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Pushkin Press has signed two prize-winning novels by German writers.
Publisher Adam Freudenheim and editor Gesche Ipsen bought UK and Commonwealth rights in Sand by the late Wolfgang Herrndorf, and world English language rights in Saša Stanišić’s Before the Feast.
The Herrndorf deal was done with Markus Hoffman at Regal Literary on behalf of Rowohlt, with New York Review Books set to publish in North America. The book is a satirical thriller about secret agents fighting over nuclear secrets, against a backdrop of the 1972 Munich massacre. The book has sold more than 220,000 copies in Germany.
Herrndorf was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 2010, and took his own life in 2013 at the age of 48.
Before The Feast, translated by Anthea Bell, was signed from Random House Germany/Luchterhand. It is described as a "Joycean" tale about the inhabitants of a north-east German village preparing for their annual feast day.
Both books were winners of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize.
Ipsen said: "It’s rare to find two so brilliantly conceived virtuoso novels of ideas in such a relatively short space of time, and we’re sure that UK readers will agree that both Herrndorf and Stanišić deserve a prominent place on everyone’s bookshelf."
The novels are both planned for publication in 2016.