And Other Stories scoops its first poetry collection from Seiler

And Other Stories has acquired three works by the German author and poet, Lutz Seiler, including the publisher’s first collection of poetry.

Publisher Stefan Tobler acquired world English rights for the titles from the original German publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag, with the books to be published simultaneously this September. The three titles are: Star 111, a novel which tells the story of a family in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall; Pitch and Glint, the collection of poetry which propelled Seiler to fame in Germany; and In Case of Loss, a collection of essays which throws a light on literature and the author’s East German background.

Tobler said of the acquisition: “We all had lockdown reading epiphanies, and Seiler’s novel Star 111 and his poetry and essays undoubtedly provided mine. It was orientation, my lodestar, in all the chaos. I’d go back whenever I could to listen to more of the German audiobook of Star 111 and its story of a young man who, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, heads to Berlin and pursues his dream of becoming a poet, finding a den in the company of a crafty pack of anarchist squatters. While never precious or overly ’poetic’, Seiler’s novel, and all his writing, has a unique and unmistakable sound. I was entranced.

“I felt compelled to simultaneously publish three of Seiler’s books, in three genres, because each genre gives us a different style, a new facet.

“And two of the books represent firsts for our list: Star 111 will be the first novel we’ve published by a German writer. I know I’ve been pickier than I should have been as a reader and translator of German myself. In my opinion it is the best novel of the reunification period. Meanwhile, Pitch and Glint will be the first collection of poetry on our list. Though no doubt not the last. The plan was always to add poetry to our publishing once we got our press on a firm financial footing – we’ve given up on that chimera, but not on poetry.”

Seiler was born in Gera, Thuringia in 1963 and today lives in Wilhelmshorst near Berlin, while also having a home in Stockholm. After an apprenticeship in construction, he worked as a carpenter and bricklayer. Since 1997, he has been the literary director and custodian of the Peter-Huchel-Haus in Wilhelmshorst. His writing has won prizes including the Ingeborg Bachmann and the German Book Prize and has been translated into 25 languages.