About the author:
Shaw KUZKI was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1957 and currently lives in Kamakura, Japan. Her debut work “Kawatare” (2005) about the young water sprite Hassun and the human girl Asa was nominated for several awards and won the New Writer’s Award from the Japan Children’s Literature Association. As a second generation atomic bomb survivor her later children’s stories are motivated by a desire to convey the importance of what happened in Hiroshima to the next generation. 

About the book: 
Written by: Shaw KUZKI
Illustrated by: Fujie YAMAUCHI
Original publication: Fukuinkan Shoten, Japan
ISBN: 978-4-8340-2148-6
2005
272 pages
Age 8+

An enchanting modern fantasy for young and old
Sanzaigaike Park is the home of the last few remaining kappa tribes. After an unfortunate incident Hassun’s family disappeared, leaving him all alone in the small Asanuma Pond. 
One day, as part of his kappa training, Hassun gets the mission to spend the summer in the human world, disguised as a cat. In order to maintain his disguise, he has to bath in the moonlight and be careful not to get touched by water.
In the human village he meets fifth-grader Asa and her dog Chesterton. Asa’s mother died recently and her father is often busy with work, which makes her lonely.
When Hassun eats a kiwi fruit and becomes unwell, Asa brings him into her house and takes care of him. While trying to recover and making sense of the human world, Hassun’s strange behavior causes many funny situations. 
Eventually Asa finds out who Hassun really is, but their friendship perseveres. They are able to accept and help each other grow. Although they eventually have to part, the book ends on a happy, heart-warming note.

Despite being a children’s book the story deals with deeper themes like loneliness, grief, the difference between outer and inner appearance, acceptance of the other etc. It can also be enjoyed by adult readers as a modern fairy tale and has the potential for a wide readership.

About the author:
Hanna Rambe, born 1940 in Jakarta, Indonesia, is an author of biographies and historical novels. A focus is on the history of Indonesia and particularly the early times of trade, occupation and exploitation by Dutch traders during the 17th century. For many years she was a journalist of two well-known Indonesian newspapers, one of them the "Sinar Harapan" (Jakarta). Her travels around the East Indonesian islands provided her with knowledge about local nature and life of indigenous people. In her novels she could make use of this expertise with an outcome of descriptions of the beauty of nature and the perspective of indigenous people and their local traditions.
Currently, Hanna Rambe works on a three-volume historical novel set in seventeenth-century Eastern Indonesia. 

About the book:
Indonesian title (original): Aimuna dan Sobori
Publisher: Yayasan Obor, Jakarta, 2013
ISBN 978-979-461-854-7
480 print pages
English title: Cloves for Kolosia
English translation by Miagina Amal
San Mateo, CA: Dalang Publishing, 2015
ISBN 978-0-9836273-8-8
334 print pages

Please Note: With the author's permission, English translator Miagina Amal, herself specialized on Indonesian history and culture, reduced redundant parts of the original text. The close cooperation between Hanna Rambe, Miagina Amal, and publisher Lian Gouw, results in a book which fits European readership. Thus, the translation into German will be based on the English version. 

Synopsis
The novel is set in the 17th century when the Dutch traders company VOC entered the trade with the spices cloves, nutmeg and mace. These spices only grew in East Indonesia in the Maluccu islands. For centuries, spice trade had already dominated the trade network between Asian countries, mostly in a peaceful way; via routes through the Middle East and the Mediterranean the spices had reached Europe and aroused the greed to get direct access. Starting in 16th century, Europeans, Portuguese and later the Netherlands, conducted cruel, violent and inhuman exploitation of the inhabitants of the spice islands. They claimed monopoly of spice trade, and, following the demands of economy and the control of prices, they destroyed plantations of the locals.
The story of the novel is set in this time of menace, brutality, fear and suffering of the local people during the 17th century. After a plunder expedition of the VOC, three members of a village that had been destroyed village struggle for their lives by walking about in their island and searching for help by other villages. On the other side, the novel narrates the attitudes and actions of the Dutch, a protagonist being the new VOC administrator of the region who is torn apart between his official duty and the injustice against the local people. The two different perspectives - the life of exploited simple people and the life of a high-status controller of the exploitations, are reflected in alternating chapters set in the respective context. The empathic language of the writer, suiting each of the two perspectives, and embellished by descriptions of the beauty of nature, renders a lively picture of time and place.
The fictive novel renders deep and concrete insight into the history of spice trade whose impacts and effects on a global stage are not much known to a European audience.

