Roberto Keller
A lifelong student

Located in the border region of Trentino-Alto Adige, the independent Italian publishing house Keller Editore has a soft spot for languages beyond its national borders. He is also very active in the promotion of German-language literature, publishing works by Saša Stanišić and most recently Shelly Kupferberg’s “Isidor”. The Goethe-Institut’s translation funding, in particular the Litrix programme with its current focus on Italy, provides important support. In this interview, publisher Roberto Keller tells us how the publishing house benefits from this and gives us an insight into his work as a publisher and the interests of his Italian readership.

What motivates you to integrate German-language literature so actively into your publishing programme?

Keller: I believe that this is mainly due to the identity of the publishing house which wanted to deal positively with the subject of borders from the outset. And the closest or most familiar border for those who live in Trentino-Alto Adige is, of course, the German-speaking world. But there are also many other reasons.

First of all, I would like to draw attention to European literature. There are now many authors in the German-speaking world who come from countries in the Balkans or Russia and write in German, bringing the world they come from with them. And then the German language has branches that often lead us to Eastern Europe, for example to Romania (Herta Müller) or to the world of Prague literature. Not to mention authors who go east with their stories and uncover the deep connections of this continent: Martin Pollack, Karl-Markus Gauß...

What role does the Goethe-Institut’s translation funding programme play in this?

Keller: I think that the Italian book market has extremely positive aspects, such as the dynamism of independent publishing houses. But it is also a smaller market than the German market and is strongly orientated towards Anglo-American literature. Translation funding is very useful, both from an economic point of view and because it makes it possible to work on important books that are primarily of high quality but do not appeal to a broad reading public.

What else does the translation grant enable your publishing house to do apart from translating books?

Keller: Thanks to the support with translation costs, we have more resources for promoting the books. During these years, the Goethe-Institut was also very active in promoting German literature and worked with the major festivals and the most important book fairs in Italy, such as the Salone del Libro in Turin and Più libri più liberi in Rome.

Which topics or styles of German-language literature are of particular interest to your readers?

Keller: First of all, novels that are able to tell important stories with a certain intelligence and a mixture of depth and lightness: I’m thinking of “Emmas Glück” (“Emma’s Happiness”) by Claudia Schreiber, “Was man von hier aus sehen kann” ( “What You Can See from Here”) by Mariana Leky or the books by Alina Bronsky. Then there is the major topic of the former GDR. In addition, the literature of authors who write in German but come from other countries and therefore other cultures, such as Saša Stanišić. Finally, there are also books that explore the history of Central Europe with its bright and dark sides.

You have just published Shelly Kupferberg’s “Isidor”, a book about Jewish life in Vienna during the National Socialist era. How popular are stories like this?

Keller: The topic of Central Europe has a very attentive audience in Italy. The audience is not very large but it is knowledgeable and curious. The German-speaking countries also arouse great interest because the 20th century was a time that sometimes separated and sometimes united the Italian and German worlds.

Some regions in north-east Italy also have a cultural familiarity with Central European literature and history, as they were actually part of the Habsburg Empire. Furthermore, this past confronts us with the major topics of 20th century history. However, I think that apart from the story itself, the value of a book like “Isidor” lies in its quality, its strength and the fact that it is very well written (and translated).

How do you decide which German-language work is suitable for translation by your publishing house?

Keller: I’ve always thought that as an independent publisher, it’s worth publishing works that you would like to read yourself. Works that I would like to find in a bookshop. The hope is that my curiosity will match that of the readers. Over time, you understand better what you can and cannot suggest.

To what extent does your publishing house benefit from translations from other languages and countries?

Keller: Keller Verlag was founded as a publishing house specialising exclusively in translations. The motivation for this was its location in a border region, Trentino-South Tyrol. I was and am interested in capturing the positive aspect of the border: being a permeable region, a place of transition, of knowledge, of encounters. With books, this means discovering, translating and learning.

I always say that a publisher feels like a lifelong student. I believe that translations are generally a good thing: they confront us with new worlds, different voices, little-known scenarios, question things we take for granted, and at the same time – as I have discovered over the years – they allow us to discover and connect with passionate readers from certain literary fields and regions of the world.

Can you tell us about a particularly enjoyable experience in your work as a publisher?

Keller: When Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Keller Verlag had the Italian edition of “Herztier” in its catalogue. Owing to the price and the fact that the novel was published by a very small publisher at the time (2009), many readers and bookshops ordered the book. We were forced to print many thousands of copies. Back then, we still applied the stickers with the picture on the book cover by hand. When I saw the many pallets of books that needed to be labelled, I was scared. But everything went smoothly because many people from Rovereto – the town of the publishing house – spontaneously came to help us. The information was passed around word of mouth. I also remember a small company closing down and sending their employees to help us put the stickers on the book covers.