Germany is a net importer of literature. Nearly one in seven new publications on the German book market is by a foreign author, while only approximately half as many licences are issued for the publication of German titles abroad each year. The imbalance is most pronounced in the field of fiction. While some 2,000 works of fiction from English-speaking countries are translated into German each year, just 40 titles are translated from German into English.

Nevertheless, there has been a noticeable upward trend, which on the one hand can be traced to current trends in contemporary German literature, but on the other to the sustained promotional efforts of various institutions such as: the Goethe-Institut, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the Literary Colloquium Berlin.

Litrix.de is a project initiated by the Federal Cultural Foundation to boost this positive development. Litrix.de took up its work in Munich in July 2003 with the support of the Goethe-Institut and in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair.

In the course of talks with representatives of the publishing trade and various funding and intermediary organisations, the following problem areas have emerged as being of major importance for the project’s work:

• It remains the case that original works in German can often only be read abroad by a relatively small number of people having professional expertise in the language, and there is accordingly a considerable need for high-quality sample translations — at the very least into English, but if possible also into other languages (especially our key-focus languages).



• Readers abroad are often unable to ascertain the breadth and diversity of the German literary scene, particularly on account of language barriers. It is often difficult, too, to keep track of the wealth of available additional and background information. Specialists abroad are to be given easier access to the diversity of the German book market and literary scene by the provision of a selection of annual highlights and a digest of information of relevance to the publishing sector.



• Due to the increasingly short-lived nature of the global book market, the length of time that new titles remain on the market is also becoming ever shorter. Books that have been available on the home market for a number of years are rarely translated into other languages. Presenting a selection of recent publications on the Internet soon after publication thus plays a major role in facilitating international literary exchange.