Preliminary title of the German translation: Gewürz der Insel (= Spice of the Island)

Translator Lydia Kieven presented the book in our pitching session on 29 June 2023.

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About the author:
Li Zishu was born in Malaysia in 1971. She started her career as a journalist in Malaysia before she dedicated her work life exclusively to literary writing. She has published more than ten literary works including novels, short story collections, microfiction, and essays. As an author of Chinese descent, Li Zishu's writings always touch Chinese life within the multi-ethnic structure of Malaysia, therefore she finds readers not only in Malaysia, but also across Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. Her literary talent is highly acknowledged through numerous prominent prizes. The English version of her novel The Age of Goodbyes has been published in 2022.
 
About the book: 
Book Title: 《流俗地》
English Title: Worldly Land
Author: 黎紫书Li Zishu
Original publication: Beijing October Arts and Literature Publishing House
ISBN: 978-7-5302-2128-0
Publication Date: April 2021
476 pages

Worldly Land describes the ordinary life in Ipoh, the “Tin City” through the perspectives of the protagonist Gu Yinxia, a blind girl of Chinese-descent, who was born in an under-class family. Being blind since birth, Yinxia is not quite susceptible to superficial prejudices but highly intelligent. She plays chess, has learned to write in braille, and works at a call agency for Taxis. She keeps the map of the whole city in her mind and distinguishes persons through their voices. In her hometown, she settles into the tensions of a widely ramified family, the joys and hardships of modern everyday life, confronts with emotions and mistakes - a normal life with unusual perception. The novel reads like an ethnography of the southern Chinese-influenced diaspora in West Malaysia: how they love and hate, live and die. They may leave and return, but none can escape the taint of customs and also of human conditions, including family and friendship obligations and ties, as well as the grand political frameworks of state-building. 
Enriched with detailed descriptions of those intertwined cultural traits of Buddhism, Daoism, Islam and Hinduism, this book deserves to be considered carefully by those sophistical and demanding readers.
It was listed as one of the top 10 novels of 2020 by the journal Asiaweek (Hong Kong).

The co-translators Christoph Palm and Wu Xiujie presented the book in our pitching session on 29 June 2023.

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About the author:
Feng Liang (born in 1963) is a writer, publisher and Tibetologist. Until 2019, she worked as a professional editor for academic publications on culture and history of Tibet with China Tibetology Publishing House in Beijing. Born in an inter-ethnic family, she grew up in Liangshan among the indigenous Yi people, then spent twelve years in Lahsa. She has always been sensitive to inter-ethnic, inter-cultural relations, and to raising concerns about the question of integrating indigenous groups into modern society. After publishing a few novels about Tibet in 1980s, she has pursued an academic career as researcher and editor for many years, and since 2019 she once again concentrates on literary writing. The German translation of her essay compilation Halb Yi, halb Han-Chinesin was published in 2016.  

About the book:
Book Title: 《西南边》
English Title: Encounterings in the Southwest
Author: 冯良 Feng Liang
Original publication: Changjiang Literature & Art Publishing House
ISBN: 978-7-5354-9586-0
Publication Date: September 2017
390 pages

