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Discover the new literary releases with a wide range of genres in Luxembourgish, German, French and English!

Marie-Pierre Antoine, Coquilles de Noisettes
Éditions Phi, 2023, Poetry, French

In Coquilles de Noisettes Marie-Pierre Antoine undertakes the exploration of desire. She gives readers the space they need to imagine, while subtly guiding the images throughout her poems. As the literary critic Florent Toniello puts it, the Coquilles de Noisettes are « a kind of UFO in Luxembourg’s French-language literary output. They may be divisive, but they have a solid raison d’être. » (woxx)

Tessy Antony-de Nassau, Theodore & Grace discover Luxembourg
Editions Schortgen, 2023, Children’s and youth books, English, German, French

In four interactive books for young children from 0 to 3 years, the author Tessy Antony-de Nassau takes the reader via Theodore and Grace on a discovery journey of Luxembourg. What plants and trees grow there? What animals can be found in the forests? What does the city of Luxembourg look like? The books deal with the Luxembourgish kitchen, the animals of Luxembourg, the city of Luxembourg and the nature in Luxembourg.

Jean Back, Nuebelschnéier
Kremart Edition, 2023, Tales & short stories, Luxembourgish

Nuebelschnéier is a collection of loosely connected tales and short stories by Jean Back, who received the European Union Prize for Literature in 2010. Stories like the son in the psychiatry who misses his mother, although he was abused by her; grandmother Marie who used to play the viola and lives now in a retirement home, and only her memories of her child comfort her; the mother who dies in old age and suddenly convictions and certainties are thrown off track.

Raoul Biltgen, Meine Insel. Eine Robinsonade
Hydre Editions, October 2023, Fiction, German

On a desert island, a man stands on the beach and tells a joke about a man on the beach on a desert island. Yet he has nothing to laugh about. The castaway, who was once called Jean-Marie and now calls himself Robinson, has created a new life for himself: He has stockpiled supplies, built a hut – and erected fences. For no one is to take away the property, he has so painstakingly amassed. Pirates, for example. Or even man-eaters, as in Robinson Crusoe. Who knows how long you can stay alone on a desert island?

Tullio Forgiarini / Claude Grosch, Bonnie
Kremart Edition, 2023, children’s book, Luxembourgish-French, Luxembourgish-English

Bonnie cannot sleep at night. She is bored and no one else is awake, right? So, Bonnie goes in search of the monsters of the night to…play with them! The book tries to take away the fear of darkness with sensitivity, imagination and a little humour. The children’s book is available in two versions, always bilingual: Luxembourgish-English and Luxembourgish French.

Luc François, Wasserstand
Kremart Edition, 2023, Fiction, German

With a novel in noir style, the writer Klaus Klopp wants to hit the big time after his first two works were just laughed at as mediocre. The new story is supposed to be exciting and dark, of literary value, but at the same time authentic and human. Perhaps also a little artful. A glass of water, of all things, gives the man in his mid-forties an idea of how to breathe real life into his characters.

John-Paul Gomez, The Idiot of St. Benedict and Other Stories
Black Fountain Press, September 2023, Fiction, English
1st prize Concours littéraire national 2022 in the category “adult authors”

An impossible medieval church, a dreaded hospital appointment, figures re-emerging from a past that is buried but not gone. In narratives somewhere between *Black Mirror* and Ray Bradbury, John-Paul Gomez’s characters find themselves at the uneasy junction of reality and otherworldly forces beyond their control. Dystopian *what if* scenarios are juxtaposed with everyday grievances and relationships that have lost their lustre. Things are getting away from us, our collective attention span is waning more and more, and something is going very, very wrong…

Samuel Hamen / Melitta Schubert, Österreich und Luxemburg im Dialog
Éditions Guy Binsfeld, July 2023, Non-fiction, German

The Luxembourgish writer Samuel Hamen and H.E. Melitta Schubert, Austrian ambassador in Luxembourg, present Austria and Luxembourg in dialogue across the ages and borders. The common history spans from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, when the Duchy of Luxembourg was part of the Habsburg Empire, through the 19th century to the 20th century, when the European continent sank into barbarism. In an exchange with personalities from academia, politics and culture, this volume sheds light on the relations between Luxembourg and Austria.

Guy Helminger, Das Geräusch der Stillleben
Capybarabooks, October 2023, Short stories, German

In Das Geräusch der Stillleben Guy Helminger tells a series of stories about people on the margins of society, with humour and a sense of the absurd continuing his exploration of the notion of reality, planting characters who despair of finding meaning in a world that, while not necessarily devoid of it, refuses to surrender itself to man.

Gilles Kolbet, Rout, Giel oder Blo?
Ernster Editions, 2023, Children’s book, Luxembourgish

Albert, the artist, has not been satisfied with his colours for a long time. Again, and again he asks himself the question: RED, YELLOW or BLUE, which colour should I use now? One day, however, he realises what really makes him happy, and that there are so many other colours to discover in life.

