Susanne Bauknecht of the Zurich-based publisher Diogenes presents Martin Suter’s ‘Elephant’ in the 2017 edition of Books at Berlinale. Image: Berlinale Co-Production Market, Silke Mayer
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Interested Producers: Register by February 14
As our Publishing Perspectives readers will remember, the annual Books at Berlinale program issued its call for submissions in late October.A
joint initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival and Frankfurter Buchmesse, the Books at Berlinale program selects roughly a dozen books to have pitched to as many as 150 internationally established film producers. The wing of the Berlin operation that coordinates with Frankfurt on the program, is the Berlinale Co-Production Market, which has dates this year of February 18 to 22.
On the date of the pitching event for producers—this year February 20—book pitches are made by literary agents or publishers, and are then followed by a networking get-together during which contacts with interested film producers can be established. Each publisher/agent has her or his own standing table and can be approached directly by the producers.
Film producers who are active in literary adaptations or interested in them—as well as publishers and literary agents—are invited to register for participation before February 14 by email: books@berlinale.de .
The news today (January 20) is that 11 books have been chosen for the pitching event on February 20, from an initial pool of more than 190 titles submitted from at least 30 countries.
The books selected come from publishers, agencies, and authors from Austria, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and from Frankfurter Buchmesse’s 2023 guest of honor, Slovenia.
Books Selected for the 2023 ‘Books at Berlinale’ Event
- A Relative Good /Un bien relativo (Teresa Cardona, Spain, Edciones Siruela, 2022), A.C.E.R. Agencia Literaria, Spain
- Aleksandra (Lisa Weeda, the Netherlands/Ukraine), De Bezige Bij, 2021, the Netherlands
- The Art of Losing / L’art de perdre (Alice Zeniter, France), Editions Flammarion, 2017, France
- The Warrior / Die Kriegerin (Helene Bukowski, Germany, Aufbau/Blumenbar), Elisabeth Ruge Agentur, Germany
- These Streets (Luan Goldie, United Kingdom, HarperCollins UK/HQ, 2022), Eve White Literary Agency, UK
- The Storm is Coming / Familien Brattbakk (Julia Kahrs, Norway, Gyldendal, 2022), Gyldendal Agency, Norway
- This Is Not Miami (Fernanda Melchor, Mexico, New Directions, April 2023, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes), Literarische Agentur Michael Gaeb, Germany
- Why Don’t I Write / Zakaj ne pišem (Dijana Matković, Slovenia), Mladinska knjiga Založba, 2022, Slovenia
- The Light Behind Us / Das Licht im Rücken (Sandra Lüpkes, Germany, Rowohlt, May 2023), Rowohlt Medienagentur, Germany
- Sonny, Inside / Zo hoog de zon stond (Simone Atangana Bekono, Netherlands), Singel Uitgeverijen, 2022, the Netherlands
- Virginia Hill (Peter Blaikner, Austria), Thomas Sessler Verlag, 2022, Austria
At the 2007 Books at Berlinale event. Image: Berlinale Co-Production Market, Silke Heyer
The February 20 presentation of these books is to be held at the Berlin House of Representatives, starting at 10:30 a.m., and once again this year is to be moderated by Syd Atlas.
A “matchmaking” event is also planned for that day as part of the program, bringing together publishers, producers, and representatives of film agencies.
Representatives of the news media are also asked to register by email at books@berlinale.de .
Frankfurter Buchmesse president and CEO Juergen Boos at the 2013 Books at Berlinale presentation with Sonja Heinen. Image: Berlinale Co-Production Market, Oliver Möst
More from Publishing Perspectives on Books at Berlinale is here, and on adaptations of books to film and television is here and here. More on rights and licensing is here.