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Help Free Sylvia Plath - We Want to Publish Her Debut Collection in Germany
Sylvia Plath's work has been translated in many languages. In Germany - one of the biggest bookmarkets in Europe - the only poetry book available by her is "Ariel" and - oddly enough - a selection of "Love Poems".
We want to publish the exceptional translation of her debut collection "The Colossus and Other Poems" translated by one of Germany's acclaimed young poets Judith Zander. We sincerely believe that the debut collection by one of the most influential American poets of her generation should be available to German readers in a bilingual edition. The German publisher of "Ariel" and "The Bell Jar" seems to be blocking all rights to the book by an option right they don't use - needless to say that they have never published an edition of "The Colossus" and it seems unclear what their plans for the future are.
We are a small Independent Publisher called luxbooks focusing on American poetry in bilingual editions. Among our authors are John Ashbery, Rae Armantrout, Mary Jo Bang, Hart Crane, H.D., Timothy Donnelly, Forrest Gander, Peter Gizzi, Ben Lerner, Sarah Manguso, George Oppen, D. A. Powell and John Updike. The translations are normally done by acclaimed German poets. Our books are regularly reviewed in national newspapers, radio and television. The leading Swiss Newspaper NZZ called us the "currently most influential Independent Poetry publisher in Germany". We can't however compete with a big publishing house on our own. We figure that we have to raise at least 6.000$ to be able to make a competitive offer.
Luxbooks is being run by us: Annette Kühn (*1981) & Christian Lux (*1978), two poetry loving Independent publishers from Wiesbaden. There are many portraits about our publishing house in German media (FAZ, Deutschlandfunk, NZZ, Frankfurter Rundschau, Börsenblatt des Deutschen Buchhandels, Buchmarkt) and many more reviews of our books. This is our website: www.luxbooks.de
(Photo (c) Frankfurter Rundschau)
Judith Zander (*1980), the translator of the book, is one of the most acclaimed young poets in Germany. Born in Anklam, she studied German, English and History in Greifswald and Creative Writing in Leipzig. Her poetry and prose has won many awards: among them are a nomination for Germany's Most important Book Award, the DBP, the prestigious 3sat-Preis awarded during the Ingeborg Bachmann-Preis and the Wolfang-Weyrauch-Förderpreis.
(Photo (c) Amrei-Marie)
What Happens If You Raise More Money Than You Need to Free Sylvia Plath
If we raise more money than necessary we will also:
1. - try to buy the German rights for "Crossing the Water" the last collection by Sylvia Plath (ca. 5000$)
2. - pay translation costs (ca. 2500$)
3. - pay printing and advertising costs for the book (ca. 3000$)
4. - distribute free copies of the edition to libraries
If you decide to still donate to the project when all theses costs are covered we will use any additional money for our series luxbooks.americana in which the Sylvia Plath edition will be published. Planned future projects are f.ex. selected poetry editions by Frank O'Hara, John Berryman, John Ashbery, Charles Bernstein, Lyn Hejinian.
What Happens If We Don't Get the Rights?
If we are not able to aquire the rights, we will use half of the donations to pay a translation fee to Judith Zander as her translation will remain unpublished then. We will donate the other half to the Pennsound-Archive, a web archive of preserved readings and audio documents from 20th century poets.
Why Freeing Sylvia Plath's Debut Collection in Germany Is Important
"The Colossus and Other Poems" established Sylvia Plath as a major poet long before her now famous suicide. She is one of the leading poets of confessional poetry, her work is part of the American poetry canon, her life and work was influential on many leading feminists of the second half of the 20th century and she has become one of the few true icons of literature.
For the first time our edition would make it possible to read Sylvia Plath's debut collection in German. As we always publish bilingual editions the reader will have the possibilty to compare the translation to the original. As it will have taken more than 50 years until a German translation has been published, the book will be met with anticipation and earn many reviews. Many new readers and a generation of young poets will be able to discover Sylvia Plath's early work.
If we can't succed in freeing Sylvia Plath's debut collection from the bigger publishing house this essential poetry book will remain unknown to German readers and Judith Zander's marvelous translation won't be published.
You Want to Help Us Free Sylvia?
We need support for our cause. As the British publishing house which owns the rights has a longstanding relationship to the German publishing house which seems to be blocking the rights we probably not only need money but also public backing for our demand to make "The Colossus" available to German readers. Please make this campaign known to your friends, fellow readers and to the media.
We need at least 5,000$ to compete with any offer the German publishing house might make.
You will get to be part of a campaign trying to end copyright abuse. You will be part of those who want to "Free Sylvia Plath". For any donation above 50€ you will get a "Free-Sylvia-Plath-T-Shirt".
For any donation above 100€ you will get a copy of the final book if we can aquire the rights. Any donation above 500€ will be mentioned in the "Thank You"-note of the final book.
You Don't Need to Donate Money to Help Free Sylvia Plath:
Please let your friends know. Engage with the campaign on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or whereever you spend your social media hours!
http://www.facebook.com/freesylviaplath
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Christian LuxPublisher