On the Digital Future of Our Literature
13 December 2013
In 2013, the website Fiktion has been launched. “Fiktion has been set up by German- and English-language writers as a model for using the opportunities afforded by the digital to raise the profile of challenging literature and improve its means of distribution. The project operates on several levels:
– The digital publication of German- and English-language literature that does not fit the current criteria of the market. Fiktion experimentally rejects the economic necessities of the publishing business; all titles are distributed free of charge.
– The integration of German-language literature in international discourse. Fiktion will publish all titles simultaneously in German and English, and they will be presented and promoted internationally.
– The creation of an international network of writers. An advisory board of writers is seeking out manuscripts for Fiktion and will also support them after publication. Fiktion brings together writers and publishing projects run by writers.
– The advancement of the debate about copyright law. Together with the Internet Law Clinic at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Fiktion engages with the questions of copyright law resulting from digital publication. In March 2014, it will stage a conference on literature in the digital age at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.
– The development of a new reading format that encourages concentration, which will be optimized through experiments by the Insitute for Book Studies at Gutenberg University in Mainz. The new format will be made available open-source.
< back to overview
