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New: 'Brother Mendel's Perfect Horse' - out on September 23
The tragedies of the 20th century told through the story of a horse - the lipizzan. In 'Brother Mendel's Perfect Horse' (Dier, bovendier), a leading role is reserved for a legendary Lippizaner stallion that played in feature films and Shakespeare productions.
“When you touch a Lippizaner,” Frank Westerman was told as a child, “you are touching history.”
Now, as writer-narrator, he explores the history of this unique creature. Following the pure bloodlines of the studbook he reconstructs the story of four generations of “imperial steeds” as they survive the fall of the Habsburg Empire, two world wars and the insane breeding experiments under Hitler, Stalin and Ceausescu.
What begins as a fairy tale ends up as a chronicle of the quest for racial purity. The reader is carried across Europe, from imperial stables and stud farms to the controversial gene labs of our day. If animal breeders are so good at genetic engineering, why do attempts to perfect the human strain always end in tragedy?
'Brother Mendel's Perfect Horse' is a modern fable in which the pureblood horse ineluctably points out man’s own shortcomings.
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Rights of 'Engineers of the Soul' sold to 11 countries
'Westerman is a very fine writer and his stories, characters and digressions are as delicately wrought as a watch mechanism. He reminds me of Bruce Chatwin and Ryszard Kapuscinski. Like them, he has elevated the authorial journalist-traveller into a brilliant, magic storyteller - The Sunday Times 'A terrific read - vivid, well-researched' - The Irish Times Rights sold:
Harvill/Secker (UK, 2010), Overlook Press (US, in prep.) Ch. Links (Germany, 2003) and Berlin Taschenbuch Verlag (Germany, 2005), Christian Bourgois (France, 2004), Siruela (Spain, 2005), Debolsillo (Spain, 2009), Feltrinelli (Italy, 2006) Sinisukk (Estonia, 2006), Iskry (Poland, 2007), Durieux (Croatia, 2007), Nya Doxa (Sweden, 2008) and Studentska Zalozba (Slovenia, in prep).Engineers of the Soul was shortlisted for both the AKO Prize and the Golden Owl (Dutch and Belgian 'equivalents' of the Man Booker Prize) and was awarded the Dr. Wijnaendts Francken and the J. Greshoff Prize.
Praise for 'Engineers of the Soul':
'A dramaturgic masterpiece' - Frankfurter Rundschau
'In the style of Bruce Chatwin, [Westerman] writes an account of an eye-opening journey' - Liberation
'My favorite book in my own publishing house? Ingenieure der Seele' - publisher Christoph Links, in Buchmarkt
'The best book about Russia that I've read in years' - Wladimir Kaminer, review in TAZ
'It is cultural history, political history, history of mentality, a travel journal and ‘the making of’ all in one…surprising and original, and how meticulously researched and well written it is! The man deserves a prize and a lifelong research grant.' - de Volkskrant
'Westerman offers us one of the most lucid dissections of the stalinist System [...] Engineers of the Soul is an insurpassable example of this work of clarification.' - El País
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Ararat in Poland nominated for Kapuscinski-price 2010
The Polish edition of 'Ararat' is nominated for the new Kapuscinski-price for Literary Reportage 2010, sponsored by the Gazeta Wyborcza.
American-born Sam Garrett (1956) has been awarded the Vondel Translation Prize 2009 for his translation of Frank Westermans 'Ararat', published by Harvill Secker.
Earlier, this English edition of 'Ararat' was shortlisted for the Boardman Taskerprize 2008: 'Wholly engaging, thought-provoking...the mountain as metaphor sits subtly behind the explorations in this book. Shortlisted because it asks us to think deeply with its author' - jury of Boardman Taskerprize for mountain literature.
'If any book, so far this year, justifies the value of translation... it is Westerman's [Ararat]' - The Times
'A short book of stupendous richness ... written with enough knowledge, craft and competence to keep the drowsiest of readers wide awake from first to last' - Alexander Waugh, The Spectator
'As illuminating as the skyline of the mountain itself' - Cambio 16.
'a sciencethriller... Westerman is a genius - a real discovery for both laymen and insiders' - Deutschlandradio Kultur
'...more fascinating than many highly praised novels' - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
'[There is a] poetic, novelistic logic behind the author's search... It is Westerman's calm intelligence and freshness of perspective that makes his book so appealing.' - The Sunday Times
'thought-provoking and beautifully written/the book is much more than a travelogue. Westerman has achieved his aim - to climb the mountain - and has found an answer of sorts of how science and religion can coexist.'' - Adam LeBor in The Literary Review.Ararat was short-listed for the prestigious AKO-literature prize 2007, the Bob den Uyl-price for travel literature and for the Eureka-prize for best popular science book. Please contact rights manager Marijke Nagtegaal for more info. See also the: NLPVF Rights sold: Harvill Secker (English) Siruela/Debolsillo (Spanish) Fondo de Cultura Económica (Spanish, Latin-American), Bourgois Editeurs (French), Ch. Links Verlag (German), Iperborea (Italian), Iskry (Polish), Durieux (Croatian) Turbine (Danish) Alpha & Omega (Armenian).
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Japanese edition of 'El Negro'
In August 2010 the Japanese translation of 'El Negro and I' was published by Otsuki Shoten, Toyko.
Rights sold: English (Harvill Secker, in prep), German (Links Verlag), French (Bourgois), Czech (Pistorius), Catalan (Viena), Spanish (Océano) Italian (Iperborea) and Japanese (Otsuki Shoten, 2010)
'Gripping. Unusually readable. A book that introduces you competently into important themes.' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
'Striking in its capacity of transmitting the taste of reality in a strong and original language.' Le matricule des anges.
'Really thrilling...Frank Westerman supplies effective ammunition against certainties.' Süddeutsche Zeitung.
'El Negro en ik' was awarded the Golden Owl-prize for Literature 2005, was shortlisted for both the Bob den Uyl-award for travel literature and the AKO-prize for Literature 2005.
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The Republic of Grain (new edition) in German translation
In September 2009 Ch. Links Verlag from Berlin has published the German translation of the new and extended edition of Frank Westerman's bestselling title The Republic of Grain (over 80.000 copies sold).
'Is it ages since you read a good book? Well, open The Republic of Grain. Passion and rage, doom and misery, power and powerlessness will be your lot. Westerman has written a masterpiece. On the human, sociological, historical level... magnificent.' - De Morgen.The Republic of Grain has been awarded the Lou de Jong-prize. Please contact rights manager Marijke Nagtegaal for a sample translation. More English info at: NLPVF
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