The novel Encounterings in the Southwest narrates the social and cultural upheavals in Liangshan in the Southwest of China, caused by the inter-ethnic encounters between members of the indigenous minority of the Yi with Han-Chinese. The marriage and family life of three inter-ethnic couples serve as the narrative red lines over a time span of three decades – from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s - during which numerous political events took place. The protagonists – three Yis, three Han-Chinese, all from different social classes – get encountered due to an urgent medical treatment during a military action. The acquaintance leads soon to falling in love, marriage, happiness, however, being continuously shadowed by emotional tensions and dilemma. Loyalty and treason towards the former master and current government, trust and dishonesty between friends, pursuits of power and conceit, pride and prejudice, stubbornness and ignorance lead to bitterness in their marriages and their friendships that in turn is indispensable for their survival in times of uncertainty.  
This book traces the literary tradition of realism used to deal with serious social issues, at the same time, the author doses a fine sense of humor in her literary language. The narrative tone with slight sarcasm reflects very well the curiosity, attractiveness, non-understanding, and misunderstandings when foreign cultures encounter. The fine facets of her ethnographic descriptions offer local perspectives to understand the multi-ethnic reality in the Southwest of China. 
In 2020, this book won the Steel Award for Ethnic Literature (2016-2019) in the category of novel. The Korean version has been published in 2021. 

The co-translators Christoph Palm and Wu Xiujie presented the book in our pitching session on 29 June 2023.

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About the author:
TK (Tania Kelly) Roxborogh was born in Christchurch in 1965 and still lives there. She has written over 30 books including novels, plays for the classroom and adult non-fiction.and is also a high school English teacher.

About the book:
Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea
Author: TK Roxborogh
Illustrator: Phoebe Morris
Age: 8+
Huia Publishers, published in September 2020
250 pages, Paperback

This book to be published in three volumes focuses on two particular aspects: disability and how children and teenagers deal with it, and the mythology and culture of the Maori.The prosthetic leg of the main character Charlie is the connecting element between the world of humans and the Maori’s world. 
Thirteen-year-old Charlie and his younger half-brother Robbie find a ponaturi, a mermaid, named Pō-nuia on the beach in their home town Tolaga Bay at the North Island. After having found a way to communicate with each other (Charlie teaches Pō-nuia the human language and he discovers that he is able to read Pō-nuia’s thoughts) he learns that an ancient dispute between the Māori gods Tāne and Tangaroa has flared up again because the construction of a harbor is reducing the sea creatures‘ habitat so they are taking refuge on land. The wrath of those gods who want them back into the sea manifests itself on earth through storms, earthquakes and tsunamis. Pō-nuia believes that Charlie is a kōmitimiti, a creature which is half-man, half-god being evidenced in his stump. He is the only one being able to resolve this century-old conflict. 
An exciting adventure now begins for Charlie: With the help of the ancient songs taught to him by his grandfather, he can not only appease the gods. He also learns who his unknown father is and falls in love for the first time with Jenny, the daughter of the construction manager who is to build the harbor. 
Although the narrative of the book is quite fast-paced and addresses several topics, which are mythology, coming of age, disabilities among young people and influence of urban developments on the environment, it reads excitingly. Even the discovery of the mermaid by the two boys and the following events blend in easily so this seems almost like an everyday thing. Therefore young readers without knowledge of mythology can be carried away by the book. A glossary of Maori words as well as descriptions of the Maori gods in the book’s appendix also facilitate the comprehension. However, it would be probably advisable to lift up the reading age to 10 or 11 years.

Awards
With „Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea“ TK Roxborogh won Margaret Mahy Book of the Year (most importent price for children and youth literature in New Zealand) and Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction, both categories in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. 

Translator Christiane Sixtus presented the book in our pitching session on 29 June 2023.

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About the author:
Becky Manawatu is a New Zealand writer and journalist of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha and Pākehā background. She was born in Nelson in 1982 and grew up in Waimangaroa on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Manawatu left home at the age of 18 to follow her husband's career as a professional rugby player and coach in Italy and Germany. They returned to New Zealand in 2016.
In 2016, Manawatu began a Diploma in Writing at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. Her short story 'Abalone' was shortlisted for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. 
Manawatu lives with her family in Waimanagaroa and currently works as a reporter and columnist for New Zealand's smallest independent daily newspaper.

