A world debut: a harrowingly realistic novel about a woman's life in Iran today

"It took a very long time before I realized that an intact society is one in which regular people are looking for the newest novel instead of leading endless political discussions and their kids have books in their hands instead of plastic guns and swords." Mojgan Ataollahi's autobiographical novel is both moving testimony and poetically composed life story in one. The narrator's every day life is marked by violence, suppression, injustice, and misogyny. After a failed marriage, she decides to plan her suicide, which fails – in part due to almost grotesque mishaps. Her daughter's love and her defiant fight for self-determination finally give Mojgan new hope. "An Easy Death" is more than the fate of one confident woman in today's Iran: It is a vivid portrait of the entire society she lives in.

Thomas Bernhard – A Biography

Thomas Bernhard was all that and more, as this comprehensive biography shows. The acknowledged expert Manfred Mittermayer has drawn together Bernhard’s life and work into one great story, reaching from his ‘origin complex’ – his grandfather Johannes Freumbichler’s family – to his premature death following years of illness. Mittermayer creates a nuanced picture of Bernhard’s multi-layered public image and the various phases of his private life, placing his most significant works of prose and theatre in relation to a life story inseparably bound to post-war history. “I cannot deny that I’ve always led two existences: one which comes close to the truth, which I do have the right to describe as reality, and another which I have played out. Over time, the two together have formed the existence which keeps me alive.” Thomas Bernhard, Der Keller (The Cellar – part II of his autobiography)

The incredible tale of an extremely chaste saint, his portrait and the painters Rubens and Van Dyck

Witty and inquisitive, Alois Brandstetter goes in search of his patron saint and namesake Aloysius. The journey takes him to Mantua in Italy at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The thoroughly chaste Aluigi, who died young, has just been beatified, and his mother is looking to have his portrait painted for the new church being built in his name. The job is offered to Rubens of all people, whose work celebrates the pleasures of the flesh, but he turns it down and recommends the boy wonder Van Dyck, nineteen and highly talented. Letters fly between Mantua and Amsterdam. Will Aluigi’s Portrait ever be painted? Perhaps not on canvas but certainly in the form of an enchanting historical fantasy created by Alois Brandstetter.

The ghost of freedom wanders the streets…

Baku, Azerbaijan, spring 2011: the city is in uproar, protests against the authoritarian regime are growing louder. In the midst of it are Ali and Nino, Frida and Che, two young couples fighting not only against state repression but for their love, for freedom and self-determination, for happiness and a life they can call their own. Yet Verena Mermer evokes more than just the political struggles and everyday life in one of the last dictatorships on Europe’s borders. Her wonderful debut also plays an enthralling game with its characters, with the times and places, the myths of revolution and love and lures us into the labyrinth of poetic invention.

Ein meisterlicher Maler des Lichts

Anton Lutz is one of the most important artistic figures of twentieth century Austria. His broad oeuvre can at last be appreciated in a comprehensive, richly illustrated monograph, detailing his artistic development via hundreds of hitherto unseen paintings and graphic works. Throughout his long life (1894–1992), he influenced artistic life in Upper Austria like no-one else, with his impressive work and his roles as founder of the artists group MAERZ and president of the Upper Austrian artists’ association. Key museum exhibitions throughout his life and following his death, as well as a growing market interest in his work are testament to his high standing.

Dammed if you celebrate, dammed if you don't

Love them or not, birthdays are unavoidable, not only ours but our uncles and aunts, parents and lovers, grandmas and grandpas, friends who don’t want to get older and children who can’t wait to. This book even considers people who flee to the ends of the earth (or the next bar) at the mere mention of a birthday party, as well as the chosen few with birthdays on 29 February, 1 May or New Year’s Eve or people already reborn a few times. Twenty-five contemporary authors have brought gifts: unusual, touching and unbelievable ‘birthday presents’. Reason enough to celebrate. With short stories by Polly Adler, Ela Angerer, Bettina Baláka, Ruth Cerha, Friedrich Dönhoff, Petra Hartlieb, Monika Held, Peter Henisch, Wolfgang Hermann, Margarita Kinstner, Elisabeth Klar, Edith Kneifl, Konrad Paul Liessmann, Heidi List, Klaus Nüchtern, Klaus Oppitz, Kurt Palm, Verena Petrasch, Eva Rossmann, Tex Rubinowitz, David Schalko, Susanne Scholl, Dirk Stermann, Cornelia Travnicek, Anna Weidenholzer and lyrics by the band Gustav.

Gernot Wolfgruber’s 1976 classic “Herrenjahre” (“His Own Master”) – back in print at last

Following his time as an apprentice Bruno Melzer’s hopes for his time as His Own Master are not fulfilled. The dream of independence soon proves to be a fragile utopia. He undergoes a painful disillusion process doing monotonous work on a factory conveyor belt, then loses his remaining vestiges of freedom as a one night stand makes him a father. But along with the story of the worker Bruno, this famous novel paints a broader picture of social conditions and attitudes at the time, and remains highly relevant today.