New deals

Nataša Kramberger’s latest novel Commensurate Acres will be published in German by a renown independent publishing house Verbrecher Verlag in 2021. Kramberger will also be writer in residence at a prestigious German writer’s residence Vila Concordia in Bamberg from April 2020 to March 2021.

Schenk Verlag from Germany successfully applied for support of the Creative Europe programme for literary translation – and not only with one, but with two Slovenian books in their programme: Polona Glavan’s A Night in Europe (Noč v Evropi) and Gabriela Babnik’s Dry season (Sušna doba).

Slovenian children’s books publishers have had a good season too: in the next years Black and White (Črno Belo) by Žiga X. Gombač will be published by Wydawnictwo RM in Poland, About a Mouse that Makes New Friends (Miška želi prijatelja) by Nina Mav Hrovat in Czech Republic by Albatros Media and Where are you? by Marta Bartolj in United Arab Emirates by Kalimat.

Manica K. Musil with her inventive books with sewn illustrations is becoming one of the most well known Slovenian children’s books authors around the world. Rights have recently been sold to Kalimat (United Arab Emirates), Rosen Publishing (USA), Timas Publishing (Turkey), Youth Press Limited (China), Albatros Media (Czech Republic) and Kašmir Promet (Croatia).

New publications

Ana Schnabl: Grün wie ich dich liebe grün (Folio Verlag, 2020, translated by Klaus Detlef Olof)

Schnabl’s short story collection Disentangling (Razvezani) is coming up in German translation at Folio Verlag in March 2020. The publisher just received the support from the Creative Europe programme for literary translation for its programme, including this title.

Fabjan Hafner: Erste und letzte Gedichte (Suhrkamp Verlag, 2020, translated by Peter Handke)

A representative selection of poetry by Fabjan Hafner, a Slovenian poet and a translator from Austrian Carinthia, after whom the Prize for translations from German to Slovenian and vice versa is named, will be published by Suhrkamp in March next year, with an afterword by Peter Handke.

Florjan Lipuš: Boštjans Flug (Suhrkamp Verlag, reprint 2019)

A reprint of one of the most important books by a Slovenian minority author from Austria and the recipient of the Grand Austrian State Prize 2018, Florjan Lipuš, translated into German by Johann Strutz, with foreword by Peter Handke.

Lojze Kovačič: Newcomers: Book Two (Archipelago Books, 2020, translated by Michael Biggins)

The second part of Newcomers (Prišleki) – the cult Slovenian classic by Lojze Kovačič will finally be published by Archipelago Books in January 2020 under the title: Newcomers: Book Two. The novel was translated by Michael Biggins.

Mirt Komel: Il tocco del pianista (Carbonio Editore, 2019, translated by Patrizia Raveggi) and Goldman oder Der Klang der Welt (Hollitzer Verlag, 2019, translated by Sebastian Walcher)

An Italian translation of Mirt Komel's debut novel was published under the title Il tocco del pianista (Pianistov dotik) at Carbonio Editore. A German translation of the same novel was recently published by Hollitzer Verlag in Vienna under the title Goldman oder Der Klang der Welt. The author will be reading from it at BuchQuartier festival in MuseumsQuartier / Arena21 und Ovalhalle in Vienna on 8th December. 

Goran Vojnović: Under fikonträdet (Rámus Förlag, 2019, translated by Christine Bredenkamp)

A Swedish translation of Goran Vojnović’s third novel, The Fig Tree (Figa), was published by Rámus publishing house under the title Under fikonträdet. The English edition of the book is planned for October 2020 at Istros Books publishing house.

Drago Jančar: Kao i ljubav

The Serbian edition of And Love itself (In ljubezen tudi) by Drago Jančar was published by Arhipelag publishing house in Belgrade under the title Kao i ljubav. The book was translated by Ana Ristović.

Dino Bauk: Kraj. Ponovo

the Serbian translation of the novel Konec. Znova was made by Dragana Bojanić Tijardović and published by Rende Beograd publishing house. On this occasion the author visited Belgrade and presented the translation in a conversation with Muharem Bazdulj on 11 December.

Jana Bauer: Ding dong priče

A children’s book by Jana Bauer Ding Dong Stories (Ding dong zgodbe) was published in Croatian edition by Ibis grafika under the title Ding Dong priče. The book was translated by Krešimir Krnic.

Evald Flisar: Besede nad oblaki

Ibis grafika from Croatia published also a novel by Evald Flisar, translated by Krešimir Krnic and is planning to publish Poglej skozi okno (Look through the Window), another novel by Evald Flisar, and Tu blizu živi deklica (A Girl that Lives Nearby), a children's book by Ida Mlakar Črnič (text) and Peter Škerl (illustrations) in the future.

Extra

Tomaž Lavrič, a Slovenian comic book author has been nominated for the Prix du patrimoine of the Festival international de la bande desinée in French Angoulême for his cult book about punk in the 80’s Slovenia Alerte rouge, translated by Zdenka Štimac and published by Editions çà et là. The jury nominates outstanding classic comic books from around the world, which have been published in French for the first time or republished in the last year.

Slovenian Section of IBBY is the sponsor of International Children’s Book Day 2020, which is a special honour. The Slovenian Section of IBBY had previously been the international sponsor of ICBD in 1997, when artists Matjaž Schmidt and Boris A. Novak designed the poster Childhood Is Poetry of Life. Poetry Is Childhood of the World. For International Children’s Book Day 2020, Peter Svetina wrote Hunger for Words, while Damijan Stepančič illustrated the poster and, together with Melita Rak, designed the message to the children in the form of a cube. More on this topic here.