Catch of the Day Ep. 15: »The Cicada Sheds Its Shiny Golden Skin« by Valeria Gordeev read by Imogen Taylor

In this episode, translator Imogen Taylor reads an English sample of Valeria Gordeev’s »The Cicada Sheds Its Shiny Golden Skin«.

Konstantin and Lada are siblings, divided by an unbridgeable silence. While Konstantin works in Moscow for a research institute responsible for preserving Lenin's body, Lada lives in Berlin as an artist. They have had no contact since the outbreak of the war. Lada cannot understand why Konstantin stayed in Moscow, and Konstantin has a task that is causing him headaches: his godfather has ordered him to steal rare biological specimens from the institute he works for.

Valeria Gordeev masterfully weaves the intimate story of a family between Berlin, Kyiv and Moscow into the grand, turbulent upheavals of our present day.

Praise for »The Cicada Sheds Its Shiny Golden Skin«:

"A truly great work" – ZEIT Podcast "Was liest du gerade?", Adam Soboczynski

"I have rarely read it done so brilliantly, how immediate political experiences are recast. That is truly great literature." – ZEIT Podcast "Was liest du gerade?", Iris Radisch

Valeria Gordeev was born in Tübingen in 1986. She works as an author and illustrator. She has received numerous awards for her writing. In 2023, she won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize at the 47th German Literature Days in Klagenfurt. The Cicada Sheds Its Shiny Golden Skin is her debut novel which was awarded the 2026 Literary Prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and was longlisted for the 2026 German Book Award.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Die Zikade entschlüpft ihrer goldglänzenden Hülle” by Valeria Gordeev

Translated and read by Imogen Taylor

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Alena Schmick

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 14: »Magisch« by Annika Büsing read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Annika Büsing’s »Magisch«.

Marie never thought she would be sitting at her parents' kitchen table again in her mid-thirties, running a dog daycare centre in the village where she grew up. And yet that is her life now. In the middle of summer, Magisch is back too, Magisch, who slept in her bed for years, with whom she was the local punk couple – whom she hasn't seen since they broke up, but admittedly always missed. But then there's Andi, her brother and staunch right-winger – and for Marie, the time has come to finally stand up to him. In her unmistakable tone, Annika Büsing tells of an enduring love and the rift that runs through a family.

Praise for »Magisch«:

"a truly magnificent novel" - kultur.newsletter, Carsten Schrader

"brilliant dialogue and a moving family story" - ARD MoMa, Thomas Schindler

"Annika Büsing can do many things, but her absolute superpower is dialogue. Perhaps Magisch is the most beautiful and authentic love story of this autumn." – Kulturnews, Carsten Schrader

"Strictly speaking, Büsing only wanted to tell a love story. But then, as if by itself, another story wove its way in – one that speaks of contemporary society." – Süddeutsche Zeitung, Max Florian Kühlem

Annika Büsing (born 1981) lives with her family in Bochum and teaches at a secondary school. In 2022, she won the German Youth Literature Prize, the Ruhr Literature Prize and the Mara Cassens Prize for her acclaimed debut novel Nordstadt. She was also nominated for the Bavarian Book Prize, the Blogger Prize "Das Debüt" and the Debut Prize of the Harbour Front Literature Festival. With Koller, she made it onto the lists for the Evangelical Book Prize and the "Das zweite Buch" prize. Both novels have been adapted for the theatre. Her third novel, We're Getting By, was published by Steidl in spring 2025.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram @s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Magisch” by Annika Büsing

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Jörg Steinmetz

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 13: »The Travelling Library« by Thomas Montasser read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Thomas Montasser’s »The Travelling Library«.

Vera and Hans meet in the white and blue tram that journeys through Munich as a travelling library - and fall in love. But as a “half-Jew,” Vera must now, in 1937, do everything she can to avoid attracting attention. The same goes for Hans, a socialist. The two hide coded messages for each other in the books of ostracized authors. Thomas Mann, Kästner, Tucholsky: as library books, they become a secret means of survival for Vera and Hans. Until Hans stops coming to the travelling library...

Today: In an old tram car, restorer Sophie comes across faded library cards - and discovers the secret code of a great love.

