‘Russian Specialities’ is a witty and thought-provoking read about the power of Russian propaganda. Dimitrij Kapitelman’s novel is a timely literary reflection on the contemporary geopolitical landscape that will appeal to fans of Marina Lewycka and Andrey Kurkov.

The novel’s narrator, Dmitrij, was born in Kyiv, but has spent most of his life in Germany. His family left Ukraine as Jewish refugees in the mid-1990s, when he was eight. His elderly parents are from the Soviet generation. They run a Russian delicatessen and wholesale business in Leipzig, making regular trips to Poland and Ukraine to stock up on produce. After scraping through lockdowns, the delicatessen is wound down as Dmitrij’s father slowly succumbs to dementia.

MORE INFO: https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/russian-specialities/

Author bio
Dmitrij Kapitelman was born in Kyiv in 1986, and came to Germany with his family at the age of eight, as a ‘quota refugee’. He studied Political Science and Sociology at Leipzig University and graduated from the German School of Journalism (DJS) in Munich. He now works as a freelance journalist. His first book, Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters (‘The Smile of my Invisible Father’) was published in 2016 to huge acclaim, earning him the Klaus-Michael Kühne Prize. Eine Formalie in Kiew (‘A Formality in Kyiv’) followed in 2021, for which he was awarded the Ravensburger Verlag Family Novel Book Prize.

Translator bio
Rob Myatt is an award-winning translator from German, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Russian and Luxembourgish into English. He was the recipient of the Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation 2023 for his translation of an extract from Behzad Karim Khani’s debut novel Dog Wolf Jackal. His literary translations have appeared in journals such as Turkoslavia, Subnivean, MayDay and The Dodge and he has worked with publishers including Granta, Rowohlt, Hanser, Cyranka, Politikens Forlag and V&Q. You can find him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robtranslates.bsky.social or his website: https://polyglotliterature.co.uk/

For rights info contact: friederike.barakat@hanser.de

The translator has obtained permission from the original rights holder to translate this sample and to share a recording of it on Translators Aloud.

‘White Clouds’ is an intimate study of a diverse and extended Black German family that addresses complex social issues. It follows three family members as they grapple with their unique stages in life and their distinct identities.

Zazie is a young Black German woman, a member of Gen-Z. She is the daughter of Ulrike, a white 68er who is as dynamic as she is unreliable, and Papis, a Senegalese academic who has settled in Germany and made a living translating Nietzsche but now often feels his daughters are foreign to him. Zazie is political, embracing her Black Diasporic identity. She feels at times that James Baldwin and Roxanne Gay understand her better than her own sister does. She has just completed her MA thesis and aspires to an academic career, but is not quite sure academia is the right place for her. She is also suffering under the weight of family problems and a white boyfriend who is woke when it comes to pop culture, but doesn’t always understand her struggles as a Black woman in a white-majority society.

Zazie’s older sister, Dieo, is less politically engaged: a child therapist, she has just started a new phase of training to allow her to become self-employed. She is struggling to balance her career with mothering her three biracial sons. She could use more support from her white husband Simon, but he is too wrapped up in his tech bro aspirations to acknowledge her needs.

Simon is the son of an absent father – a documentarian who was more concerned with art and politics than fatherhood, and a vibrant mother interested in intersectional feminism. He may not have any insight into the problems of his marriage, or why Dieo only rarely wants to sleep with him, but he is steadfast and intelligent, and Zazie feels able to confide in him about her worries about their family – especially how generational trauma has them all stuck in pre-determined roles and behaviours that are making them unhappy.

When Papis dies unexpectedly, the laboriously calibrated family structures lose their equilibrium. The sisters travel to their father’s homeland for the funeral, and saying goodbye becomes a new beginning for them. Wise, accessible and subtly humorous, Yandé Seck’s debut novel shows how intergenerational trauma and racist and sexist structures can make people act in ways they may not always be conscious of.

