NON-FICTION - AVAILABLE RIGHTS

Andrea Hejlskov * 1975 in Denmark, studied Psychology in Copenhagen, where she also worked as a teacher. She was also managing director of a coaching agency and worked as a consultant. She is the author of a children's book and gives dedicated lectures on the impact of radical life decisions. Since 2011 she lives together with her four children and her husband in the southern Swedish forest.

www.andreahejlskov.com

Andrea Hejlskov

The Great Escape (Wir hier draußen - Eine Familie zieht in den Wald)

Literary non-fiction

A true story about turning away from civilization starting over in the woods

Danish author Andrea Hejlskov is sure that she and her family cannot go on like this. She and her husband do not see any sense in their daily work anymore, the children are sitting in their rooms in front of the computers, and there are hardly any real conversations. It becomes obvious: this is not the life they want to continue living. They decide to change everything fundamentally and look for what really matters. And they want to get out into nature, away from civilization with its demands and limitations. When they are offered a cabin in a forest in Sweden, everything suddenly becomes very real.

But the family needs to re-learn the most basic things in daily life, such as chopping wood, building a log cabin, cooking outdoors, how to behave when someone gets hurt or sick. Sometimes the problems are hard to deal with, sometimes the parents think about giving up, sometimes the adventures are great fun.

With remarkable honesty, the Danish author Andrea Hejlskov reports of a radical decision. It is the story of a family whose members change their lives completly - and thus find a new life together.

296 pages (77,000 words)

8,000 copies sold in Germany (Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book)

Published in Denmark 2013 (Og Den Store Flugt, Limfjordsforlaget)
Published in Germany 2017 (Wir hier draussen, mairisch Verlag)

• Rights sold:
  
  • btb (Paperpack, Germany
• Foreign rights sold:
  
  • Dutch (Ambo | Anthos)
  • Spanish (Volcano Libros)
  • Czech (Portal)
  • English Canada (Caitlin Press)

The voice is our very own instrument, and we carry it with us at all times. Naturally the voice is also at the center of a Philosophy of Singing when we ask ourselves: What is singing? Is it an artistic expression, a mirror of the soul or even a political act? What do cantabile, parlando or the whole voice mean? Do animals sing? Does singing last into silence? And is it a difference to sing together in the pub or church choir or alone in the shower? 

21 authors write about all philosophical, poetical and practical aspects of a cultural technique which is always part of our natural expression. Since the myth of Orpheus, singing has influenced philosophy and the arts – and still does today. 

Editor and author Bettina Hesse has been singing for most of her life. And all the authors who speak in this volume have fun at singing, as philosophers and writers, as choir leaders and singers, with voice performance and world music, on stage, in nature, in the liturgy or music therapy, even in duets with bees. 

Featuring Ralf Peters, Jeanette Zippel, Volkmar Mühleis, Alexandra Naumann, Lisa Pottstock, Maximilian Probst, Angela Steidele, Mariana Sadovska, Ernesto Pérez Zúñiga, Konrad Heiland, Bettina Wenzel, Julia Hagemann, Nika Bertram, Ute Almoneit, Josef-Anton Willa, Maria Gorius, Monika Buschey, Markus Stockhausen, Marie T. Martin, Simon Rummel. 

272 pages (80,000 words)

4,000 copies sold in Germany

For most people, cooking is a daily routine. We cook for ourselves and our family, for friends and colleagues, and are satisfied when our meals taste good. Very often it has to go as fast as possible, but sometimes it will be a feast, which appeals to all our senses. At that very moment, we realize that cooking may be more than just to stop us of being hungry.

Eighteen authors - including chefs, food activists, journalists, bloggers, gastro critics, scientists and of course philosophers - write about this special moment, defining their philosophy of cooking. We learn which evolutionary influence food cooking has on humanity, how Zen Buddhism influences Japanese cuisine and learn more about the perception of taste and the ability to speak about it. And we understand what sustainable and regional cooking can do with simplicity and when cooking becomes political. A book everyone who likes cooking and wants know more about it.

As an editor and food journalist, Stevan Paul has always been interested in the influence that cooking has on our lives and our existence. In this volume he lets professionals from all areas of the cooking world have their say.

Featuring Stevan Paul, Nikolai Wojtko, Malte Härtig, Tanja Grandits, Daniel Kofahl, Sebastian Bordthäuser, Felix Schneider, Dieter Froelich, Thomas A. Vilgis, Jörn Kabisch, Tobias Müller, Hendrik Haase, Claudio Del Principe, Arnd Erbel, Hanni Rützler, Wolfgang Reiter, Maximilian Probst, Harald Lemke, Martin Wurzer-Berger.

240 pages (70,000 words)

Kitchen gardens, stone gardens, moss gardens, botanical gardens, scenic gardens … the many varieties of what we call a garden is immense. And thus certainly also the way we treat and maintain our gardens. But before you think of how, you need to ask yourself why one should be gardening in the first place? Should we rather not leave nature to itself, do we as human beings always have to intrude, do we always have to create artificial spaces? Or are we not actually bringing back nature into our concret jungles through urban gardening? Gardening is a virtue only performed by humans, we do not know of any animals who are gardening. And we also know that anyone who is gardening is exploring a new world and enriching his life and the lifes of others. This is true about the tiny permaculture garden on your balcony, the kitchen garden that has to feed a whole family or the buddhistic stone garden in Japan.

The authors of this essay collection are not only looking into the philosophical dimensions of gardening but are also trying to outline the political and aesthetic implications - making this book a deep but also light and entertaining read.

Featuring Dr. Kristina Vagt, Dr. Brunhilde Bross-Burkhardt, Elke von Radziewsky, Maximilian Probst, Judith Henning,

Annette Holländer, Nicole von Horst, Roberta Schneider, Dagmar Pelger, Prof. Dr. Dieter Wandschneider

and others.

