Literature quickie
The Literatur Quickie is a publishing house founded in Hamburg in 2009 , which publishes quarterly short stories by well-known German-speaking authors in the form of booklits . The founders were the authors Lou A. Probsthayn and Gunter Gerlach . The publisher emerged from a series of readings of the same name.
Idea and story
The term literature quickies is based on a series of literature events that was launched on August 29, 2007 in Hamburg and invites Hamburg authors to a 17-minute short reading once a week. Initially, the events took place in the Hamburg bar “439”, then from September 8, 2010 in “Feldstern”, a trendy pub in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel, and since 2016 in the Tafelspitz, a restaurant in Winterhude. The weekly reading became a monthly one, at which five authors are presented. Today the Literature Quickie is the longest-running literary event in Hamburg with more than 275 dates. From the idea of the literature quickie, the music quickie emerged in November 2009, which also took place regularly in the "Feldstern" and in which local bands and artists only played three of their pieces per appearance.
From the series of events, the Literature Quickie Verlag emerged in 2009, which only publishes short stories. This is done in a format of 12 × 12 cm with approx. 20-44 pages per book and thus resembles both Carlsen's Pixie books and CD booklets in form and design, which led to the creation of the word Booklits . These are available both individually and by subscription. The concept is to capture new distribution channels for literature. For example, the literature quickies is distributed in cafes and coffee houses, gift and furniture stores and hotels. Since 2015, sales have also been made via an online kiosk. The book trade only plays a secondary role in sales. Despite its commercial orientation, the publisher is one of the independent independent publishers . The publisher's cultural policy goal is to build a bridge between old and new media and to bring literature closer to modern readers through the short form. In 2009 Gunter Gerlach decided on an exclusively cultural and artistic orientation of his work, whereby the management of the publishing house was transferred to Lou A. Probsthayn.
On the radio station Radio freeFM in 2011, as part of the program Friends Talk Tacheles, the feature “Radio Quickie” was broadcast three times, in which a short reading from various works from the literature Quickie inventory was broadcast.
Authors of the publisher
The published authors include names of modern classical music such as Gustav Meyrink , Franz Kafka , Klabund , Georg Heym , Kurt Tucholsky and Paul Ernst . Furthermore, literary newcomers such as Katrin Seddig, Sven Amtsberg , Alexander Rösler (known from the field of youth literature ), Lothar Quinkenstein , Ulrike Almut Sandig , Xochill A. Schütz (known as a slam poet) will be featured. Well-known contemporary German-speaking authors include names such as Safiye Can , Jasmin Ramadan , Monique Schwitter , Michael Weins , Juli Zeh , Stefan Beuse , Tanja Dückers , Maike Wetzel , Andreas Münzner , Ulrike Draesner , Torsten Schulz , Mirko Bonné , Nora Bossong , Rebecca Clare Sanger, Finn-Ole Heinrich , Martin Felder, Markus Orths , Gregor Sander and Friedrich Ani .