Kopf & Kragen
Our program focuses on sophisticated, daring and progressive prose: novels, stories and miniatures. We also publish pamphlets, limited art prints, handmade one-of-a-kind books and anything that needs to be published because we think it is necessary.
We love madness. The unsaid. The beautiful. We are optimists. Awake utopians. Radical humanists. We believe in the ability of literature and art to transform the world and want to revive visionary thinking with our books and art. A presumptuous thought? Oh yeah!
Our artistically designed and print-enhanced hardcover editions are aimed at all bibliophilic readers and those who want to experience our books both visually and tactilely. Our deliberately minimalist softcover books adhere to the design principle of "form follows function." For those who prefer digital formats, our books are also available as e-books.
In a world (and this includes the book industry) that constantly demands the new and the ever-more, we pursue the concept of "slow publishing." This approach is not only more sustainable and appreciative but also more reasonable and healthier for us.
We believe that books deserve a longer lifespan and we do not wish to burn ourselves or our books in the ceaseless machine called the book market, in the eternal cycle of production and promotion. Spring. Fall. Spring. Fall. Until the end of days. Therefore, we will only publish new books, prints, etc., when the time is right. We adhere to our idea: quality over quantity. And perhaps one day we will achieve both simultaneously in a balanced manner.
We have a literary, artistic, and social commitment. Hence, we aim to regularly publish books with 50% of the proceeds donated to movements, initiatives, or artists dedicated to a more just world. We will introduce the selected projects on our blog.
Profit maximization is neither an incentive nor a goal of Kopf & Kragen Publishing. What is far more important to us is spreading ideas and visions, promoting authors, and sparking discussions with our books.
In this spirit: literature & art, critique & visions.
Warm regards
Kopf & Kragen
Multimedia anthology, softcover, 192 pages, format 12 x 19 cm, 20 €, ISBN 978-3-949729-13-3, autumn 2024
Berlin. 2039. The hyper-modern subway “U0” circles the city in an endless loop. Turbulent years are behind us. Things happened that we only dared to dream of, things that shook everything and things that we should have prevented.
We want to take a look into the future. Where will this city, this country and this continent develop? What will we look back on in 2039, what will surround us and what will lie ahead? 20 writers and artists give an answer.
WRACKMENTE, novella, paperback, 92 pages, 12 x 19 cm, 16 €, ISBN 978-3-949729-15-7, autumn 2024
Venice is flooded, Europe’s borders are closed, and tourists are being lowered from helicopters. The fate of the sinking city becomes the fate of its inhabitants, for those who live there are outside—stateless.
WRACKMENTE tells the story of Marlène, Leandro, Dirk, and Helen, prisoners in a city that sinks deeper into the water each day.
“When the flood came, after the dikes broke, people fell apart. Since then, they drift like shipwrecked souls, scattered fragments that no longer form a whole.”
What remains when the worst fears come true and the world around us blurs? What remains when the ground beneath our feet turns to liquid, when everything sinks into the sea? And is there still hope for salvation?
In a world without community and communication, new forms of storytelling are needed—ones that break with the existing order, for the existing order is sinking before our eyes. Atlantis is here and now. In Europe and everywhere.
FRAU DES HIMMELS UND DER STÜRME, novel, hardcover with bookmark ribbon, 256 pages, format 12.5 x 20.5 cm, 24 €, ISBN 978-3-949729-10-2
The novel FRAU DES HIMMELS UND DER STÜRME, translated from French by Brigitte Große, is a resonant text of urgent relevance. It explores the harmony between humans and nature, the connection between peoples, and the exchange between the visible and invisible worlds.
Wilfried N’Sondé has written a highly suspenseful and multifaceted environmental thriller, which is also a modern fairy tale of urgent relevance.
A unique piece. An art object. An almost 5 meter long monotype in the form of a fanfold. 100% handmade.
Black and white, positive and negative space, movement and structure, order and chaos, intention and coincidence, macro and micro - Christian Weber creates image and thought spaces that invite the free association of almost infinite realities. In doing so, METAMORPHOSIS breaks with traditional western viewing habits.
While Christian Weber cut up his monotypes and arranged the excerpts in panels for his book NŌTAN - Monotype Manga, METAMORPHOSIS is a hand-printed scroll picture in the form of a fanfold. What the two works have in common is the representation of a visual narrative. However, this occurs in formally and conceptually different ways. In METAMORPHOSIS, Weber moves away from the structure of panels towards a continuous timeline.
METAMORPHOSIS is based on the centuries-old printing technique of monotype. Christian Weber expands this process by using brushes, sponges and spatulas. His woodcut-like prints are hypnotic, philosophical and monumental.
Under the title GARDEN OF YELLOW, artist Susanne Bonowicz shows urban experiences and memories that have been transferred to paper in a neon-colored composition of architectural shapes and lines. Susanne Bonowicz dedicates herself to the tension between culture and nature.
For her screen print GARDEN OF YELLOW, the artist painted the print templates for the respective colors with acrylic on foil. These were exposed and transferred to the paper layer by layer. The result is a three-color art print that faithfully reproduces the Berlin artist's painterly structures and brushstrokes.