Ein humoristischer Kriminalfall

In the summer of 2012, a suggestion box was stolen from the Don-Bosco-Church in Klagenfurt. Did the thief confuse the suggestion box with the offertory box even though it had "Tell us what you think! Suggestions, requests, complaints" written on it? Or was the person who took it fed up with people being fed up with church and state? Or had the thief grown tired of the constant moaning and groaning and ranting and raging wearing out suggestion boxes all over? Or was it some kind of harmony-freak who needed his fix of fixing things? Alois Brandstetter sheds light on this bizarre case. His criminalistic and detective investigation is poetically funny and reveals a number of strange coincidences and clues. An exquisitely witty read!

“My harmony is just balance.”

His poetry was subversive, his translations are acclaimed to this day, his “Songs from the Gallows” are considered among the most popular German poems. Christian Morgenstern was one of the most interesting authors of his time. Born 1871, he lived in a time marked by radical mental, technological and cultural changes: the beginning of the Modern Era. His generational peers include Rilke, Hofmannsthal and Robert Walser. With its multilayered and fragmented quality, Morgenstern’s oeuvre reacted to a period of continuous and quick changes. Jochen Schimmang sheds new light on the life and work of this exceptional author.

The biography of the infamous outlaw couple.

The USA during the 1930s, the era of the Great Depression. In order to escape poverty and unemployment, Bonnie & Clyde come up with an unusual business plan: They begin robbing banks for a living. Admired by the losers of the American Dream, they keep a nation in suspense for two years. Then FBI-director Hoover declares war on the two outlaws… How could a young couple from Texas responsible for the cold-blooded killing of innocent people become popular heroes? Michaela Karl tells the fascinating story of Bonnie & Clyde in her newest book. It is the story of a relentless struggle against state and law – and the story of a great love.

Fierce and flippant: a book you won't easily forget!

Lena was born into a world that is arbitrary and violent. The girl learns to cope with life’s hardships life with wit, persistence and a great deal of courage. She also tries to help others: the kindergarten teacher, homeless dogs that are supposed to be sold to a Chinese restaurant, discus thrower Wassylyna, and her friend, Dog, who lost her legs to frostbite. On her search for a ‘miracle by chance’ – a kind of flying female super hero who is said to turn up wherever help is needed the most – Lena manages to conquer the challenges she faces. Tanja Maljartschuk’s book is a masterpiece of dark and gruesome humor – a book you won’t forget!

An essay on human dignity in late capitalism.

Someone who neither consumes nor produces is redundant - according to the cutthroat logics of late capitalism. International elites claim that overpopulation is our greatest problem. If the population needs to be reduced, who will have to disappear asks Trojanow in his humanist essay that argues against the redundancy of humankind. In his forceful analysis he covers points such as devastation caused by climate change, ruthless neo-liberal politics on the labor market and the apocalypses presented in mass media that we, the seeming winners, fervently consume. One thing we have failed to realize is that these issues also concern us. They concern everyone and everything.

A book on the magic and danger of childhood

Every week Hindenburg’s airship and its crew are burnt to crisps in grandmother’s pantry, while a shark fishing boat rolls at sea in the old tool shed and a fire hydrant turns into a red-eared, lovesick alien. Softly, seriously and without getting stuck in nostalgia, Roman Marchel revives the magic and implacability of life from our childhood and teenage years. His stories are never idyllic: like soap bubbles the children’s worlds are shields against grown-up life. But they are also susceptible to danger, deadly risks and destruction, which can have life-long consequences.

Looking beyond the horizon.

A poet embarks on a journey. We accompany him on his path through all kinds of natural and cultural landscapes, which his words smoothly adapt to. The accuracy of his gaze and his perspective allow us to take part in the visual adventures and broadening horizons he encounters. With him we witness the Czar’s homecoming to St. Petersburg, wander through a Japanese forest and through modern Moscow, visit the Museum of the Revolution in Hanoi and admire the Windcatchers of Yazd in Iran. A collection of poetically condensed moments, lifted out of their everyday rut by our senses and illusions.

“Recognizing oneself in others is an exercise that puts marvel back into our daily lives.” (Barbara Frischmuth)

Barbara Frischmuth is a master of stylistic abundance: full of compassion she takes a sometimes down to earth, sometimes humorously-grotesque look at the trials and tribulations of human interaction. Frischmuth tells of hellos and good-byes. From the story of a lovesick young archeologist who goes into hiding at her sister’s house and lives through a cathartic experience to a substitute fight between a grandmother and her granddaughter over a misplaced nail file. With her playful narration Frischmuth gives us glimpses of a simple truth: Time and again, reality is an experiment.

Was dem Deutschen sein Faust, das ist dem Österreicher sein Hödlmoser.

Hödlmoser, an anachronistic hero, assumes the traditional attitude of the simple man: lover, paterfamilias, mountain climber, poacher, alcoholic, armchair politician, ruffian, patricide, cuckold. The comic element arises from the wide discrepancy between action and language. ... when Styria falls to pieces, so does Austria.

Ill and evil: how the mentally disturbed can become criminals

Anders Brevik, Josef Fritzl, or the ‘Ice Lady’– are criminals like these pure evil or are they in fact mentally ill? Why is a fanatic legally accountable, while someone delusional is not? Is one innocent and the other guilty? Forensic psychiatrist Thomas Stompe works with ‘mentally disturbed offenders’ who are not held in regular prison, but detained in mental health facilities with special security measures. He recounts fascinating details from cases he has encountered in his work practice as a therapist: the motives that drive the ill offenders; their delusions and crimes; their treatment and their lives ‘after the act’. The stories are disturbing, yet also provoke compassion for the offenders who are humans like you and I.