Gesa Stedman takes a look back at trends and developments which dominated the literary field in the UK in 2018. While non-fiction was on the up, fiction was less important Read more
#BritLitBerlin 2019: “Cities in Contemporary UK Literature”
Our guest authors Sonya Permiakova attended this year’s #BritLitBerlin conference about “Cities in Contemporary UK Literature” and shares some of her impressions with us. The programme of this year’s British Culture Literature Seminar was brought together by award-winning poet Michael Symmons Roberts – and it was due to his effort […] Read more
The Death of Gentlemanly Publishing: Obituary for Editor Diana Athill
Gesa Stedman laments the death of editor Diana Athill, and explains gentlemanly publishing – a concept unknown to younger 21st-century readers. 20th-century-style publishing died its final death recently, Read more
Review: “Good Morning, Midnight” by Jean Rhys
New in our Students’ Corner: Ann-Katrin Daflis’ review of the “timeless and relentless” novel Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. If you are looking for a light read that will easily be forgotten after you have finished reading it, you should keep away from Jean Rhys’ Good Morning, Midnight. This […] Read more
Students’ Corner
The students of the Centre for British Studies, Berlin, get exposed to a number of agents in the literary fields in the UK and Germany. They also have to complete several creative tasks during the Master course, such as developing an idea for a book, writing blurbs and other marketing […] Read more
Happy Holidays
Dear readers, This is our last post in 2018. We hope you get to enjoy a well-deserved break, maybe even with a Christmas book flood of your own. We plan to enjoy both, the break and the books, and we’ll keep our eyes open for new books, authors, publishers and […] Read more
A Moving Tribute to a Creative Life: Judith Kerr’s Creatures. A Celebration of Her Life and Work
Gesa Stedman reviews Judith Kerr’s illustrated autobiography and finds inspiration in it. The book was published in German to coincide with the author’s 95th birthday. For German readers, Judith Kerr is best known for her novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, an autobiographical novel for older children about the Kerr […] Read more
Knights Of Books Make the Perfect Christmas Present: Treat the Small Human in Your Life to One This Year
Our guest author Melanie Ramdarshan Bold introduces us to the indie publisher Knights Of, whose books want to “give windows into as many worlds as possible”, and explains how they have been disrupting the UK publishing industry. And as Christmas is around the corner, Melanie also included some recommendations for […] Read more
“Quite groggy and very happy”: An account of the first months in the Literaturhaus under the new dual leadership of Janika Gelinek and Sonja Longolius
Gesa Stedman and Sandra van Lente asked the two new directors of the Literaturhaus in an interview about their experiences with the Literaturhaus’ new concept: whether it has worked so far to engage the whole house in Fasanenstraße in their events, to open up their focus to incorporate European literature […] Read more
The WUB in Germany and a Fantastic Bookshop in Berlin
When I wrote about the indie bookshop week in the UK this year (link to blog), I thought it would be great to have something similar in Germany. Two minutes after my post on Twitter, a fellow blogger and disseminator told me that it already existed! It’s called WUB: Woche […] Read more