About the book:
Publisher: Mākaro Press, Wellington, New Zealand 
Pages: 420pp (Trade PB 328pp)
Category: Fiction
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Age range: Adult 
Original language: New Zealand English, te reo Māori
Auē [1. (verb): to howl or growl; 2. (interjection) expression of astonishment or distress]

Manawatu began writing Auē in 2016 while living in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Auē is one of the most successful New Zealand fiction books of recent years, capturing the imagination of New Zealanders in the same way as Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors and Keri Hulme's The Bone People. It is the winner of two New Zealand Book Awards 2020, the prestigious Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction and the MitoQ Best First Book Award for Fiction. It also won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel 2020 and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. 
Auē has been in and out of the New Zealand fiction bestseller list for more than three years in a row. The film rights have been optioned by a New Zealand production company. A sequel to the book is in progress.

About the author:
Felix K. Nesi was born in 1988 in Nesam-Insana, a village located in the western part of the island of Timor, which is part of the southernmost province of Indonesia's East Nusa-Tenggara (or East Lesser Sunda Islands). After attending high school he studied at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Malang Merdeka (Java).
Felix Nesi writes poetry, short stories and essays. As part of the Makassar International Writers Festival (MWIF) 2015, he was honored as "Emerging Writer".
Felix K. Nesi is a co-founder of Komunitas Leko (2017), a literacy community, and of the Buku Fanu bookstore in Kupang, Timor.

About the book:
Publisher: CV Marjin Kiri, Indonesien
220 pages
ISBN: 978-979-1260-89-3
Original language: Indonesian

In 2018, the manuscript of the novel Orang-Orang Oetimu won the annual Jakarta Arts Council Novel Competition as Best Novel of the Year. The novel was nominated in the category „prose“ for Indonesia's most prestigious literary award, Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa, in 2021.
Also in 2021, Orang-Orang Oetimu was awarded the Literature Prize of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia in the novel category. 

An ethnographical, political and historical novel that is fun to read
The novel is set in Oetimu, a fictional village located in the inland of West Timor.
The history of West Timor, home of Felix Nesis, is inextricably intertwined with the history of Timor-Leste.
After the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974, East Timor was to be decolonized after more than 400 years of Portuguese rule and was supposed to gain independence in 1975. During the decolonization phase, a civil war broke out and East Timor was occupied by Indonesia in 1975. An estimated 130 to 180,000 people lost their lives during the Indonesian occupation from 1975 to 1999. At the independence referendum in East Timor on August 30, 1999, the overwhelming majority of the population voted for full independence. The Indonesian military and pro-Indonesian militias then carried out a punitive action in which 1200 to 1500 people were killed and 70% of the population were displaced, houses and infrastructure were destroyed. This was followed by the deployment of the multinational peacekeeping force INTERFET. The United Nations maintained an interim administration that granted Timor-Leste independence on May 20, 2002, following the referendum result.

Felix Nesis' novel spans a time frame from 1974 to 1998. The story begins on the evening of the 1998 World Cup final. Oetimu's male population is gripped by football fever and the young village policeman Ipi invites them to watch the game together at the police station. At the same time, a killer squad attacks the house and wife and children of Martin Kabiti, a former officer in the Indonesian army and one of the football fanatics at Ipi's office.
The second chapter catapults the reader to 1974 and Lisbon. The temporally and geographically other end of the novel. Based on the story of Julio and his family, Nesi draws the beginning of Timor's decolonization process.

In flashbacks and flashforwards Nesi draws the biographies and fates of his characters against the background of the violant history of Timor, until the reader finally returns to the evening of the World Cup final and the murderous attack with which the book begins. This completes the cyclical narrative structure that reflects the cycles of violence in Timor and Indonesia.
Through the biographies of some of the characters, the reader touches on the Japanese occupation during World War II, the struggle for the country's independence, Suharto's takeover of power in 1965, the massacres of leftists, especially in 1965 and 1966, and the bloody battles and massacres in Timor .

