The pandemic of 2020 didn’t stop rights sales of Slovenian titles. Here are some highlights among new deals in fiction, non-fiction and children’s books.

NEW DEALS

Fiction

One of our previous translation tips, a novel Ivana in front of the Sea by Veronika Simoniti, has been popular in 2020: rights have so far been sold to China (Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press), Croatia (Fraktura) and Albania (Fan Noli).

Drago Jančar’s And Love Itself was sold to Croatian Meandar Media and Polish Sedno, whereas his most famous novel I Saw Her That Night was sold to Egyptian publishing house Sefsafa.

Fig tree, the third novel by Goran Vojnović, this year’s recipient of the Angelus Central European Literature Award will be published in Arabic by Al Arabi from Egypt. His second novel Yugoslavia, my Fatherland, will be published in Albanian by Fan Noli. Vojnović is the first Slovenian recipient of the  internationally renown Angelus Award!

The Secret is Called Erich Šlomovič, an exciting crime novel from the world of art, by writer Slavko Pregl and art connoisseur Leon Pogelšek will be published in English by ARCA Publications (The Association for Research into Crimes against Art).

Boris A. Novak’s monumental epos in three books The Door of no Return (44.000 verses on 2.300 pages!), which brought the highest Slovene national award for arts – Prešeren’s Award to the author, will be published in Croatian by Fraktura publishing house.

Certamen Spirituale, a poetry collection by Gorazd Kocijančič, philosopher, poet and latest translator of entire Plato’s work into Slovene, will be published by Vaso Roto in Spain.

Poetry book Love Says Let’s Go by Nina Dragičević, a poet and a composer, will be published in Serbian by Rende. The book landed the first place on the Slovenian Critics’ Choice for 2020. We are also happy to announce that Dragičević will take part in the 2021 edition of the international Transpoesie festival in Brussels.

Non Fiction

The last book by Zmago Šmitek (1949-2018), an internationally renown professor of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Šelest divjine (The Rustling of the Wilderness), will be published by Croatian Ibis Grafika.

Children and YA

Nina Mav Horvat: Listen up, Here Comes the Badger! with illustrations by Kristina Krhin was sold to the largest Czech publishing group Albatros Media.

Cvetka Sokolov: In the Wrong Story was sold to Arete publishing house from Serbia.

A bilingual Slovene-Chinese picture book Little Alma on a Great Journey by Slovenian writer Milan Dekleva and Chinese illustrator Hiquin Wang has been sold to Croatia (Srednja Evropa publishing house). The book tells a story of the writer and first female world traveler to travel the world by herself - Alma M. Karlin, who was born in Slovenian town Celje and traveled the world in 1920s. 

Vinko Möderndorfer’s YA books Whale on the Beach, Like in a Film and I am Andrej were sold to Russia (Strecoza) and Macedonia (MIF).

Andreja Peklar’s awarded title Luna and I has been sold to Mexico (Textofilia Ediciones) and North Macedonia (Prozart Medija), whereas her wordless picture book Ferdo, the Giant Bird has been sold to Mongolia (Nepko Kids).

The popular Scary Fairy by Jana Bauer and her latest book How to Scare a Monster will be published in Germany (Tulipan Verlag), Italy (Besa Editrice), Rumania (Curtea Veche), Latvia (Aminori ) and Ukraine (V. Books - XXI. Ltd.).

The largest Slovenian publishing house Mladinska knjiga, whose educational materials received the Comenius-EduMedia-Award 2020 (for ucimse.com portal) and BELMA award (for My Friend Nande 1 learning materials for maths), is successfully selling learning materials – in 2020 they sold no less than 13 titles by author Nataša Bucik and illustrator Ana Zavadlav to China (Rightol), Russia (Eksmo) and Austria (Breitschopf).

NEW BOOKS

Slovenian alpine classic Pot (The Way) by Nejc Zaplotnik, one of the first two Slovenian mountaineers to climb Mt. Everest 41 years ago, was published by AS Verlag in Switzerland under the title Der Weg. The book was translated by Lars Felgner.

The novel Misli name, ko ti bo lepo (Think about Me, when You will be Having a Good Time) by Maja Gal Štromar was published in German language by Edition Converso under the title Denk an mich, auch in guten Zeiten. The book was translated by Ann Catrin Bolton.

Boris Pahor’s Grmada v pristanu (Bonfire in the Harbour) was translated into Catalan by Simona Škrabec and published by Edicions del Periscopi under the title La pira al port.

Drago Jančar’s Drevo brez imena (A Tree without a Name) was translated into Czech by Petr Mainuš and published by Altenberg publishing house under the title Strom beze jména.

Jana Bauers children’s book Kako prestrašiti pošast (How to Scare a Monster) was translated by Krešimir Krnic and published by Ibis Grafika under the title Kako prestrašiti čudovište.