair remains the audio book.

"The audio book has a permanent place now in book fair happenings. This dynamicallyexpanding market also registered a profit last year of an impressive 10 percent," said

Wolfgang Marzin, chairman of the Leipziger Book Fair.

The Leipzig Book Fair, which made the audio book a focus four years ago, now has over

100 exhibitors specializing in audio books. The fair has become an important meeting

point for the entire national audio book publishing industry.


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Building literary bridges

In addition to its usual attractions which include children's and travel literature, the spring

show will continue with other traditional features, in particular its role in attempting to

build a literary bridge towards Central and Eastern Europe.

Logo of Leipzig

book fair

The works of new

upcoming authors

from the ten mainly

former communist

eastern countries

that are poised to

join the EU on May

1, will be

introduced in dozens of events that will initiate debates on the role of an expanded

European Union.

Dieter Schormann is confident that an enlarged EU will bestow further importance on the

Leipzig Book Fair. "When we have the eastern expansion in a few weeks from now, then

Leipzig will gain more importance as a book fair in the future, as a meeting place for

readers, buyers, intellectuals and fair visitors," he said.

German Literature Gets Bad Rap Abroad

While the International Literature Festival is under way in Berlin, with up to 120

international writers attending the event; DW- WORLD looks at how contemporary

German fiction is fairing abroad.

German book stores

are full of foreigntitles

While foreign

books enjoy a good

reputation in

Germany, the same


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cannot be said of German literature abroad. A recent study on translation and publishing

licenses compiled by the Association of German Publishers and Booksellers shows that

on the whole contemporary German fiction is not fairing too well outside the country.

The ratio of imported and exported books is 3 to 1, meaning fewer foreign audiences read

German authors than vice versa.

However, as experts point out, the German book trade has experienced major changes in

the last several years.

Emerging Asia market

Since 1998, China has been consecutively among the biggest markets for German

publishing licenses. In 2003, the country purchased 660 licenses for literary works,

considerably more than any other country.

The Chinese market

is the largest for

German

translations.

Dr. Singh Bartz,

director of the

German Book

Information Center

in Beijing,

attributes the

growing interest in German literature to scholars who returned back home from their

studies in Germany and worked as editors. As in South Korea, which acquired 616

publishing licenses in 2002 and has seen an increase in the number of academics studying

in Germany, there is a direct correlation between an audience's foreign language skills

and interest in a publishing that country's literature.No fancy for fiction

Although many of the editors in Asia may have studied in Germany, there is little interest

in high-brow contemporary fiction. Non-fiction translations of philosophy, psychology

and science works were more popular than the new works by hard-hitting authors likeChrista Wolf or Martin Walser.

Even more successful, though, are books for children and juveniles, for which China

bought 178 translation licenses. "The close collaboration between Chinese and German

publishers during the printing process and the merchandizing of related products have

contributed hugely to the success of German children and juvenile books in China,"


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explained Batz. Moreover, he said "German children and juvenile literature is considered

entertaining, inspiring and fits well with the Chinese illustrative and educational

approach, as opposed to contemporary literature which still suffers under the reputation

of being too dry and analytical."

Too boring?

"The Earth's biggest

bookstore" is in

Seattle, where

Amazon.com has

its warehouse.

That reputation

applies to other

foreign markets as

well. In the United

Sates, which

together with the rest of the English-speaking publishing world accounts for only a small

segment of German foreign licensing -- in 2004 English ranked sixth behind Polish,

Spanish and Czech markets for purchase of translation rights -- works of contemporary

German authors have a difficult time finding fans.

Ricky Stock, head of the German Book Office in New York, a non-profit organization

that serves as a bridge between the German and American publishing industries,

confirmed that there is hardly any demand for German fiction in the US.

"The American market is immensely competitive and American editors are hard to

convince of giving German contemporary authors a chance," she said.

Nobel prize winner

Gnter Grass in

Germany's best

known

contemporaryfiction writer.

Dr. Anne-Bitt

Gericke, head of

Litrix.de, an online

translation service,


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agreed. "We are trying our best to get US-Americans interested in German literature. The

US market definitely sets the tone and is therefore an important one. Americans are still

conspicuously reserved towards German fiction, often considering it too profound and

too German-orientated," she said.

Language barrier

When it comes to the procurement of license contracts, however, reputation is not the

biggest stumbling block. More often than not, it's the lack of language familiarity.

"A huge problem is that most of the American editors don't speak German and rely on

sample translations which have to be provided first," Stock explained, while adding that

funding for translations is often hard to find.

