Swiss literature: New publications in April 2024
Published: Tuesday, Mar 26th 2024, 12:10
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Prose, spoken word, essays and poetry by Swiss authors and writers who live in Switzerland: The Keystone-SDA news agency has selected new works that will provide food for thought in April.
Rebekka Salm: "How the hare runs". Novel. Knapp Verlag, 195 pages. (Published on April 10)
Olten author Rebekka Salm's second novel is about two families who don't want to remember. The starting point of "Wie der Hase läuft" is the year 1943, when a young man dies in Amsterdam; his widow flees to Switzerland. Fifty years later, a woman lies dead on the side of the road in the Basel hinterland. Decades later, Teresa and Marco fall in love. Teresa sets off in search of traces of their shared history. In her debut novel "Die Dinge beim Namen" (2022), author Salm has succeeded in laying out and bringing together various narrative threads. Once again, she presents a variety of stories.
Lukas Hartmann: "Martha and hers". Novel. Diogenes, 272 pages. (Published on April 24)
Martha was an indentured child on a farm near Bern. Despite her origins in abject poverty, she managed to achieve modest prosperity. Her motto was to show no weakness, work hard and be tough on herself and others. Her sons, who wanted to make a name for themselves in the post-war period, were also influenced by this. And her grandchildren? They rebel and dream of a free life. This novel, which spans three generations, was published by Bernese author Lukas Hartmann following his stroke in October 2022 and the subsequent resignation of his wife Simonetta Sommaruga from the Federal Council.
Nadine Olonetzky: "Where does the light go when the day has passed". S. Fischer, 448 pages. (Published on April 24)
The author, editor and publisher Nadine Olonetzky was born in Zurich in 1962. When she was 15 years old, her father told her - on a park bench in Zurich - what he and his family had experienced during the Shoah. He had managed to escape to Switzerland in 1943. All he has left is a small photograph. In 2020, she comes across files that show that her father's Jewish family struggled for decades with the Federal Republic of Germany for compensation. She begins to write "Where does the light go when the day has passed" and reconstructs the history of her father's family.
Alfred Bodenheimer: "In a foreign country. A Jerusalem thriller". Kampa crime thriller, 224 pages. (Published on April 25)
In the Old City of Jerusalem, a policewoman shoots Musa Hamid, an autistic man, because she misinterprets his gestures. Shortly afterwards, the head of the riot police in Cyprus falls off a cliff to his death. He had given orders to "take proactive action against terrorists". Police psychologist Kinny Glass then starts her own investigation. After a series of crime novels about Rabi Klein in the Jewish community in Zurich, Alfred Bodenheimer is now publishing Kinny Glass's second case in Jerusalem. He is a professor of Jewish literary and religious history at the University of Basel and commutes between Switzerland and Israel.
Markus Stegmann: "Sheep and casket". Prose. Caracol, 120 pages. (To be published on April 29)
Markus Stegmann brings together 267 prose miniatures in this volume: bizarre with absurd twists and entertaining. The stories are linked by the first-person narrator. He lives in an old castle and finally flies into space in a small capsule, followed by his imaginary sheep. The short, pictorial stories are ambiguous and deal with contemporary and social criticism. The author is an art historian and has worked as a curator and lecturer for contemporary and modern art. He has been director of the Langmatt Museum in Baden, Aargau, since 2015. To date, he has published poetry, short prose and three novels.
Christine Rinderknecht: "Black". Novel. Verlag die Brotsuppe, 256 pages. (Published on April 30)
Donna and Leta have been friends since the early 1980s. Donna comes from the mountains, Leta from the midlands. Donna moves to Paris because of an impossible love affair. She became the mother of ten children, two of whom she bore herself. Then she is diagnosed with cancer. Leta offers to support her. During her time in Donna's chaotic world, she tells stories, remembers and weaves a tapestry of stories. The source from which the stories emerge is "Schwarzes", a coffee from Donna's mountainous region. The author Christine Rinderknecht comes from the world of theater. In addition to texts for the theater and prose, she has published three novels.
More:
Lukas Holliger: "Yes or no. Dialog machine for two voices". Drama. essais agités Volume 12, 130 pages. (Published on April 3)
David Weber: "The beginning of a relationship". Novel. Knapp Verlag, 240 pages. (Published on April 4)
Wolfram Höll: "Niederwald". Drama. Suhrkamp Theater, 250 pages. (Published on April 10)
Hugo Loetscher: "So few letters and so much world. Travel essays and reportages". Diogenes, 400 pages. (To be published on April 24)
Marcel Huwyler: "The red sparrow. The third case for Eliza Roth-Schild". Atlantis crime thriller, 192 pages. (Published on April 25)
Viviane Egli: "Back then at the fence". Novel. Caracol, 176 pages. (Published on April 29)
Tina Schmid: "Empty of air". Novel. Caracol, 184 pages. (Published on April 29)
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