Literature New book publisher focuses on "texts by children of their time"
Zeitkind is the name of a literary publishing house that has just been founded in Zurich. A conversation with publisher Gabriela Merz about risks in the publishing business, personal preferences and the German language, which runs like a red thread through her life.
01.09.2025, 11:29
SDA
Privately, in other words for pleasure's sake, she reads almost nothing at the moment, but she does read manuscripts that arrive: Gabriela Merz founded the publishing house Zeitkind in 2024 and is now presenting its first program. This includes two novels that are now being published: "Der Geruch von Lehm" by Franziska Meister and "Von denen, die jagen" by Islème Sassi. The collection of texts "41515 Wörter/слов" by Vera Martynov will follow in January.
Zeitkind plans to publish four to eight books a year, Swiss and European literature with a socio-political focus. The books should be characterized by a "joyful examination of current affairs".
Gabriela Merz has a clear idea of exactly what this means. Born in Zurich in 1968, she has worked as a dramaturge, director, journalist and secondary school teacher. And now she is a new publisher.
An insane project
"Are you out of your mind?" you might ask her, given the difficult circumstances that Swiss publishers have to contend with. Increased printing and paper costs, competition from larger players and hardly any media presence are causing problems for small publishers. She now runs one of them. "Maybe," says Gabriela Merz in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency about her crazy project. "I still do most of the work myself: Sifting through manuscripts, making contacts, editing, bookkeeping - in short, making almost all the decisions myself."
There are certainly parallels to her teaching profession in her life as a publisher. For example, in her work with "her" authors: "Literary texts are intimate. Talking about them means taking a close look, engaging with the people behind the texts." She used to do similar things at school.
The common thread
Gabriela Merz's professional life has never followed a straight path, but it does have a common thread: the German language. With this in mind, the name of her publishing house has been carefully considered. With Zeitkind, she wants to publish "texts by children of their time". Interdisciplinarity is an absolute priority. This can be seen, for example, in the genres of her first books.
On the one hand, there is the novel "Der Geruch von Lehm" by journalist Franziska Meister, in which two protagonists and a female protagonist try to come to terms with their experiences of loss. The novel, which has the character of a crime thriller, deals with topical issues such as reliability and emotional and medical responsibility. The story is set in Zurich. You are immediately in the middle of the action.
This also applies to Islème Sassi's "Of Those Who Hunt", and yet this novel is a completely different kind of story. Set in an almost depopulated mountain village, it is characterized by a lot of atmosphere and has the traits of a light novel, sometimes almost a horror film.
The third book, by theater maker and painter Vera Martynov, who emigrated from Russia to France in 2022, is perhaps the best example of how far Gabriela Merz wants to go with interdisciplinarity. The illustrations in this book were created by the author herself.
Focus on a broad audience
Publisher Merz is also flexible in her choice of authors. They take photographs, work as journalists or perhaps even do theater. Just like the publisher herself once did. "Creating a publishing program is very similar to directing," she says. "A thousand details have to be composed in such a way that they create a picture that is right."
Her books are aimed at a "socio-politically interested audience - one that feels addressed by the aforementioned lively discussion of current affairs". So the spectrum is broad. All the more so as Gabriela Merz does not want to impose any time restrictions - the literature published by her publishing house can be set in the present or deal with the past; the works can be fictional, autobiographical or factual. "A historical or artistic view of the world is what attracts me," says the publisher, who currently lacks the time for private reading. We can only hope that readers will bring all the more of it with them.*
*This text by Nina Kobelt, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