In »The Travelling Library«, Thomas Montasser draws on motifs and events from his own family history. During the Third Reich, his grandmothers were a maid for a Jewish family and a waitress in one of Hitler's favorite restaurants, respectively, while his grandfathers were a socialist and a communist - and both railroad workers. Thomas Montasser is an author, literary agent, and lecturer in book studies at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. His works have been translated into numerous languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in several countries.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Die Wanderbücherei” by Thomas Montasser

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Mariam Montasser

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 12: »The New Fascism: Entitlement and the Urge to Destroy« by Eva von Redecker read by Lucy Duggan

In this episode, translator Lucy Duggan reads an English sample of Eva von Redecker’s »The New Fascism: Entitlement and the Urge to Destroy«.

There is a shift to the right around the world, with authoritarian forces gaining power and influence everywhere. And yet the ever-present analogies to the Nazi era come to nothing: contemporary fascism has taken on a new form that is not easy to recognize and even more difficult to explain.

In Redecker's groundbreaking analysis, its diffuse nature takes shape - and becomes vulnerable. She locates its core in the invocation of an unconditional claim to possession, defended at all costs. An enlightening and rebellious book that contrasts solidarity with the prevailing harshness of our times.

"The core of fascism is an unleashed logic of property. Its counterparts are not people, but things; its enemies are not opponents, but thieves." – Eva von Redecker

Eva von Redecker, born in 1982, is a philosopher and freelance author. After periods spent at Humboldt University, Cambridge University, University of Verona and the New School for Social Research in New York, she now writes articles for publications including Die Zeit. Eva von Redecker’s work focuses on critical theory, feminism, and critiques of capitalism. Her most recent publications are »The Freedom to Stay« (2023) and »Revolution for Life« (2020), she also provided the foreword to the German anniversary edition of »Dialectic of Enlightenment«. She grew up on an organic farm, and now lives in rural Brandenburg.

Eva von Redecker's work is translated into Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Korean, Russian, Spanish.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Dieser Drang nach Härte: Über den neuen Faschismus” by Eva von Redecker

Translated and read by Lucy Duggan

Copyright © 2026 Eva von Redecker

© S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Sophie Brand

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 11: »What Truly Matters« by Nadine Schneider read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Nadine Schneider’s »What Truly Matters«.

»What Truly Matters« is a sweeping mother-daughter story spanning four generations, a book about farewells, new beginnings, and the work of life.

It is late summer, and the grapes are ripe in the garden when Christina inherits her grandmother Anni's house. Here, in a small village near Nuremberg, she grew up with Anni: Anni, who fled Romania for Germany in the mid-1960s. Anni, who raised her child and grandchild all by herself, packing boxes for a mail-order giant to survive in a booming post-war economy. Who fought loneliness, poverty, and alienation with tenacity, strength, and a sense of duty. Was this the life she had dreamed of? Or did she miss out on life while living it?

Christina hesitantly says goodbye to Anni and her house. In the quiet warmth of the last days of summer, she sinks deeper and deeper into her memories, comes across surprising finds, and also drives to the now abandoned site of the Quelle mail order center. She has cancelled her planned vacation, and only occasional emails from work reach her. Gradually, she realizes what she really owes her grandmother: the freedom to let go and find the place where the good life is at home.

“This language achieves something: it tells a story that is breathless and yet full of tranquility.” - Zsuzsa Bánk

Nadine Schneider, born in Nuremberg in 1990, comes from a Romanian-German family. She studied musicology and German language and literature in Regensburg, Cremona, and Berlin. Her first novel, "Drei Kilometer", won several awards, including the Literature Prize of the City of Fulda. In 2021, she read at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Her second novel, "Wohin ich immer gehe", was published in the same year. Nadine Schneider lives with her family near Nuremberg.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “What Truly Matters” by Nadine Schneider

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2025

Photo of the author © Max Gödecke

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 10: »The House Sitter« by Emily Rudolf, read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Emily Rudolf’s thriller »The House Sitter«.

Cecilia works as a house sitter, moving from job to job. After the death of her mother, she has lost her footing and can no longer even afford a room in a shared apartment. Now she finds herself dropped off at the villa of the influential Waldner family, isolated on a tiny island in the Baltic Sea. The perfect idyll - the perfect trap. Because Cecilia is not here by chance: a powerful attraction connects her to Johannes Waldner, the son of the deceased owner. While Cecilia still thinks she is alone in the house, four people make their way to the island. With dark secrets and their own agendas. But would they kill for it?

