Season's Greetings / Looking back and forward

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We had it all this year: A ›German Book Prize‹ nomination for My Third Life by Daniela Krien. A ›Booker Prize‹ nomination and numerous rights sales for our Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov. Bernhard Schlink's The Granddaughter published in the UK to wide press acclaim. Donna Leon honored for her oeuvre with two lifetime achievement awards. Takis Würger's For Polina as next spring's top title, for which the first response by booksellers is overwhelming. And of course, the series Ripley, of whose success we are proud and happy, also because Philipp Keel and Diogenes Entertainment were its Executive Producer.

Let us seize this opportunity to convey to you our warmest

season's greetings and best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous 2025,

Susanne, Suzanne, Andrej, Jana and Claudia

Our Ripley year: Four ›Emmys‹, nominated for ›Golden Globes‹, ›Critics' Choice TV Awards‹ and an ›Eddie Award‹

The eight-part series Ripley premiered on Netflix on 04/04/24, and is based on the famous novel The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, whose literary legacy Diogenes is proud to represent. Diogenes publisher Philipp Keel accompanied the series with his subsidiary Diogenes Entertainment as Executive Producer.

The Netflix series Ripley was honoured with four ›Emmys‹ in the following categories:

Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series (Robert Elswit)
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series (Steven Zaillian)
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series
Outstanding Special Visual Effects In a Single Episode

The series has garnered two sets of hat-trick nominations – for the upcoming ›Golden Globes‹ and the ›Critics’ Choice TV Awards‹ – along with a nomination for an ›Eddie Award‹.

»It's an apt parable for the social media age, in which the carefully crafted image can be seductive to a damaging degree.«
Yvonne Villareal / Los Angeles Times

»This Ripley, very much unlike the color-filled movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, with its younger, prettier cast, evokes a grimness that matches Ripley himself, and it harkens back to a time when personal presence spoke loudly, before people could be verified online.«
Matthew Gilbert / The Boston Globe

Rights sold:

Arabic (Al Mada), Armenian (Antares), Bulgarian (Fama), Catalan (Navona), Chinese/CN (Shanghai Translation), Chinese/TW (Owl/Cité), Czech (Slovart), Dutch (Arbeiderspers), English/UK (William Heinemann), English/USA (Norton), Finnish (WSOY), French (Calmann-Lévy), Galician (Kalandraka), Georgian (Diogene), Greek (Agra), Hebrew (Hakibbutz Hameuhad), Hungarian (Kossuth), Indonesian (Gramedia), Italian (La nave di Teseo), Japanese (Kawade Shobo), Korean (Eulyoo), Latvian (Zvaigzne), Norwegian (Gyldendal Norsk), Polish (Noir sur Blanc), Portuguese/BRA (Intrínseca), Portuguese/PT (Relógio d'Agua), Romanian (Art), Russian (Azbooka-Atticus), Serbian (LOM), Slovak (Slovart), Spanish/world (Anagrama), Swedish (Modernista), Turkish (Iletisim), Ukrainian (Nebo BookLab), Vietnamese (BachvietBooks)

Rights still available:

Croatian, Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Lithuanian (and smaller markets)

80'000 copies and Hungarian rights for Elena Fischer's Paradise Garden sold, film rights optioned

We have sold Hungarian rights of Paradise Garden to Helikon, thereby taking up the language count to twelve, while film rights have been optioned. As of October, we have sold 80'000 copies of Paradise Garden. Furthermore, she was awarded the debut prize of the ›Literaturwerk Rheinland-Pfalz Saar‹ 2024. With the Italian edition just published, we have received raving press:

»Paradise Garden […], despite the heart-breaking bereavement, has a stylistic freshness and liveliness that overlaps with everything that is mournful. Sometimes with an extra touch of sugariness, sadness and happiness reveal themselves almost simultaneously.«
Susanna Nirenstein / La Repubblica, Rome

Rights sold:
Czech (Prostor)
Dutch (Meulenhoff)
English/world (Indigo)
Estonian (Tänapäev)
French (Gallmeister)
Hungarian (Helikon)
Italian (Feltrinelli)
Portuguese (Porto)
Slovak (E.J.)
Spanish (AdN)

60'000 copies of My Third Life by Daniela Krien sold

We have sold 60’000 copies of Daniela Krien’s latest novel My Third Life within just three months. This makes it one of those rare titles that excel on all fronts: earning critical acclaim, receiving award nominations (this year's ›German Book Prize‹, ›Independent Booksellers ' Favourite‹) and achieving strong sales, domestic and foreign.

Rights sold:
Catalan (Bromera / Més Llibres)
Croatian (Fraktura)
English/UK (MacLehose)
Norwegian (Press)
Romanian (Humanitas Fiction)
Slovenian (Mladinska)
Spanish/world (Vegueta)

Film rights for Bernhard Schlink's The Late Life optioned

Film rights for Bernhard Schlink's The Late Life have been optioned, while the book is going to be published in the following languages:

Armenian (Vernatun)
Azerbaijanian (Qanun)
Croatian (Petrine Knjige)
Czech (Euromedia)
Dutch (Cossee)
English/UK (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion)
French (Gallimard)
Greek (Kritiki)
Italian (Neri Pozza)
Romanian (Polirom)
Russian (Azbooka-Atticus)
Serbian (Plato)
Spanish/world (Anagrama)

Icelandic rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Ósmann sold

We have sold Icelandic rights for Joachim B. Schmidt's Ósmann to Forlagid, an exhilarating first rights sale three months before our publication in March 2025. Evidently, the Icelanders have adopted Joachim B. Schmidt as one of their own – it's become almost impossible to picture the Icelandic literary scene without him. The protagonist of his Kalmann books is making his way to the screen: our Icelandic partners Kontent are working on the series adaptation.

