A new publishing company has come on to the scene in Luxembourg, in Black Fountain, a 100% Luxembourgish publisher that will focus exclusively on English-language publications and translations.
The creation of Jeff Thill and Anne-Marie Reuter, with Laurent Fels and Nathalie Jacoby as collaborators and valued advisors, the press is the result of its founders’ passion for the English language, and their surprise that this need is not being met yet.
This became especially pertinent to both Jeff and Anne-Marie when Jeff was seeking to publish his own English language book The Last Battle of Jean de Beck. Unable to find a publisher and editor in Luxembourg, he hit on the idea of creating one himself.
“Like all good ideas, this one originated when we were in the pub,” said Anne-Marie on Tuesday evening during a launch party for the press at the Casino Luxembourg.
The friends were at first reluctant to take up the idea, not thinking it could work, but passions prevailed. It has taken them less than a year to get it up and running, navigating a steep learning curve and their first book will be launched in May.
Anne-Marie Reuter announced to the assembled group that in fact the first book will be her collection of short stories, On The Edge. This was the one on which the team has cut their teeth, learning much along the way.
“I’ve been putting away these stories for years,” said Anne-Marie, who was thinking about taking it to another press, but when Black Fountain started taking shape, she knew that this was for them.
“I wanted to save it for them,” she said. “And also, it provided us with an opportunity to learn. I was the guinea pig, if you like, and it was good to go through this process without outside pressure. We had a lot to learn.”
The collaborators — who are operating as a non-profit for now — say that they don’t want to take away from the established industry in Luxembourg, but to act side-by-side with them, for the benefit of Luxembourg literature overall. They are all still working as volunteers for Black Fountain, which means that they hope they should be able to publish, or translate, three books per year for the time being.
“Writers of all nationalities who are in one way or another connected to Luxembourg will find us interested in their work. We wish to open doors to those novelists, poets, short- story writers and playwrights who, so far, have not been able to reach Luxembourg’s multicultural readership,” said Anne-Marie.
“We also want to help Luxembourg’s established authors make their way across the border and widen their audience by publishing English translations of their work. Our ambitious hope is to put Luxembourg on a different map – not the global economic or political one – but the cultural and literary map of the English-speaking world,” added Jeff.
Image: Anne-Marie Reuter (centre-front), and Jeff Thill (left-front) address supporters at the launch of Black Fountain on Tuesday. © Miikka Heinonen
