Under the motto “Fräuleinwunder”, the German Book Office New York (GBO) will celebrate its 15th anniversary on December 11 with a reception at its office at 6:30 p.m. (see the invitation here).

The motto — which literally means “wonder girls”— refers to the new generation of women authors in Germany, many of whom were published the same year the GBO was founded, including Judith Hermann, Jenny Erpenbeck and Julia Franck.

Founded in 1998, the GBO promotes German literature to North American publishers and serves as the American outpost of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

“The German Book Office was founded with active support from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office in order to raise awareness of German literature in the USA and to connect German and American publishers, agents and event organizers,” said Riky Stock, Director of the GBO since 2002.

Learn more about the German Book Office or follow their activities through Facebook.

In addition to organizing readings, editor’s trips and other ongoing projects, the GBO also co-produces the Festival Neue Literatur, a multi-day literary event that began in 2010. Along with the Goethe-Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum and Deutsches Haus at NYU, the GBO invites several German-speaking authors to New York City for a weekend of literary events and discussions. This year, the Festival will take place February 28–March 2 in New York City. Participants will include Milena Michiko Flašar und Maja Haderlap (Austria), Olga Grjasnowa und Abbas Khider (Germany), Melinda Nadj Abonji und Richard Weihe (Switzerland), as well as Monique Truong und Keith Gessen from the USA.