Chris Lauer, Gut verräumte Sternschnuppen
Nimbus Verlag, October 2023, Poetry, German

In Chris Lauer’s lyrical debut, love and trauma are as closely linked as past and present. With hypnotic language and fascinating vocabulary, the big themes shine through the poems. Painful as a barb the poems are interwoven with the family history, the experiences of the World War II on the side of the persecuted.

Sandra Martins, D’Sasha an de Flint – Eng magesch Melodie
Editions Schortgen, 2023, Children’s books, Luxembourgish, English, French

Sasha is reading a book in her tree house when she suddenly hears a wonderful song. All curious, she packs her bag and sets out to find this unknown singer. When she arrives in the forest, Sasha discovers several surprises.

Roland Meyer, Monster Malya
Op der Lay, 2023, Fiction / Children’s and youth books, Luxembourgish

The new children’s book for adults by Roland Meyer tells the story of Malya who is 12 years old but has already developed into a “monster”. Her close environment sees it that way. She disturbs the system with her anger, maladjustment, stubbornness, outbreaks of violence. In school she does not have a friend and from her family, nobody wants to spend time with her.

Simone Mousset, CHOREOGRAPHICAL TALKS 02
CNL, 2023, Discourse, English

How do you talk about dance? Is there a relationship between movement and text? With the Choreographical Talks series, launched in 2022, the CNL is trying to answer these questions by asking Luxembourg-based choreographers to reflect on their art.

Charlotte Reuter, D’Rommel Bommel an hir Frënn
Ernster Editions, May 2023, Children’s book, Luxembourgish

In this interactive children’s book, the focus is put on vegetables and the experiences with the five senses. The four stories about local vegetable varieties examine every step from the growing until the use of the vegetables. In every story there is also an easy and delicious recipe to recreate at home.

Guy Rewenig, La coupe est pleine
Editions Guy Binsfeld, November 2023, Fiction, French

Out of pure magnanimity, the Lamalle couple has invited a couple of refugees for New Year’s Eve. But throughout the 31st of December, tensions rise … La coupe est pleine is a mordant caricature of deceptive well-being in times of war and widespread violence. With beneficial disrespect, the author Guy Rewenig vigorously parodies the whims of do-gooders, opportunists and profiteers disguised as do-gooders.

Nathalie Ronvaux, DISCOURS SUR LE THÉÂTRE 05
CNL, 2023, Discourse, French

The series Discours sur le théâtre / Rede vom Theater / Theatrical Talks from the Centre national de littérature invites authors to reflect on writing and the theatre. Volume 05 of the series welcomes Nathalie Ronvaux. In her Discours, entitled Pour arriver au seuil du geste (to arrive at the threshold of gesture), she examines her practice of playwriting, understood as an act that is both solitary and collective, stretched between reflection and embodiment.

Margret Steckel, Mutterrache. Novelle
Capybarabooks, 2023, Short story, German
Prix Batty Weber 2023

In her short story Mutterrache, Margret Steckel manages to tackle the question of guilt and the failings of a family without taking sides, thanks to the skilful interweaving of the plot threads. Although there is no one in this story who can finally free himself from guilt, the author allows the reader to reconstruct the unfolding of the tragedy with the help of flashbacks and to make his own judgement – without condemning, because Margret Steckel loves her characters too much for that. Even if they are difficult.

Florent Toniello, Honorable Brasius
Hydre Edition, October 2023, Short stories & speculative fiction, French

Sorcerer, celestial tramp, usurper? In any case, for those who call on his services, blind Brasius is the “honourable one”. With his dog Enza, he untangles the web of problems that only the supernatural can solve or explain. It’s a gift that excuses many of his faults… such as his grumpiness and vulgar language. In the uncertain future in which these two evolve, genetic manipulation of cows has led to a very special civilisation on Callisto, and space mining operations could well endanger the entire Earth. Five short stories linked by the strange, which question the future of humanity.

Marc Weydert, Marie-Isabelle Callier, Zerknujelt Geschichten
Perspektiv Editions, April 2023, Children’s book, Luxembourgish

With Zerknujelt Geschichten Marc Weydert and Marie-Isabelle Callier, laureate of the Lëtzebuerger Buchpräis 2021, take the reader as they did already in Verdruddelt Geschichten, into the world of fairy tales, fables and other legends, in verse and with a healthy dose of humour, as well as some forgotten Luxembourgish expressions.

Jemp Schuster, Béischten
Kremart Edition, October 2023, Novel, Luxembourgish

Kromburg or Kromber is a village in the Ösling that is not particularly different from other villages. When the Germans occupied the village and the country in 1940, no one trusted anyone else. Felix Drenger is forcibly recruited in 1942. His young wife Anni is expecting his child. Milli never gets to know her father. Felix remains missing. After the war, when the village is being rebuilt, Leo, a 13-year-old boy, disappears and does not reappear either. Some villagers, however, seem to know more than they say.