The way in which Felix Nesi brings together numerous narrative threads within the cyclical plot framework over two and a half decades is remarkable. He uses elements of the oral tradition and storytelling of Timor. Many loose plot strands are woven together, some open-ended, elements of magical realism are almost casually incorporated by the author.
The novel is bursting with satirical wit, subtle humor and sometimes comedic interludes. At many points, Nesis' narration inevitably makes the reader laugh. Extremely imaginative story. Nesi is able to merge the juxtaposition of comic scenes and violent events in a literary astonishingly light-footed way.
Nesi brings a fresh literary voice to postcolonial debates.
A grandiose story about the interdependence of politics and church, which takes place far from the main island of Java and the center of power Jakarta, and which takes a fresh look at the interdependencies of local life with national and international interests and lets them appear in a new light.

Translator Sabine Müller presented the book in our pitching session on 3 March 2022.

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About the author:
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and emigrated to Australia when she was 14. Educated in Melbourne and Paris, Michelle has worked as a university tutor, an editor and a book reviewer.
She is the author of The Rose Grower, The Hamilton Case, which won the Commonwealth Prize (SE Asia and Pacific region) and the UK Encore Prize, and The Lost Dog, which was widely praised by writers such as AS Byatt, Hilary Mantel and William Boyd and won a swag of awards, including: the 2008 NSW Premier's Book of the Year Award and the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, and the 2008 ALS Gold Medal. The Lost Dog was also shortlisted for the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, the Western Australian Premier's Australia-Asia Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Asia-Pacific Region) and Orange Prize's Shadow Youth Panel. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Questions of Travel was the winner of the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, the Prime Ministers Literary Award for Fiction and the Western Australian Premier's Prize and Award for Fiction.

About the book:
Original publication: Allen & Unwin Australia, 83 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, NSW 2065, Australia. 
ISBN: B09862DHPF 
2021 
307 pages
Sold licenses: 
UK: Allen & Unwin 
USA: Catapult 
Israel: Xargol

Abstract:
Michelle de Kretser’s slyly intelligent sixth novel pairs two first-person narratives. One takes place in a dystopian near-future Melbourne, where Lyle, an immigrant father of two, is employed by a sinister government department in near-future Australia to write “evaluations” nominating fellow migrants for arrest and repatriation. 
The other half of the book is set in 1981 and follows Lili, a 22-year-old Australian working as a teaching assistant in France. Lili's family migrated to Australia from Asia when she was a teenager. Now, in the 1980s, she's teaching in the south of France. She makes friends, observes the treatment handed out to North African immigrants and is creeped out by her downstairs neighbour. 
It’s typical of De Kretser’s sophistication that she leaves the link between these narratives entirely up to you – even the order in which they are to be read is left to the individual reader, given the book’s reversible design.
Michelle de Kretser's electrifying take on scary monsters turns the novel upside down - just as migration has upended her characters' lives.
Three scary monsters - racism, misogyny and ageism - roam through this mesmerising novel. With this scathingly funny and profound book, Michelle de Kretser has made something thrilling and new.

Excerpt: 
That was how Alan became part of our family. Back when Chanel worked at the Other Corporation, Erin was her manager and a reliable guide on how things were done here. Erin said that it was quite okay to feed Alan in the morning and leave him outside to amuse himself in the yard. ‘It’s called Set and Forget,’ she told Chanel. Alan didn’t bark much as we headed off for the day, leaving him alone – he was used to that way of life.
Then Ivy joined our household. Ivy is my mother, and she had Alan inside all the time. I tried to explain about Set and Forget. The news was on, and a government hatespokesperson was telling us why it was necessary to detail asylum-seeking queue-jumpers on an offshore island forever. Ivy said, ‘I suppose that’s called Set and Forget too.’
But I’ve strayed from the subject of Alan’s last day. My mind has started showing this tendency to play tricks. There was that time a bulb went, and when I fetched a new one from the cupboard it was labelled ‘Worm White’. How strange, I thought, before realising that it was ‘Warm White’. It must be overwork – I stay later and later at the Department these days.
Naturally we said nothing to Mel and Sydney about what we had to do. My flexi-day came, a winter morning with a vinyl sheen. The children were at school, so that left Ivy. I found her sitting on the sunny side of the patio with her face turned to the sky. She had a tube of Factor 73 beside her and Alan on her lap.

