News

new sales

4 languages sold: Finnish, Romanian, Macedonian and Albanian (on Macedonian territory)

new publication

Serbian translation published by Utopia

Dmitri Danilov’s novel HORIZONTAL POSITION was written before Covid crisis catapulted us out of our old routines. Are we hoping and ready to return to them? To answer this question this novel is a very good guide to travel back in time.

We experience precisely one year, going from chapter to chapter – breathless, bored, bothered, relaxed, irritated, amused – and every evening falling exhausted into bed, together with the hero. For a brief moment of sleep in the horizontal position only to then be roused again straightaway, knowing what the daily routine will bring and yet continually full of expectations for the new day.

new sale

World English language rights have been sold to Glagoslav

Aleksei Ivanov’s novel THE FOOD SHACK is a very tricky vampire novel about a highly topical ideological conflict that runs through the entire book on many levels: Independence of thought, dreaminess, the urge for freedom and the attempt to understand our complicated world – as a counterpart to the simple answers and blunt rules that have always been and still are set up, out of laziness of thought or just to enslave people. A novel that is not only straightforward and strong like a wooden post, but also follows the rules of the genre so well, that the reader doesn‘t even notice how he has already been bitten and infected.

new prolongation

of the license for Norwegian edition of SHIRT

sad news

Grigori Kanovich passed away at the age of 93

On January 20, Grigory Kanovich died in Tel Aviv at the age of 93. He devoted almost his entire long life to the memory of the people murdered in the fires and gas furnaces of the Holocaust. He was not only an award winning Lithuanian author of Jewish origin writing in Russian, but also a translator, playrighter, poet and screenwriter.

Most famous are probably his novels SHTETL ROMANCE and DEVILSPEL sold and translated into 7 languages.

The agency is sending its sincere condolences to the family.

new award

Young Adult Content Award – Best fantasy author (for 2021 awarded in 2022)

Max Maximov has published already several scifi novels in the best tradition of the Strugatski brothers. His books are also timely parables exploring guilt and innocence, hell and paradise, life and spirit, nothingness and the morality of algorithms. As though in parallel worlds or in different dimensions, the reader is taken along two plots lines which at first glance do not seem connected in any way. The connection only becomes clear in the course of or towards the end of the story. This alternation between parallel plotlines has become a trademark of Maximov.

sad news

Aleksei Slapovski passed away

We are very sorry to announce that author Aleksei Slapovski recently died at the age of 65.

The very first license contract concluded by Thomas Wiedling for a novel by a Russian author – even before the agency was officially founded – happened in 1998: ANKETA – THE QUESTIONNAIRE by Aleksei Slapovski.

More novels in translation followed. Just recently the agency was able to conclude a deal for a feature film based on a theatre play by Slapovski.

Also Slapovski was one of those authors who did not hesitate to speak out against Putin’s aggressive war in Ukraine. When it became too dangerous to openly publish critical texts in Russia about this war and about Putin, Slapovski started to use a pen name.

The trusting relationship with Slapovski had developed into a friendship over the course of 25 years. We have lost an author who never lost his sense of humor. I have lost a friend.

new publication

Czech edition published by Host

«Courage is the readiness to accept with dignity the consequences of bravery. Courage is the long-term struggle for results. For us, courage is now more important than bravery, because the situation will not be overcome with bravery. It requires courage – to live with all of what is going on and not run away, not close one’s eyes under any circumstances, to notice, see and remember. And to do something.»
VIKTOR MARTINOVICH

It feels strange to wish a relaxing holiday and a Happy New Year 2023 when, at the same moment, one can read in the press about a very likely new winter attack in a war in the middle of Europe. An attack against Ukraine most likely also from Belorussian territory. A war against Western values as we understood but with real people dying in Ukraine.

Not only at Christmas Ukrainian citizens are sitting in the dark, in the cold and often in bomb shelters. Belorussian citizens who don’t agree are sitting in jail. Some Russian citizens who spoke out against are sitting in jail or being forced into exile. And books are being removed from shelves.

New Year is close but peace seems far away. So with the words of Belorussian author Viktor Martinovich I am wishing us all «courage». In his novel NIGHT it is courage that makes the hero leave home and go out into the dark with his dog in the hope of finally reaching the light.

Sincerely, Thomas Wiedling

new publication

Romanian translation published by Epica

A bed ridden Soviet veteran is being looked after by his wife and daughter. Long may he live, the family is surviving on his pension. The two women create a virtual world for him in his room, cut him off from all sources of information and play him news-broadcasts reporting on the latest communist party conferences recorded on video. All this to convince the old man of the continued existence of his beloved Soviet Union.

The sujet of Olga Slavnikova’s novel THE IMMORTAL was initially about the end of the Soviet Union. But with Putin’s nowadays dreams to bring back the Russian empire this novel becomes a new symbolic meaning.