Literary Month becomes an independent magazine

With the publication of its tenth issue, the supplement to Schweizer Monat magazine has become a literary magazine in its own right and will also be available as a separate subscription from March, the publisher writes in a statement. The small magazine for great literature, which Schweizer Monat subscribers will continue to receive, is published five times a year and focuses on contemporary Swiss literature. Writer Peter Stamm already spoke a year and a half ago of a "magazine that was missing in Switzerland," and in 2012 the number of reader requests regarding a separate subscription to the magazine increased. "Contemporary Swiss literature needs more space in the Helvetic magazine landscape," believes the young editorial team around culture editor Michael Wiederstein. The permanent authors of the Literary Month magazine are of the same opinion. Among them are the writers Nora Gomringer, Michael Stauffer, Francesco Micieli and David Signer.

In the current issue on the topic of "How(so) we became writers," Adolf Muschg, Thomas Meyer, Hildegard Elisabeth Keller, Anne Brécart and Vea Kaiser write exclusively. Literarischer Monat not only deals with the established greats of the business, but also aims to provide an exclusive forum for up-and-coming literary talent.

Young talent platform Treibhaus to find talent

In cooperation with the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia and the German watch manufacturer Nomos Glashütte, SMH Verlag is therefore launching the young literary talent competition Treibhaus under the patronage of Hildegard Elisabeth Keller (SRF Literaturclub, juror of the Bachmann Prize Klagenfurt). The aim of the publisher's financial and intellectual investment is to discover literary talent at an early stage: Young writers are asked to submit their prose texts, which are then evaluated by a professional jury - after which the authors are invited to public readings in Zurich and Bern, where the winner or winners are chosen. The winning text will be published in the magazine Literarischer Monat and the main prize will be a watch from Nomos Glashütte. The writers will also receive personal support and information about further publication opportunities. Patron Hildegard Keller hopes that this will lead to "more openness and a willingness to take risks, a willingness to play and be serious in one," as she says in an interview in the March issue of the magazine.