106. Germany’s literary magazine culture

Bella Triste normally comes in, um, magazine-form, but this time each piece got its own special format: poster, pack of cards, door hanger, various booklets, etc. Normally I’m suspicious of potentially gimmicky packaging that could overpower the content, but no worries, Bella Triste is consistently overpoweringly good, and the special edition fits it to a T.

Germany has a great literary magazine culture. Many magazines are subsidized, and therefore affordable, beautifully designed, and willing to take chances on risky writing. Many are unsubsidized, yet still affordable, beautifully designed, and willing to take chances on risky writing. That’s why I thought I’d start a series of posts profiling Germany’s hip, sexy, intellectual, and, yes, stylistically coherent literary magazines.

As you may have guessed, I’ll start with Bella Triste. Just as close to my heart is Edit, which will come next. Between these two alone, you’d have a pretty good survey of the writers your great-grandchildren will know as the creators of “early 21st-century German literature.” / Amanda Demarco, readux.net