Jury recommendations: Autumn 2025
/ Sarah Hemens
Our Autumn 2025 selection features book titles from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, handpicked by our expert jury as particularly suitable for an international audience.
News
‘There is no such thing as objective experience . . . Like a kaleidoscope, the gaze falls on details from different angles, forming patterns that shift depending on how one looks.’ An Interview with Julia Franck
/ Sheridan Marshall
New books in German speaks to Julia Franck about her book Welten auseinander, her shift from fiction to biography and growing up in a divided nation
‘It is always an attempt to make the incomprehensible somehow comprehensible.’ An interview with Thomas Melle
/ Sheridan Marshall
Thomas Melle, born in 1975 in Bonn, has established himself as one of the most incisive and stylistically daring voices in contemporary German literature. His work – including novels, essays, plays and literary translations from English – is marked by a fierce intellectual curiosity and an unflinching engagement with the psychological and social tensions that define modern life.
Recap of a Virtual Translation Workshop
/ Riky Stock, V.P. Business Development U.S. Frankfurter Buchmesse
Riky Stock recaps a virtual translation workshop run by the Frankfurter Buchmesse, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut New York
Where Poetry Meets the Novel: The Lyric Voices Shaping German Fiction
/ Sheridan Marshall
Sheridan Marshall, NBG’s Editorial Consultant, highlights some of the poet-novelists we have featured recently on the website.
‘As for empathy for other societies and peoples, I think translated fiction has an essential role to play’ – an interview with François von Hurter of Bitter Lemon Press
/ Sarah Hemens
François von Hurter of Bitter Lemon talks to New Books in German about why translated crime fiction resonates so strongly with readers. talks to New Books in German about why translated crime fiction resonates so strongly with readers.
‘Creating a stage to talk about translation’ – an interview with Simon Pare
/ Anna Compton
New Books in German speaks to literary translator Simon Pare about his career, communities of translators and making translation more theatrical.
A Year on the Magic Mountain
/ Anna Compton
New Books in German speaks to literary translator Simon Pare about translating Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and blogging about his work.
Shining a light on travel writing in English and German – the Ilse Schwepke Prize
/ Sarah Hemens
The Ilse Schwepcke Prize — the world’s most valuable award for travel writing by women — was created to celebrate the legacy of Ilse Schwepcke, a publisher who championed stories of exploration and discovery. We sat down with Dr Barbara Schwepcke to talk about how the prize came to be, what it stands for, and the importance of women’s perspectives on travel.
‘You don’t have to be Damien Hirst, but you do need to be fairly determined.’ Steph Morris on the monthly German translators’ workshop and on his translation work
/ Sarah Hemens
Steph Morris on the monthly German translator’s workshop and on his translation workSteph Morris on the monthly German translator’s workshop and on his translation work
Kaffeepause mit…Laura Vogt
/ Sarah Hemens
Following the success of What Concerns Us, Swiss author Laura Vogt returns with Woman, Idle , once again translated by Caroline Waight and published by Héloïse Press.
Internship interview: Anna Compton
Recent intern Anna Compton reflects on her work with New Books in German
‘The sheer joy of storytelling’ – an interview with Marc Koralnik on the international success of Nelio Biedermann’s Lázár
/ Sarah Hemens
New Books in German speaks to agent Marc Koralnik about Nelio Biedermann’s Lázár
