In some ways Frankfurt is a lot like Disneyland. Both are associated with lots of hype, lots of people and the belief that on going there all your dreams may very well come true. Perpetuating these hopes for the book crowd are “fair-y” tales like the story of Saša Stanišić, nominee for the 2006 German Book Prize. Less than a year after Stanišić was shortlisted for the 25,000€ prize at FBF (see PT October ’06) his tragi-comic novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Random House Germany) was acquired by Grove Atlantic, not to mention by publishers in 22 other countries as well. Senior Editor and former Rights Director, Lauren Wein publicized the happy union at last month’s German Book Office hosted Editors’ Exchange (see PDF issue for additional coverage), recounting that it was one of the smoothest and most exciting acquisitions she’s been involved with. Undoubtedly, this year’s hopefuls are looking up with stars in their eyes collectively thinking, “That could be me.”
One such daydreamer is German author Katja Lange-Müller whose novel Böse Schafe (Angry Sheep) is on this year’s shortlist. Set in 1987 West Berlin, Angry Sheep (Kiepenheuer & Witsch), tells the intertwined stories of Soja, a refugee from East Berlin, and Harry, a mysterious man with a troubled past involving drugs and a prison sentence. Lange-Müller innovatively reconstructs their unlikely affair through Soja’s interpretation of the sparsely-filled composition book that Harry has left behind after being hauled off to jail again. Grafting her missing half of the story onto a mere eighty-nine sentences which fail to even mention her name, Soja must come to terms with how little she actually knows about her former companion and what dangerous consequences this ignorance might have for her own future.
Infused with humor and compassion, Lange-Müller’s melancholy tale of love and uncertainty has won over critics and the public alike. German critic and GBP judge Ijoma Mangold extols, “Sad, true and forceful: In this major novel Katja Lange-Müller explores how far people go for true commitment. This book is the plain truth, but in the plainness there is poetry.” Some of this authenticity can be accounted for by the author’s autobiographical inclusions. Born and raised in East Berlin (she was once kicked out of school for her “un-socialistic behavior,”) Lange-Müller dabbled in writing for an East Berlin newspaper, but also spent six years working in women’s psychiatric wards before eventually escaping to West Berlin in 1984. It is apparent that both personal and professional experiences animate her fiction. But whatever the recipe for her success, the results have been exceptional. Lange-Müller has already won three other German prizes. If she wins this one, all she’ll need is a foreign rights person to sweep her off her feet with a major English translation deal. Contact Iris Brandt (ibrandt@kiwi-verlag.de). All rights available.
Other fairgoers with Frankfurt fantasies come from Catalan Culture, this year’s Guest of Honor. With a total of 160 cultural and literary events planned for the fair, the organizers are clearly hoping to work some magic of their own, showing off the best of their contemporary arts scene while still upholding the traditions out of which they came. Balancing modernity and history is familiar territory for Catalan author Roser Caminals. Although the Barcelona-born Caminals has lived in the US since the 1980s (she’s currently professor of Spanish and department head at Hood College), the subject matter of her novels, which are written both in Catalan and Spanish, attest that her westward migration has done nothing to alter her state of mind. In fact, in 2003 Caminals was awarded for this duality winning “best novel” in Jocs Florals de la Diàspora, a literary contest held in Washington DC for Catalan writers living abroad.
Maintaining this spirit, Caminals’ latest, La Dona de Mercuri (The Mercury Woman) published by Edicions 62 in Catalan and by Bruguera in Spanish serves as the final volume in a trilogy of historical fiction set at the turn of the 20th century in Barcelona. In this installment Caminals filters a moment of social crisis through the romantically distorted vision of Teresa, a young working class girl. After a nobleman selects her to be groomed into a lady (Teresa is rechristened Terry) for his own amorous amusement only to abandon her soon thereafter, Teresa is caught between two worlds. Posing questions about the nature of identity while juxtaposing the laborers’ anarchism and bourgeois pretension (eventually erupting in “The Tragic Week,” a revolt that resulted in most of Barcelona’s churches and convents being burned to the ground), Caminals captures the motto that Catalan Culture has adopted for the Book Fair, “Singular i Universal – Unique and Universal.” According to agent Bernat Fiol at the Antonia Kerrigan Literary Agency the novels can be similarly approached, “The three novels can be read separately, but they can also be read as a literary exploration of the Barcelona of that time.” A part that stands up as well as its whole? It’s an idea almost as impossibly possible as remaining at home, while going abroad. Contact Bernat Fiol (bernat@antoniakerrigan.com).
And now for something off the beaten path, we head to Greece to find author Smaro Desypri and her debut novel, My Dream Aboard White Boats (Livanis). Desypri’s novel invites the reader inside the psyche of taxi driver Vesso, a repressed wife and mother whose only emotional outlet comes from the private paintings she creates. Drawing from her passengers’ stories for inspiration, Vesso uses artistic expression to explore her own inner life. In doing so Vesso gets in touch with a passion that adds some much needed color to an otherwise lackluster life. Critics call it a novel full of feeling and poetry. Contact Ermioni Sakellaropoulou (Ermioni@livanis.gr). German rights to ANT.
For our final international tidbit we leave Europe and go south of the equator to Chile. If Desypri’s novel is a hidden gem, Pablo Simonetti’s sophomore sensation The Reason of Lovers is a big flashy diamond that can only be accused of hiding in plain sight. Reaching #1 on Chile’s bestseller list for five straight weeks after being released and dipping only slightly thereafter, Simonetti’s second novel is well on its way to repeating the impressive 43 week run of its predecessor Mother Who Art in Heaven (see PT May 06). Also, similar to his debut novel are the themes Simonetti tackles. Previously, he scrutinized the ties between parent and child. In his follow-up Simonetti explores the intricate bonds between lovers. The title refers to the conflict between passion and rational thinking that comes to a head when a young married couple’s peaceful existence is disrupted by the appearance of a lawyer named Diego Lira. Spanning several months, they quickly learn the extent of their vulnerability. Agent Piergiorgio Nicolazzini reports that the author has received enthusiastic comments from other writers, and that he has encountered a lot of enthusiasm during public signings. Contact Piergiorgio Nicolazzini (piergiorgio.nicolazzini@pnla.it) Spanish (world) and Brazilian rights have been sold to Planeta.