An English sample of Ósmann will be available at the beginning of January.

The Capri crime series by Luca Ventura soon available in seven languages

We have just sold Estonian rights to Luca Ventura’s In the Middle of August to Tänapäev. This means seven languages in total for this book.

The successful new crime series currently consists of five books, all of which were Spiegel bestsellers. So far, we have sold a stunning 250’000 copies of our German editions.

Rights sold:
Arabic (Al-Arabi)
Catalan (Enciclopèdia Catalana)
Estonian (Tänapäev)
French (Livre de Poche)
Italian (Giunti)
Spanish (Enciclopèdia Catalana)

Excellent international reviews for Bernhard Schlink's The Granddaughter

The UK edition by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (published in November) was greeted by magnificent press, just like Gallimard's French edition and many others.

»A complex, poignant narrative that plays out in communist East Berlin in the 1960s and the neo-Nazi scene of the present day.«
Financial Times, London

»The Granddaughter asks many important questions, including one that feels very pertinent right now with the rise of far-right groups: ›Was society failing to provide young people with a positive experience of community?‹«
Johanna Thomas Corr / Sunday Times, London

»Bernhard Schlink at his best: melancholy, memories and complex emotions, captured in crystal-clear sentences.«
De Standaard, Brussels

»Anyone who wants to understand contemporary Germany must read The Granddaughter now.«
Nicolas Weill / Le Monde des Livres, Paris

Rights sold:

Albanian (Dudaj)
Bulgarian (Kryg)
Chinese/CN (Shanghai Translation)
Croatian (Petrine Knjige)
Czech (Euromedia)
Danish (Silkefyret)
Dutch (Cossee)
English/UK (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
English/US (HarperVia)
Finnish (WSOY)
French (Gallimard)
Georgian (Intelekti)
Greek (Kritiki)
Italian (Neri Pozza)
Japanese (Shinchosha)
Korean (Sigongsa)

Macedonian (in negotiation)
Portuguese/PT (Leya/ASA)
Romanian (Polirom)
Russian (Azbooka-Atticus)
Serbian (Plato)
Spanish/world (Anagrama)
Turkish (Dogan)

Andrey Kurkov's The Silver Bone published to wide press acclaim

The English translation of Andrey Kurkov’s The Silver Bone received great press in the UK and US (translated by Boris Dralyuk for MacLehose Press / HarperVia). The Silver Bone was longlisted for the International Booker Prize.

»Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre.«
Sarah Weinman / The New York Times

»And though it is clear-eyed in its depiction of war's sheer senselessness, The Silver Bone has an unusual poetic lightness too.«
The Financial Times

»With its earthy prose and stunning attention to detail, this stands apart.«
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

»Kurkov brings to life an overlooked and much-contested episode in Ukrainian history, capturing the brutality with which Soviet forces first attempted to establish control over the city.«
The Washington Post

Rights sold:

Arabic (Sefsafa)
Croatian (Božičević)
Dutch (Borgerhoff & Lamberigts)
English/UK (MacLehose)
English/US (HarperVia)
Estonian (Tänapäev)
Finnish (Otava)
French (Liana Levi)
Greek (Kastaniotis)
Italian (Marsilio)
Polish (Noir sur Blanc)
Portuguese/PT (Porto)
Romanian (Paralela 45)
Russian (Folio)
Spanish/world (Alfaguara)
Turkish (Siren)
Ukrainian (Folio)

The Stories Inside Us by Benedict Wells ranks high on the bestseller list

The Stories Inside Us by Benedict Wells was a #2 on the Spiegel bestseller list and within the top 5 for eight weeks in a row.

Rights sold:
Dutch: Meulenhoff
French: Istya

»This is a truly exceptional book: reading and writing converge more closely here than anywhere else.«
Denis Scheck / ARD, Berlin

»This unearthing of one’s own story, eked out against qualm, gently feeling and still determined, is unparalleled.«
Hartmut Wilmes / Kölnische Rundschau, Cologne

To date, we have sold over two million Diogenes copies of Benedict Wells’ seven books, in German alone. At only 40 years old, his books have been translated into 39 languages.

›Ripper Award‹ and ›Bavarian Literature Prize‹ for Donna Leon

In November, Donna Leon received the biennial ›European Crime Fiction Star Award‹ (›Ripper Award‹) at the ›Mord am Hellweg‹ festival – the biggest European international crime fiction festival. Donna Leon succeeds former awardees Henning Mankell, Simon Beckett, Håkan Nesser, Jussi Adler-Olsen and others.

Earlier in November, she received the ›Honorary Prize‹ from the minister president at the ›Bavarian Literature Prize‹ award ceremony.

Last, not least, The Washington Post has named A Refiner's Fire as one of the Best Mystery Books of 2024.

Booksellers eagerly anticipate Takis Würger's For Polina (top title 2025)

It was such a delight to sense the international publishers' excitement about Diogenes' top title for 2025, Takis Würger's For Polina. We are convinced that this book is going to travel – and booksellers agree. Here is just a narrow selection of their glowing reviews:

»Last night I read the last pages, and today I feel expelled from paradise.«
Brigitte Gode, Gollenstein Buchhandlung

»30 pages into the book, I suspected I might already be reading the best book of 2024, even now, in November 2024.«

Sabine Levi

»This book has it all – characters, pace, longing, music, grief, language, the intricacies of human life, joy, friendship, belonging, chosen family...«

Tina Seelandt, Buchhandlung Heymann

»After the first few lines, my arms began to tingle with goosebumps, as they rarely do - I felt a little like a gold-digger might, stumbling upon a sparkling treasure.«

Daniela Kösters