Christine Lötscher takes us on a tour of the Swiss publishing scene. German-speaking Switzerland may be small in size compared to Germany and Austria, and, since the demise of Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, there have been mutterings that Swiss literature is in crisis. Well, is there any truth in the charge? I would say emphatically not. The publishing scene in German-speaking Switzerland is remarkably diverse, lively and discriminating in its taste in literature. This of all countries, otherwise famed rather for its unimaginative correctness and love of order, is absolutely teeming with impassioned publishing personalities, who, in spite of the poor economic climate, believe in literature. There are publishing houses of every size and description in the literary arena of Germanspeaking Switzerland, starting with the internationally renowned Diogenes-Verlag (Zurich), publishers of heavyweight Swiss authors such as Hugo Loetscher and Urs Widmer, while earning their money as the German language publisher of Paul Coelho, Donna Leon and other bestselling authors. At the other end of the spectrum are exquisite small one-man publishing operations such as Urs Engeler Editor (Basel) with its focus on poetry and prose of an avant-garde slant. From Ammann Verlag in Zurich, with charismatic Egon Ammann at the helm and S. Fischer of Germany in the background, to the refreshingly cheeky young Kein & Aber; from the Swiss arm of the Hanser concern, Nagel & Kimche (Zurich), to the small Libelle Verlag (Lengwil am Bodensee) with its publisher Ekkehard Faude, whose excellent nose enables him to put together such imaginative lists, always good for a surprise – the sweep is broad. And yet almost all Swiss publishers share some common ground. It is hard to live purely from the domestic market, so few of them can (or wish to) live from Swiss literature alone – with one outstanding exception: Ricco Bilger, perhaps the most eccentric of all Swiss publishers. The head of bilgerverlag (Zurich), he devotes body and soul to his authors, without a glance at potential sales figures – he’s not one to shy away from risk. Not least in his role as founder of the successful Leukerbad Literature Festival, he has succeeded in generating a growing interest in his books, transcending the natural borders in the process. Katharina Faber’s debut Manchmal sehe ich am Himmel einen endlos weiten Strand (‘Sometimes I See in the Sky an Endless Stretch of Shore’), was lauded by the critics in Germany, too. There are, however, scarcely any publishing houses in German-publishing Switzerland with no, or almost no, Swiss literature on their list. The two main exceptions specialise in literature from the south or far-off lands: Unionsverlag (Zurich) and Lenos (Basel). The vast majority have between one and three Swiss titles per season, the rest of the programme, as a rule, being international. This is the case with Ammann, who, alongside the highbrow voices of Swiss authors such as Ruth Schweikert and Matthias Zschokke, also publishes the more commercially successful Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. Arche Verlag, with offices in Zurich and Hamburg, balances the successful young Swiss author Peter Stamm with the German translations of Margaret Forster. Other publishers balance their fiction with a strong non-fiction list. Two good examples are Zurich-based Limmat Verlag, which recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, and Rotpunktverlag (again Zurich), which has as its core political non-fiction, but also regularly launches young Swiss authors. Both these publishers are explicitly left-wing in their political slant. A combination of fiction and non-fiction is also the choice of Pendo Verlag. This firm was on its last legs in 2004, a small cog in the large Eichborn machine. Publisher Christian Strasser has turned it around and provided a fresh chance for the thirty-year-old house, an integral part of the Swiss publishing scene: last year Pendo started anew. That those declared dead can live longer than those credited with a clean bill of health is also true of the publisher formerly known as Im Waldgut, which has just succeeded in averting bankruptcy. Publisher and author Beat Brechbrühl sails on, his poetry and art list intact, going by the gently reshaped name of Waldgut-Verlag. Among the best surprises of recent years have been a number of brave new ventures which have survived against the odds. In 2004 Sabine Dörlemann, previously an editor with Ammann Verlag, took the step to independence – and was rewarded with praise and enthusiasm by the critics. The Dörlemann- Verlag translations of the classics stand out as being of the highest quality. That Sabine Dörlemann has a reliable nose has been proved by the success of the first German translations of Patrick Leigh Fermor. It is almost ten years since Peter Haag founded Kein & Aber, a publishing house “for listening, laughing and losing [yourself in a book]”. Since then it has gained a foothold in the market with Gerhard Polt, Harry Rowohlt and Elke Heidenreich, and also produced the first audio-book list in Switzerland. Simultaneously the firm has become the number one address for young Swiss literature of a satirical or humorous flavour – the columnist Richard Reich and the cabaret artist Ralf Schlatter, for example, established themselves as authors through its list. Edition Epoca, founded in 1997 by Adrian Stockar and Urs Kummer, has followed a similar path, albeit one with a completely different orientation: the programme reflects the passions of the particular readers and booklovers who support it. The choice of authors isn’t based primarily on what sells, but on the publisher’s personal taste. And the books are so beautifully designed that each one is an artwork in and of itself. There is also an astonishingly dense propensity of picture books in Germanspeaking Switzerland: Atlantis, NordSüd, Bohem Press and Bajazzo are four firms that have predominantly devoted themselves to high-quality picture – and sometimes other children’s – books. NordSüd, relaunched last year under the direction of Urs Gysling, is now the largest of the Swiss picture book publishers. Among its successes are Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer and Markus Pfister’s The Rainbow Fish, while its autumn list showcased one of the most unusual picture books of recent times, Kunos grosse Fahrt (‘Kuno’s Great Journey’) by Klaus Merz and Hannes Binder, the first collaboration by two of Switzerland’s most important artists. To overcome all the difficulties with which small publishers have to contend, in Switzerland as elsewhere, there seems to be one golden rule. The more clearly defined and distinctive their lists, regardless of whether the books are for adults or children, the higher will be their chances of asserting themselves, both in their home market and beyond. Christine Lötscher is a freelance critic living in Zurich. She contributes to the Tagesanzeiger and other publications. Translated by Rebecca Morrison