Welcome at Droschl and thank you for your interest!
Droschl is in the German speaking world a well-known house for contemporary literature, publishing international authors like Lydia Davis, Oksana Sabuschko, Georgi Gospodinov or Julien Gracq as well as German writing authors like Iris Hanika, Ilma Rakusa, Thomas Stangl, Monique Schwitter, Friederike Gösweiner or Werner Schwab. The names speak for themselves, they stand for an attitude that does not consider literature as representation but as protest and comment from the fringe.
We want to address the reader’s curiosity, those who want to discover something, who focus on words, whose one great love is language, many languages, the innumerable manners of speech.
Toni & Toni by Max Oravin
Nominated for Deutscher Buchpreis 2024
Toni and Toni developed a dance performance some time ago and were on the verge of a big breakthrough – until an accident after the dress rehearsal on a euphoric night in a Viennese club changed everything. Since then, the two have been looking for their way back into life together.
»Max Oravin‘s debut novel proves that he is one of the most promising literary voices of the present day and sets a new standard for emotional and linguistic sophistication in modern literature.« (Zuckerkick)
»Highly recommended for readers who like to delve into poetic, profound texts away from the classic narrative forms.« (ins_lebenlesen)
»A masterpiece!« (Marco Lombardi)
Swallow Writing by Ilse Helbich
A life in Vienna – an impressive and poignant testimony.
»Is there a unique, significant event that turns a life’s path in a new direction?«
In her autobiographical, very personal debut novel, Ilse Helbich looks back on the first half of her life in particular: she was born into a Viennese industrialist family in 1923. In a patriarchal era, she grew up between the Roaring Twenties, the economic crisis and National Socialism.
Without glorification, the book tells of growing up, becoming herself and asserting herself, from a small child to a woman with a doctorate, of love, marriage and motherhood, tells of aberrations and the horrors of war, asks about justice and paths of faith.
»The book is a venture. A novel, a literary monologue. A soliloquy. An autobiography. A literary intervention on the open heart … A debut to be celebrated. A great text.« (Anja Knocke, Lesart)
Shimmering by Helwig Brunner
Helwig Brunner imagines what life on this planet could look like in the 25th century.
»I am thrilled by this atmospheric density.« (Wolfgang Popp)
What remains of life as we know it today? What of our values? And what will the retrospective view from the future of our current age look like? Shimmer proves to be a bundle of questions that fall back on us, our here and now, from a distant future.
It is the 25th century. Climate crisis, species extinction and nuclear disasters have turned the earth into an inhospitable planet that is difficult to live on. Heat and drought are shimmering on and above the world, glaciers are melting, the water is evaporating. Leonard, a researcher into the past, lives in a human area and works on behalf of a powerful authority to describe former sources of hope and devastating failures in human history. He looks at the dark heart of the 20th and 21st centuries and at the same time remembers the love of his life, Lea.
The Compromises by Florian Dietmaier
Awarded with Peter-Rosegger-Preis as outstanding debut
Shortlist Literaturpreis Fulda
A whole life in stages – how can you reconcile major diplomatic world politics, including new, burgeoning or never-ending crises, with family and private life?
Peter, born in 1929, lives a classic diplomat’s life: he has to change his place of residence regularly, travel the world and negotiate solutions in various political offices, pull strings in the background, be tactful in the foreground and reconcile family and career. In short, he has to make many compromises.
In his debut novel, Florian Dietmaier traces in stages a tireless life of diplomacy and family with all its ups and downs, in which not all needs were met. Meticulously researched, The Compromises sheds light on lesser-known episodes in world history between 1960 and 2020, focusing on small and micro-states, showing their importance in the hustle and bustle of the big political stage and the changing times.
»In his very first book, Dietmaier masterfully solves one of the most difficult tasks known to fiction, the connection between the private and the global political level.« (from the jury statement Peter-Rosegger-Preis)