Organizations such as the German Book Office in New York and litrix.de, which works in

association with the Goethe Institute, focus on promoting and disseminating German

literature abroad, especially fiction, by funding translation projects.

"We organize various book readings, meetings with foreign publishers, fund translation

programs and work closely with the Frankfurt book fair," said Clemens Peter Haase,

director for literature and translation at the Geothe Institute, one of the country's largest

government funded cultural organizations.

Despite the low level of acceptance in one of the world's largest publishing markets,

German contemporary authors should not despair: "Next year, German titles will

experience an unprecedented boost in the US," promised Stock. Whether that forecast

will translate into action remains to be seen.DW.DE

World Literature Around the Clock

Berlin is sounding a lot like the Tower of Babel as the 2nd International Literature

Festival gets underway with more than 100 authors from over 50 countries transforming

the German capital into a literary hub.

Calling on all

literary buffs - the

opening day

At a movie theatre

in the Berlin district

of Kreuzberg last


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week, a young blond Adonis jumped on to the stage before the Hollywood flick could

begin.

Much to the audiences surprise, he dragged a microphone with him, whipped out a piece

of paper and began reading a poem by a famous Italian poet. After five soul-wrenching

minutes, the German hunk mouthed a thank you and disappeared.

The stunned audience was then treated to a quick flash on the screen with the words, "2nd

International Literature Festival".

Too much, too fast?

Innovation is definitely what this years festival is about. And maybe a bit of over-

ambition too.

For there is no way the die-hard literary buff is going to be able to take in over 200 events

at various venues crammed in the space of ten days.

Besides book readings, a host of artistic and musical happenings taking place on the

sidelines of the festival in Berlins central Scheunenviertel district invite visitors to

discover the historic area.

Under the title, "Poetry in the Scheunenviertel", verse and literature will be held in public

spaces in co-operation with local cafs, restaurants, galleries, universities, publishing

houses and theatres.

To the clink of wine glasses and exquisite appetizers, films, discussions, lectures,

performances, exhibitions, parties and historic city tours will form part of the agenda.

There is just so much to do, see and hear as the city pulsates to literature round the clock.

Are we in Babylonia?

The festival's 400-page catalogue is a virtual language almanac where a plethora of

foreign names and tongues meet the eye.

The over 100 authors from more than 50 countries who have descended on the city

include the Nobel Prize nominee Breyten Breytenbach from South Africa, the Italian

best-selling author Alessandro Baricco, Asia Djebar from Algeria, Chilean Antonio

Skarmeta, the acclaimed U.R. Anathamurthy from India, Edwar Al-Kharrat from Egypt

and Brazilian childrens books author Anna Maria Machado.But apart from the famous names, this years international jury has also selected authors

and poets who are relatively unknown in Germany and Europe, and offered them a

chance to introduce their works.

In keeping with the multicultural tone of the festival, the German entries include

Croation-born Zoran Drvenkar, Sherko Fatah, a writer of Kurdish-German origin, and


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Henryk M. Broder, who was born in Katowice and is one of Germanys most famous

essayist.

Remembering Sept. 11

At the official opening ceremony at the Berliner Ensemble on Tuesday, the director and

initiator of the festival, Ulrich Schreiber said that globalisation should be used to broaden

horizons, enrich experiences and to enjoy different cultures.

Bosnian author Dzevad Karahasan held the opening lecture titled "literature as defence of

our history". He emphasised that everything depends upon "whether we can save our

culture from its fundamentalist herders and whether well have enough good literature".

The festival took on a meaningful note on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in

the United States as such personalities as French philosopher Bernhard-Henri Levy, the

Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit and German author Peter Schneider participated in a

day-long symposium on the causes and consequences of the September 11 attacks.

Besides Sept. 11, authors and intellectuals also tackled other weighty issues as anti-

Semitism, the Middle East conflict and Islam.

Passion for literature's enough

Getting the ambitious festival on its feet was no easy feat. With coffers in the city-state of

Berlin facing a major cash-crunch, the festival, which is under the aegis of the German

UNESCO commission, had to look elsewhere for the main bulk of financing. The list of

sponsors is long, ranging from Albanian Airlines to Zapf Movers.

But its clear to all that more than the funds which barely suffice to cover the

organisational costs, its the sheer enthusiasm for literature that will sustain the festival

till September 21.

The 2nd International Literature Festival runs through Sept. 21, 2002WWW LINKS

The 2nd International Literature Festival in Berlin
http://www.literaturfestival.com/http://www.literaturfestival.com/

foreign books dominate german market

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