Konkursbuch Publishing

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We publish novels, art, photography and books "travelling between the cultures, between the languages, between the people, the sexual orientations, we had been "queer" since founding of the publishing house in 1978. Essays, poems, novels, short stories, photos, drawings ... Some of our books we publish bilingual (English-German (My Gay Eye), from some novels we published English translations, Chinese-German, Japanese-German (Some books by Yoko Tawada), Spanish-German (Literature on the Canary Islands) and one book in Greek-German: Jannis Ritsos).

We have series with literature from Japan (for example Mori Ogai and the famous contemporary writer Yoko Tawada. She writes in German and Japanese and has received many major literary awards, including the National Book Award, the Kleist Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize), from the Canary Islands (for example the most famous writer in Canary Islands, Rafael Arozarena, and Lucía Rosa González,  Sabas Martín, María Gutiérrez, Bosco González, Victor Alamo de la Rosa) and from Korea (Su-Kil An, Kim Young-ha, Cheon Woon Young, Kim Sagwa). Some of our books have been translated into many languages and published by publishers around the world. English language versions of two books by Karin Rick. 

The books "between the cultures" often cover emigration, coming into another culture, communication in different languages, where misunderstandings and mistakes allow new meanings. This includes the relation between pictures and language. Also is important in this books the relationship of different political systems, sometimes cruel systems, and the possibility or impossibility of bodily affairs ... This books treat of unknown worlds in foreign countries but at the same time the German reader finds relationships to himself, can see the own culture with a new view.

Novels and Shortstories. We have two novel series: a series "Love Life" and a series with thrillers - especially thrillers by the well-known author Regina Nössler, who has won several crime fiction awards, including the German Crime Fiction Award

And we have a poetry serie.

We also published two books in the "Love Life" series in English translation: Karin Rick, "Venuswave" and "Twists of Lust and Trust" (Chaos Girl).

• "My Lesbian Eye" is the annual of lesbian erotic art and literature ist published since 1998, until 2004 every 2 years, since 2005 every year.
• The yearbook "My Gay Eye" (Mein schwules Auge, bilingual English-German) is coming out since 2003 and the
• "multisexual erotic yearbook "My Secret Eye" (Mein heimliches Auge) since 1982 ...

The yearbooks contain graphics, paintings, photographs, short stories, essays, lyrics, information, conversations ... and give an overview about queer, lesbian and gay art and literature every year.

Like no other publication, "My Secret, Lesbian, Gay Eyes" show the variety and changes in every sector of queer art concerning eroticism year by year; eroticism is not "always the same", but it is reproduced creatively again and again.

So the dealing with the issue, with pictures and language is changing; small facets, which are reflected here - often before they emerge in the media. The cast of these volumes are of different ages, have different backgrounds, are famous or unknown.

Texts in the photobooks mostly English and German.

The language of eroticism in our series of erotic books is often presented by women and queer people. So we published photobooks by the photographers Anja Müller, Claude Alexandre, Claire Garoutte, Krista Beinstein, Rebecca Swan, or by the intersex-photographer Del LaGrace Volcano. 

Boooks which "let the women show themselves", like  in books by Thomas Karsten. 

And male nude photography: César Saldívar, Anja Müller: Männer, Rinaldo Hopf photography and artbooks

Since the founding of our publishing house in 1978 we publish books without restrictions concerning our range of topics. For example the annual "konkursbuch" has different themes which we try to approximate in all genres, this yearbooks contain graphics, paintings, photographs, science based texts, short stories, essays, lyrics, conversations.

The issues had have subjects like  "Hair", "Blood", "Writing", "Lifestyle and Politics". Last issues: "Anxiety" (konkursbuch 46), "Erotic Gaze" (konkursbuch 47) "Family and Family Ties" (konkursbuch 48), "Homeland" (konkursbuch 49), "Fortune and Felicity" (konkursbuch 50), "Outsider" (konkursbuch 51), "Love" (konkursbuch 52), "Money" (konkursbuch 53), "Lies" (konkursbuch 54), "About books" (Konkursbuch 55), "Death" (Living with mortality, Konkursbuch 56), "The unfamiliar (der, die , das Fremde)" (Konkursbuch 57), "Work" (Konkursbuch 58), "Freedom" (Konkursbuch 59), "Beauty" (Konkursbuch 60) and "Nature" (Konkursbuch 61, 2026)

The literary and photographic books contain fantasy and knowledge, dreams as well as everyday life, surrealism and erotic.

Press releases

“... the intuition and imagination of the authors of the latest anthology. They succeed in ... drawing out astonishing nuances from the concept of freedom” (Dorothee Hermann, Schwäbisches Tagblatt,on Konkursbuch 59, Freedom)

“What an anthology, what a great—and meaningful—pleasure... spanning working lives and the world of work...” (Strandgut, on Konkursbuch 58, “Work”)

“... This volume, which feels both compact and generous, is structured like a stroll that readers can tailor to their own tastes. Both its content and design exude a sense of intellectual freedom; the book is a celebration of life—embracing our shared mortality—a thoroughly entertaining, colorful, and wondrous collage.” (Alf Mayer, CulturMag, on Konkursbuch 56, Death) 

The yearbooks have been well received and thus accepted by the press and the audience. "It is the most progressive publication in german language about lesbian erotic and sexuality" (Siegessäule, Berlin). The ZEIT wrote of "Lust and Love". Lespress likes it as "best queer erotic magazine". The news-magazine "Der Spiegel" called it: "self-willed, irritating, intelligent".

Claudia Gehrke, the publisher, however, has attended to the issue of queer eroticism from the start on and is definitely going to devote herself to this subject in the future (and also to philosophy and poetry and novels and photography in separate publications) ...

Most books we design with little graphic surprises corresponding to the subject of the book and to the general principle of books: that you have to turn over pages. 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions e. g. about the shipping of our books to your home country, readings by Yoko Tawada or about book rights and licenses. We speak English fluently, also some Spanish, and will be delighted to answer you as soon as possible.