Printed Matters - Slow Travel Berlin and Readux Books
/On the 28th November we are hosting Printed Matters #1 - a celebration of Berlin’s indie publishing scene that we are very proud to be a part of. We are also very much aware than many of our readers are not in Berlin, and so we want to use the opportunity to present some of our friends here on the website. Today we bring you two projects that are very close to our heart:
What is Slow Travel Berlin? First of all it is a website, filled with incredibly informative content that over the last five years has become the indispensable resource dedicated to a deeper and more intelligent exploration of the city, not only for the inquisitive visitor to the city but for locals alike. Second it provides a guide to what’s on in the city, and guides to different corners of Berlin via a series of walks, tours and workshops. And third it is a publisher, producing a number of books and other print projects including 100 Favourite Places, Mauerweg: Stories from the Berlin Wall, and recently Stories From The City, an anthology from the first five years of Slow Travel Berlin
Elsewhere and Slow Travel Berlin are strongly linked. Marcel, Paul and Julia have all contributed to various parts of the project, from articles for the website, work on the books, and leading tours through the streets of the city. So there was no question that we would approach Paul Sullivan, the founder and guiding light of Slow Travel Berlin for Printed Matters #1, and we are really looking forward to seeing him and many other members of the Slow Travel community on the 28th November.
There were many inspirations when it came to launching Elsewhere: A Journal of Place, and Amanda DeMarco was certainly one of them. With energy and commitment, as well as good taste, Amanda founded and runs Readux Books, a publisher of short works of (mostly) translated literature. These tiny books fit in your pocket, cost the same as a beer and are better for you. Published in sets of four, the first set was released in October 2013 and recently the sixth series was released. Titled ‘Weird Sex’, the four books explore the essential strangeness of sex and offer their seductive genre of literary pleasure.
Over the course of six series Readux have also published a number of titles related to the city of Berlin, including David Wagner’s Berlin Triptych, Arthur Eloesser’s Cities and City People: Berlin, 1919, Annett Gröschner’s City Spaces, and The Idea of a River, by Elsewhere editor Paul Scraton. At Printed Matters #1 Paul will speak with Amanda about the project and another Berlin book published by Readux, In Berlin by Franz Hessel. Amanda translated the Hessel book herself, and after the conversation will share with us a reading from the work.
