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ABOUT

Our com­pe­tent and ver­sa­ti­le team is dedi­ca­ted to lite­ra­tu­re. We look after our aut­hors, their books, their rights and finan­cial inte­rests with expe­ri­ence, pas­si­on and gre­at dedi­ca­ti­on. We are well estab­lished and con­nec­ted in the indu­stry, attend the most important book fairs and main­tain a lar­ge net­work with Ger­man-spea­king and inter­na­tio­nal publishers, edi­tors and spe­cia­li­zed co-agents. Our ser­vice focu­ses on the fol­lo­wing areas:

  • We dis­co­ver, advi­se and sup­port Ger­man-spea­king aut­hors com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly, from the first idea and the manu­script onwards. In fic­tion, we stand for litera­ry voices, but also for well-made com­mer­cial fic­tion and sus­pen­se. In non-fic­tion, we look for that spe­cial nar­ra­ti­ve non-fic­tion or for aut­hors who enga­ge in deba­te, who exp­lain us the world in a sound and vivid way.

  • We are loo­king after several lar­ge and important litera­ry estates, kee­ping them ali­ve with fore­sight and a sen­se of tra­di­ti­on. The­se inclu­de clas­sics such as Anne Frank, Nor­bert Eli­as and Erich Fromm, as well as Nobel Pri­ze lau­rea­te for Lite­ra­tu­re, Eli­as Canet­ti just to name a few.

  • For for­eign publishers and agen­ci­es, espe­cial­ly from Anglo-Ame­ri­can coun­tries, we are a pro­fes­sio­nal part­ner for the Ger­man lan­guage ter­ri­to­ry, with a lar­ge back­list and the expe­ri­ence that comes with it.

  • Last but not least, we repre­sent a fine list of estab­lished and renow­ned inter­na­tio­nal aut­hors from dif­fe­rent lan­guage ter­ri­to­ries with their trans­la­ti­on rights world­wi­de. We work tog­e­ther with local co-agents in most ter­ri­to­ries and direct­ly in selec­ted few.

Agen­cy history

The Liep­man Litera­ry Agen­cy was foun­ded in 1949 by Dr Ruth Liep­man-Lili­en­stein (1909–2001) and Heinz Liep­man (1905–1966), in Ham­burg. Both had spent the war years in exi­le. Ruth Lili­en­stein had gone into hiding in Hol­land, Heinz Liep­man had emi­gra­ted to the USA, whe­re he worked as a wri­ter and jour­na­list and estab­lished important con­ta­cts with US publishers and aut­hors. He later brought Nor­man Mai­ler with The Naked and the Dead, James Jones with From Here to Eter­ni­ty, F. Scott Fitz­ge­rald and Richard Wright, among others, to the agency.

While Heinz Liep­man retur­ned to wri­ting exclu­si­ve­ly, lawy­er Ruth Liep­man ran the agen­cy by herself brin­ging other big names to Ger­ma­ny, inclu­ding Arthur Mil­ler, J.D. Salin­ger, Vla­di­mir Nabo­kov, James Bald­win and Arthur Hailey.

The agen­cy has been based in Zurich sin­ce 1961 and is well estab­lished in the indu­stry. From 1981, long-time employees Eva Koral­nik and Ruth Wei­bel ran the agen­cy until it ente­red its third genera­ti­on in 2013, with Marc Koral­nik as the new owner.

Ruth Liepman’s beau­ti­ful memoir May­be Luck Isn’t Just Chan­ce tells you more about the agency’s histo­ry and the very event­ful life of this gran­de dame of litera­ry agen­ting, span­ning almost an enti­re century.

Ruth Liepman, Ruth Weibel und Eva Koralnik, Zürich 1982
Ruth Liep­man, Ruth Wei­bel and Eva Koral­nik, Zurich 1982

CLIENTS

SERVICE

Sub­mis­si­ons

We appre­cia­te your inte­rest in our agen­cy. Plea­se note that we only repre­sent inter­na­tio­nal aut­hors alrea­dy published in their ori­gi­nal lan­guage. We only accept manu­scripts by Ger­man-lan­guage authors.

Suzan­ne de Roche
suzanne.deroche@liepmanagency.com

Per­mis­si­ons

A per­mis­si­on let­ter is requi­red to repro­du­ce copy­right pro­tec­ted mate­ri­al. To sub­mit a per­mis­si­on requ­est plea­se send us an e‑mail with the fol­lo­wing information:

  • text pas­sa­ges (inclu­ding aut­hor, tit­le, year of publi­ca­ti­on and page count)
  • tit­le of your publi­ca­ti­on, print run, sales price

We char­ge a mini­mum per­mis­si­on fee of EUR 150.– plus sta­tu­to­ry VAT. Plea­se note that the hand­ling time can take up to four weeks.

The­re­sa Lang
theresa.lang@liepmanagency.com

Inter­na­tio­nal rights catalogue

Inter­na­tio­nal
Rights
Fall 2023

Inter­na­tio­nal Co-Agents

Chi­na & Taiwan

The Gray­hawk Agency

Czech and Slo­vak Republics

Kri­stin Olson Litera­ry Agency

Greece

JLM Litera­ry Agency

Hun­ga­ry

Bal­la – Szto­j­kov Litera­ry Agency

Isra­el

The Debo­rah Har­ris Agency

Ita­ly

Susan­na Zevi Agen­zia Letteraria

Japan

Tut­tle-Mori Agency

CONTACT

Liep­man AG
Asyl­stras­se 92
8032 Zurich
Switzerland

+41 (0)43 268 23 80
info@liepmanagency.com

Marc Koral­nik

Owner & Agent
marc.koralnik@liepmanagency.com

Han­nah Nuspliger-Fosh

Agent
hannah.nuspliger-fosh@liepmanagency.com

Leo­nie Kress

Agent
leonie.kress@liepmanagency.com

Suzan­ne de Roche

Asso­cia­te Agent
suzanne.deroche@liepmanagency.com

The­re­sa Lang

Con­tracts & Administration
theresa.lang@liepmanagency.com

Susan­ne Schettler

Con­tracts & Administration
susanne.schettler@liepmanagency.com

Pri­va­cy Poli­cy