Emily Rudolf is a SPIEGEL bestselling author and a leading voice in German psychological thrillers. In her thrillers, she explores how human emotions can escalate to deadly levels. With fascinating settings, sophisticated plots and psychologically balanced characters, she captivates German and international readers alike. Born in 1998, the author grew up near Leipzig, published her first books while studying and working, and then turned her passion into her profession. Emily Rudolf currently lives and writes in Nuremberg.

Emily Rudolf’s thrillers have already been sold into Croatian (Fraktura), French (Lattès/ Le masque), Italian (Newton Compton Editori) and Norwegian (Cappelen Damm).

Links & Contact:

• Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.
• Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.
• Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.
• Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.
• Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Die Housesitterin – Ein Traum von einem Job. Oder?” by Emily Rudolf

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Gaby Gerster

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 9: »I'd Like to Go Back in Time« by Judith Hermann read by Katy Derbyshire

In this episode, translator Katy Derbyshire reads her English sample of Judith Hermann’s »I'd Like to Go Back in Time«.

To which places have the memories retreated?

Judith Hermann follows the traces of her grandfather, who was stationed in Radom, Poland, during the war. She thinks about what effect the little knowledge and the speechlessness in the family had - and what influence it also had on her writing. From Poland, she travels to her sister in Naples and pursues remembering and forgetting in subsequent generations. In intermediate and undertones, Judith Hermann tracks down the voids and damages of every life, but brings us a little closer to the beauty hidden therein with her magical and magnetic stories.

Praise for Judith Hermann:

“Judith Hermann's books are unflinching explorations of human conditions." — Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Home

“A master storyteller.” — The Independent, London on Summerhouse, Later

“In the ‘Nobel Prize League’” — Frankfurter Rundschau on We'd Have Told Each Other Everything

Judith Hermann was born in Berlin in 1970. Her debut story collection Summerhouse, Later (1998) was extremely well received. It was then followed in 2003 by the story collection Nothing But Ghosts, and several of the stories contained in the latter were adapted for film in 2007. In 2009, she published Alice, five short stories that received international acclaim. Her first novel, Where Love Beginns, came out in 2014. It was followed in 2016 by the short story collection Lettipark, which was awarded the Danish Blixen Prize for Short Stories. Hermann has received numerous awards for her work, including the Kleist Prize and the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize. Her novel Home was published in spring 2021. It was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize and received the Bremen Literature Prize in 2022. Most recently, S. Fischer published We'd Have Told Each Other Everything, based on the Frankfurt poetry lectures given by Judith Hermann in spring 2022. The author received the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize for this work. Judith Hermann lives and writes in Berlin.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app to not miss the next episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Ich möchte zurückgehen in der Zeit” by Judith Hermann

Translated and read by Katy Derbyshire

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Andreas Reiberg

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, translator Fiona Graham reads an English sample of Nora Haddada’s »Such Sweet Sorrow«.

When Julian spots Myriam in a Marseille karaoke bar, he can't look away. A conversation, a duet, and an illegal trip to the top of a construction site, their connection feels special. Myriam feels it too: this is different from anything she's ever experienced before. They are both young, well-read, critical and enchanted by the magic and lightheartedness of Marseille as backdrop to their love story. And yet, they lose touch when they return to their lives, Myriam to Paris and Julian to Berlin.

Their paths cross again in Berlin when Myriam arrives for her PhD. But after October 7, a rift forms between them, with the lovers finding themselves on opposite political sides. In »Such Sweet Sorrow,« Nora Haddada masterfully weaves a tale of love, sex, political discourse, and the tragedy of our times.

"Clever, profound, and subtly ironic (...) I couldn't put it down." - Benedict Wells

Nora Haddada , born in 1998, studied Creative Writing and Literary Studies in Hildesheim, Berlin, and Paris. Her debut novel »Nichts in den Pflanzen« was published in 2023 by Ecco/HarperCollins. She lives in Berlin and Paris.

Head to our website to find a longer sample translation here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app to not miss the next episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Blaue Romanze” by Nora Haddada

Translated and read by Fiona Graham

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2025

Photo of the author © Olga Blackbird

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.