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Published on March 31, 2008

Thai authors could hit the international big time with stories about their home-grown forms of massage and boxing, about marital life here, about Buddhism - about many local ways - say the German authors who are attending the Bangkok International Book Fair.

Continuing its tradition of offering upcoming writers a chance to market their work, the fair is this year focusing on Germany. At least six German authors are in town to introduce their work, some of which is already available in Thai translations.

Drop by the German Pavilion to meet best-selling poet Silke Scheuermann and novelist Julia Franck, 2007 German Book Award winner Zoë Jenny (a Swiss) and children's-book author Ute Hänsler, along with rap poets Bas Böttcher and Timo Brunke, who've caused a literary sensation back home.

"We're here not just to do business but to promote German writing and to find good Thai books to be translated into German," says Hans-Michael Fenderl of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Fenderl has watched Thai interest in German literature swell, with as many as 50 copyrights purchased by local publishers last year. Four years earlier only 14 were bought.

Zoë Jenny's first novel, "Das Bltenstaubzimmer" ("The Pollen Room") from 1997, has become "Hong Kesorn" for Thai readers and been translated into 27 other languages, while garnering critical acclaim and extending into seven editions.

To go international, the German visitors say, Thai authors should explore more of the aesthetic side of their homeland. Thomas Minkus, vice president of the Frankfurt Book Fair, suggests they provide English translations of their works to attract the attention of foreign publishers.

"We Germans like to read books about Thai culture, Thai massage and spas, literature, new fiction," says Minkus.

The visiting authors would particularly like to see Thai books translated into German about Buddhism and spirituality, politics, Thai family life and the "freedom" for which the country is named and known.

"I want to read about what life is like in Bangkok, the Thai way of life, the politics and love stories," says Jenny, while Boettcher is interested in local views of Thai mysticism and metaphysics and Silke is intrigued by the family life here.

The Germans also advise Thai authors to keep on top of the technological changes sweeping the literary world. Digitisation, for example, says Minkus, will compel publishers to use different types of media to market their books.

The Bangkok International Book Fair continues until April 3 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

Manote Tripathi

The Nation