Shortly after Takis Würger's For Polina making it to the top of the Spiegel bestseller list, Martin Suter's Love and Fury has now taken the #1 spot—not only in Germany but also on the Swiss and Austrian bestseller lists.
It’s a remarkable moment for Diogenes: three of the top five titles on the Spiegel bestseller list are ours, and we handle world rights of the first two: Love and Fury at #1, For Polina at #5 (and Déjà-Vu by Martin Walker at #3).
Luca Ventura's Green Gold ranked #15 and now #20 on the Spiegel paperback list, further establishing the success of his Capri Mysteries.
A big cheer for our standout titles!
Best wishes, Susanne, Suzanne, Andrej, Jana and Claudia
Spiegel Top 5 for 9 weeks: For Polina by Takis Würger – French rights with Calmann-Lévy
The Spiegel bestseller list features For Polina in the top 5 for the 9th week already.
Shortly after the sale of Dutch rights to Meulenhoff, the French sale to Calmann-Lévy, took the language count to nine.
Takis Würger was in high demand as an interviewee at the Leipzig Book Fair. Here are just two videos of his appearances – he was a guest on the fair’s traditional ›Blue Sofa‹ (here on youtube) and on the prominent literature stage hosted by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF for a 30 minute conversation (here on youtube, 2:09-2:37).
Meanwhile, the prominent German critic Denis Scheck commented on Takis Würger’s success with For Polina, on the author’s qualities – and prevalent attitudes and cultural tensions within German criticism:
»Takis Würger has got everything that German literary criticism still can’t stand, despises even: lust for storytelling. Humour. Drive. Empathy. And, worst of all: success.« Denis Scheck / Tagesspiegel, Berlin
Rights for For Polina, which is also the ›Swiss Booksellers’ Favourite 2025‹ have been sold as follows: Albanian (Botart) Catalan (Les Hores) Dutch (Meulenhoff) Estonian (Tänapäev) French (Calmann-Lévy) Italian (Neri Pozza) Russian (Azbooka)
Martin Suter's Love and Fury #1 on German, Austrian and Swiss bestseller lists, French rights sold
Love and Fury by Martin Suter ranks first on the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany, as well as on the Austrian and the Swiss bestseller lists.
French rights for Love and Fury have been sold to Éditions Phébus. Their publication is scheduled for Spring 2026.
»Literature for all senses. No hollow promises in the publisher’s catalogue: Suter is indeed at the height of his creative powers.« Bernhard Heckler / Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
»A highly absorbing and very well told story.« Johannes Kössler / ORF, Vienna
»[…] a bestseller for which other authors would kill.« Thomas Andre / Berliner Morgenpost
»Love, criminal energy, art scene, business class: a reliable mixture that makes for an entertaining read.« Annette König / SRF, Zurich
»An amusing mixture of love story and mystery.« Britta Helmbold / Ruhr Nachrichten, Dortmund
»Above all else, Suter’s novels are well-constructed stories with timely topics.« Carsten Otte / SWR, Stuttgart
»And then there’s Suter’s affinity for an elegant language.« Christiane Oelrich / Hannoversche Allgemeine
Turkish rights of Stefanie vor Schulte's Boy with a Black Rooster sold to Sel, to be available in 10 languages
Sel Yayıncılık have just acquired Turkish rights to Boy with a Black Rooster. Stefanie vor Schulte’s celebrated and award-winning debut novel is therefore going to be published in 10 languages. Rights are sold as follows:
English/world (Indigo Press)
French (Héloïse d'Ormesson)
Greek (Kapsimi)
Italian (Mondadori)
Russian (Foliant)
Serbian (Plato)
Spanish/world (Seix Barral)
Turkish (Sel)
Green Gold by Luca Ventura #15 on the Spiegel bestseller list
»Slow-food mystery with beautiful vistas from the island for a touch of holiday feeling on the sofa.« Marianne Fischer / Kleine Zeitung, Vienna
»In the new novel, too, the author expertly conjures the flair of rolling waves and craggy cliffs, fragrant herbs and delicious dishes into our imagination.«
Münchner Merkur, Munich
»Green Gold makes you long for warm summer evenings on a South Italian terrace, in front of you a steaming plate of porcini mushroom pasta, refined with the best olive oil.«
Babina Cathomen / Kulturtipp, Zurich
Bernhard Schlink at the PEN America World Voices Festival
Bernhard Schlink spoke at the PEN America World Voices Festival in New York about his novel The Granddaughter, which was published in its US edition in January this year.
Ósmann by Joachim B. Schmidt praised by the press.
Icelandic rights are sold to Forlagið whose edition will be published this autumn.
New Books in German featured this title in their latest issue, which means that translation costs for an English edition are guaranteed by pro helvetia, and they look favourably upon applications from other countries.
»Joachim B. Schmidt [...] tells the story of [Ósmann’s] life in such a riveting way that makes his new novel an unputdownable read.« Peer Teuwsen / NZZ am Sonntag, Zurich
»Schmidt interweaves all these little, delicate stories into a big cosmos, with the man from the Ós at its centre.« Petra Pluwatsch / Kölnische Rundschau, Cologne
»Without appearing intrusive, he allows us to feel with Ósmann, his deep grief as well as his happiness, his fears, his melancholia and his friendliness.« Benedikt Dirrigl / Nordbayern, Nuremberg
»Joachim B. Schmidt brings this archaic world to life in all its ambivalence – in wild, mystical beauty and harsh reality.« Babina Cathomen / Kulturtipp, Zurich
Just published: The Stories Inside Us by Benedict Wells in Dutch
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