Translator Anke Caroline Burger presented the book in our pitching session on 3 March 2022.

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About the author:
Mitsuko KAKUTA, born in 1967, authored more than 40 books (novels, short stories, essays) and is considered one of Japan’s most popular authors.
In the Japanese literary scene he is regarded as a representative author of so-called freeter novels, a genre that stands for socially critical contemporary literature.
The author has been awarded several prizes: Noma Literary New Face Prize, Chûô Kôron Literary Prize, Naoki Prize, et al.
English translations of some of his works:
The Eighth Day, Kodansha International Ltd. 2010, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
English translations of her short stories in the Asia Literary Review and Japanese Literature Today
Mama’s Boy: A Short Story, Kindle Single (2015)
Good Luck Bag: A Short Story, Kindle Single (2015)
Moving the Birds: A Short Story, Kindle Single (2015)
Pieces: : A Short Story, Kindle Single (2015)

About the book:
Translation of the title: The Cicada of the Eighth Day
Original language: Japanese
346 pages
ISBN978-4-12-003816-7 C0093
Publisher: Chûô Kôron Shinsha in Japan
Initially published in 2005 as a series in the daily newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun
Published as a book in 2007
English translation: The Eighth Day, Kodansha International Ltd. 2010, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
Has been made into a television drama series (2010) and a film (2011)

Subject:
This novel focuses on a child kidnapping and the development of the abducted girl up to the age of 21. What is special about this novel is that it not only deals with a child abduction and an extremely exciting four-year period when the young woman is on the run with the little girl, but also with the question of how a kidnapped child develops after she returns to her parents and the effects this experience can have on the inner psyche of both the abducted girl and her parents. A second central set of themes is the psychological distress and emotional turmoil faced by a young woman who loves a married man — who promises to marry her, but in reality does not want to and cannot separate from his family — as well as the deep inner torment she goes through when she becomes pregnant and has to make a decision.  
Prologue:
An omniscient narrator tells the story, but also the thoughts of one protagonist, Kiwako, are described in detail.
Kiwako, a young woman and an ordinary office worker, is in love with a married man. An unwanted abortion causes her to snap. She invades the apartment of her lover since she wants to have a look at his baby. But the baby, Erina, is so sweet that Kiwako suddenly decides to take it with her.
Chapter 1: First-person narrator: Kiwako tells her story in a diary-like way.
Kiwako gives the baby the name Kaoru and hides in different places, e. g. at a friend’s house, at an old woman’s house and in an all-female religious commune, a kind of sect, where they live for a long time. But when the commune is in danger of being exposed, they flee again and go to the little island of Shôdoshima in the Japanese Inland Sea. Kiwako takes loving care of Kaoru during the whole four years of her escape. So the reader feels more and more sympathy for her and finally hopes that she is not discovered. But when Kaoru is about four years old, they are discovered in the end. Kiwako is arrested and Kaoru returns to her family.
Chapter 2: First-person narrator: Kaoru=Erina
At the beginning of the second chapter, Erina is a second-year student. She knows that she was kidnapped as a baby, but her parents did not tell her details. She informed herself by reading books about the abduction. Her mother cannot cope with the situation and often leaves Erina and her sister to their own devices. Erina who experienced much love from Kiwako now grows up without love. But everyone blames Kiwako for this sad situation. Which is why Erina condemns Kiwako. But when she herself gets pregnant by a married man her attitude gradually changes.
Without becoming sentimental in any way, this novel is able to touch the reader deeply. It captures with great psychological depth the emotional world of the two young women who find themselves — albeit staggered in time — in an extremely difficult and surprisingly similar situation.

Translator Dr Heike Patschke presented the book in our pitching session on 3 March 2022.

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