MORE INFO: https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/white-clouds/

"Yandé Seck’s début is a loving dissection of a black family in a city … The novel is narrated like a Netflix series about everyday city life; it is pithy and contemporary, full of beautiful dialogue and wise observations." Stern

"For all the weight of her themes – the racism experienced by her protagonist and the oppressive demands of motherhood – Yandé Seck manages to make her writing entertaining, humourous and forgiving. And for all the conflict and struggle, it is a hopeful novel." hr2-kultur

Author bio
Yandé Seck was born in 1986 and lives in Frankfurt am Main with her husband and two children. She works as a psychotherapist for children and teens, teaches at the University of Frankfurt and is studying for a doctorate on motherhood, migration and psychoanalysis. ‘White Clouds’ is her first novel.

Translator bio
Priscilla Layne is Professor of German and Adjunct Associate Professor of African Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her book, White Rebels in Black: German Appropriation of Black Popular Culture, was published in 2018 by the University of Michigan Press. She has also published essays on Turkish German culture, translation, punk and film. She translated Olivia Wenzel’s debut novel, 1000 Coils of Fear, and Rude Girl by Birgit Weyhe from German into English. And she is currently finishing a manuscript on Afro German Afrofuturism and acritical guide to Rainer Maria Fassbinder’s film The Marriage of Maria Braun.

The translator has obtained permission from the original rights holder to translate this sample and share a recording of it on Translators Aloud.

This hard-hitting autobiographical novel reflects on the stillbirth of the author’s son, Gustav, and the impact this has on his parents, and on their wider family and friends. The sparing language and concise treatment of this tragic scenario makes ‘I see you everywhere, forever’ an even more poignant read.

Charlotte and Yannic are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their first child. As they prepare for the birth, there is an unexpected medical emergency which results in the stillbirth of their son. Charlotte’s life is also at risk, but she is saved.

During the days that follow the couple undergoes a series of procedures and rituals at the hospital. The healthcare team recognizes the immense grief of both parents and helps them through a structured process of saying farewell. Charlotte and Yannic are given the opportunity to hold their deceased child, touch him, speak to him, and take photographs. During this time, Charlotte begins to recover physically from her ordeal.

The next challenge for the couple is informing their extended family and friends. After Charlotte is released from the hospital, they are encouraged to arrange Gustav’s funeral. They are supported by caring individuals, but are confronted with a confusing range of decisions regarding paperwork, the type of service, and the choice of grave. The situation becomes overwhelming, but Yannic and Charlotte manage to navigate these choices and focus on organizing a service that will offer them a sense of closure.

The narrative is linear, capturing the real-time sequence of events. We witness Yannic and Charlotte’s initial shock and their evolving responses – beginning with confusion, followed by resistance and rejection of the prescribed mourning process, and eventually reaching a place of acceptance and gratitude for the stages of grieving that the hospital staff, their friends and family, and the funeral director have guided them through.

‘I see you everywhere, forever’ is written in a clear, descriptive, non-emotional style, as if the stillbirth is being observed from a distant point of view. This enhances the novel’s impact and gives readers a unique insight into this universally distressing experience.

“The most beautiful, tragic and life-affirming text I’ve read in a long time. How wonderful of Gustav’s parents to tell us his story.”
Daniela Dröscher

Find out more: https://suhrkamp-preview.pim.red/rights/book/yannic-han-biao-federer-i-see-you-everywhere-forever-fr-9783518474822

MORE INFO: https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/i-see-you-everywhere-forever/

Author bio
Yannic Han Biao Federer lives and works in Cologne. He writes novels, stories, essays, and reviews, which have been published by outlets such as Deutschlandfunk, WDR, und SWR. He is a member of PEN Berlin and the Junges Kolleg at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. He has received numerous prizes and grants for this work, including the Bayern 2-Wortspiele-Literaturpreis and the North Rhine-Westphalia scholarship award in 2022.

Previous works: Und alles wie aus Pappmaché, Suhrkamp (2019); Tao, Suhrkamp (2022).

Translator bio
Joel Scott translates from German and Spanish into English. He has a PhD in Comparative Literature and Translation Studies and has extensive experience in copywriting and editing in a range of fields.

The translator has obtained permission from the original rights holder to translate this sample and share a recording of it on Translators Aloud.