224 pages (60,000 words)

8,000 copies sold in Gemany

• Rights sold:
• • Paperback rights sold to: Suhrkamp (Germany)

• Foreign Rights:
• • English North America (Invisible Publishing)

Marc Degens

TORONTO - Notes from Canada

A Canadian student raves about how cheap beer is in Germany: »For the price of a six-pack, you do not even get a Beck‘s in Canada. Beer is so commonplace in Germany, you even drink it during your lunch break. But unfortunately«, she sighs, »you cannot mix it with anything.« 

German author Marc Degens has been living in Toronto, Canada, and has been exploring the country from there: he was on a whale watching tour on the high seas, saw a very crazy Peaches concert, where not only herself, but also her mother performed, in Quebec he tasted the national dish poutine (chips with gravy and pieces of cheese), witnessed the election victory of Justin Trudeau live and applied for an official marijuana consumer passport in one of the many coffee shops.

Marc Degens has kept a diary of his experiences and adventures and shares his thoughts on land, people and culture in a funny and intelligent way. An entertaining look into today‘s Canada – what makes it special? How is it like to live there?  

144 pages (28,000 words)

*1971 in Essen, is a writer and editor of the SUKULTUR publishing house. He has so far published four novels. In 2014 he received the Hugo Ball Literature Prize. After years in Armenia and Canada he now lives in Hamburg.

Sebastian Raedler

CHESS FEVER - How to Fall in Love with an Impossible Game

»When playing chess we constantly have to solve the problems our opponent sets for us. That makes the game so charming. For we hate problems, but we love to solve them.« 

When Sebastian Raedler starts playing online chess, he is immediately captivated by the game’s intense struggle, its clever tactics and the unexpected beauty that results when the pieces join into an irresistible attack. Raedler, who has studied philosophy and politics at Cambridge and Harvard, starts questioning the game as well as his own infatuation with it. What it is about the universe of the sixty-four squares that has allowed it to beguile the human mind for centuries, seducing the likes of Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Beckett? 

Raedler takes us on a journey that leads from the frustrations of the beginner to the most brilliant moments of chess history. Along the way, he discovers chess as a mirror of life, in which the fallibility of our thinking, the joys of overcoming resistance and our need for community are all equally reflected. This book is a declaration of love for a delightfully multifaceted game. It will enchant experienced chess players and novices alike. 

144 pages (28,000 words)

Sebastian Raedler studied philosophy and politics at Cambridge and Harvard and did his doctorate at the University of Cologne on Kant's moral philosophy. He works as a financial analyst in London. In his spare time he plays the piano, swims - and plays chess.

Malte Härtig

KAISEKI - Wisdom of the Japanese Kitchen

A journey through Japan’s kitchen and philosophy

Why do the pretty looking Japanese sweets called Wagashi taste like dusty sugar, why do the tea cups have strange dents, why doesn’t the soup taste of anything? Malte Härtig, cook and philosopher, is mystified when he first tastes Japan’s famous Kaiseki cuisine. He is unable to decode Kaiseki neither with his philosophical approach nor with his European cooking education. But then he finds access through Zen Buddhism and the famous tea ceremony: simplicity, mindfulness, calmness, concentration on details – all these elements of Japanese philosophy are reflected in the tea ceremony and in Kaiseki too. And with both, he encounters wisdom and a refreshing attitude, not only to food, but also to life.

Malte Härtig takes us on a journey and leads us through a complete Kaiseki menu and the experiences he has made with it. It starts with the tea itself, from the making of the tea cup to the various dishes. For all the elements one will learn interesting facts and stories that have accumulated in the millennia-old tradition: Härtig explains, why a fish called Hamo plays such a big role, which special features the cultivation of bamboo shoots have and which important role rice plays when it comes to define Japanese identity. One will understand why Japan, the mentality of its inhabitants and the Kaiseki cuisine are increasingly influencing the way we cook and live in Europe.

120 pages (22,000 words)

4,000 copies sold in Germany

Dr. Malte Härtig is a researching and writing cook and philosopher. Since university, he’s interested in Kaiseki and the Japanese food culture. He has a passion for unusual thoughts and the beauty that lies in things and in thinking.
www.malte-haertig.de

Dagrun Hintze

Ballcontrol. Women, Men and Football

My friend Jan and I are standing next to each other at the bar. Borussia Dortmund just won and we already had a
few beers and the sheer act of talking already starts to become difficult.
Jan says: “I have been thinking. You really should write something on women and football.”
“And why should anyone read anything like this?” I ask him while ordering one last round.
“Because you talk about football like a man!”

 Dagrun Hintze tells us about her love for football, about men sleeping in Borussia Dortmund bed sheets, and about those intense minutes between kickoff and the end of each game. She recalls the most memorable football events in the past, from the World Championship 1954 to the European Championship 2016. Hintze is certain: Football has more to do with the Dionysian of the greek’s myths than many other cultural events. The only requirement is: you need to know how football is being played, otherwise - espacially if you‘re a woman - you‘re not going to enjoy the fun. So Hintze is asking her fellow women to start to get into football, perceive it as a cultural event, just like a theater play or a movie - and get a better understanding of what the buzz is all about.

100 pages (18,000 words)

Dagrun Hintze, born in Lübeck, is now living in Hamburg as a freelance writer. Her theater plays are being performed in Ulm, Dresden, Hamburg, Aalen and Winterthur. She has received many awards for her fiction and poetry. She also regularly writes about contemporary art and theater. She never picks up the phone when she watches football on television on Saturdays and has already slept in Borussia Dortmund bed sheets.