First things first: Don’t miss the book premiere of Berlin Babel on 8 September at Ballhaus Berlin.
V&Q Books publishes remarkable writing from Germany, in English. Spanning lesser-known gems andsmash-hit novels, what the books have in common is beautiful writing and a sense of place. Take a road trip with Lucy Fricke’s Daughters or a train ride with Ivana Sajko’s Every Time We Say Goodbye. Discover Selim Özdoğan’s Anatolian Blues trilogy. Solve a mystery with Sally McGrane’s Odesa at Dawn, or introduce English-speaking friends to Mithu Sanyal’s groundbreaking Identitti.
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Behind all that: Katy Derbyshire, translator herself and book publisher at Voland & Quist. She translates contemporary German writers including Judith Hermann, Clemens Meyer and Olga Grjasnowa and occasionally teaches literary translation. Katy co-hosts a monthly translation lab in Berlin and the Dead Ladies Show live format and podcast.
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»I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved at V&Q«, Katy says, «seventeen amazing books that would never have existed in English without us. We’ve showcased a different view of Germany’s literary life and really made a mark. I’m excited to see how readers react to the anthology, the very first of its kind.«
Autumn 2026 sees the last title from V&Q Books, rounding off the series with an explosive international short-story anthology. Berlin Babel features big-name German writers like Ulrike Draesner, David Wagner and Lin Hierse lonside contributors newer to the city, such as Meral Şimşek from Turkey, Leon Craig from the UK and Odai Al Zoubi from Syria. A city like this is prime literary material. There have been several excellent anthologies of contemporary Berlin writing so far this century; I even co-edited one myself. But they generally focus on either German or Anglophone writers, overlooking a whole swathe of other perspectives. That’s why we put out a call to Berlin-based writers from all over the world, and to translators with an ear to the ground. Imagine the delight of reading through all the stories we received, in fourteen languages — with a little help from our friends. And imagine the dilemma of picking only a dozen (and then adding two more because they were so good).
Besides excellent writing, what I focused on was a strong sense of place, looking beyond the clichés to find some sort of essence of being in the city post-Covid. But of course there is no one Berlin experience. I’m interested in how different people see the city — on arrival, while getting used to the place or once they’ve been here for decades, immune to the raw excitement of the new. And I’m fascinated by what the city tells us about ourselves.
Celebrate this last big bang Berlin Babel book with us on 8 September 2026 at Ballhaus Berlin!