The Paris-Frankfurt Fellowship of Frankfurter Buchmesse

Yoann Bernard studied the history of religion as well as modern French language and literature at the University of Geneva, with a particular interest in authors from the 20th century. He ventured into the world of publishing in 2019 with Éditions la Baconnière, a general publishing house in Geneva. He then trained to become a literary agent with BooksAgent, a literary agency in Bordeaux. In early 2020, he created Swiss Books Agency, an association that ensures the international promotion of publishing houses in French-speaking Switzerland.

Strengths: rights sales, international promotion, translation

A year abroad in Johannesburg, South Africa, was followed by studies in African Studies, with a focus on African Literatures (Anglo-, Francophone and Swahilophone) at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, the State University of Zanzibar and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. During her studies, she completed an internship at Horlemann Verlag, followed by a traineeship at Unionsverlag in 2016, after completing her Master's degree. Since 2017, she has been working there as an editor and project manager. Since 2020, she has also been involved in the international programming of Unionsverlag.

Areas of focus: translation editing of fiction; African and African-American literatures

After earning a double master’s degree in German and history between Aberdeen and Freiburg, Caroline Beaumelou graduated with an M.A. in the Book World from Université Aix-Marseille in 2022. A Franco-American, she is quadrilingual in French, English, German, and Italian. In 2022, she worked for Lunii, a publisher of interactive audiobooks for children. Since then, she has done freelance work as an editor, translator, and project manager for publishing houses and major licensing companies, including Disney and Hasbro.

Strengths: children’s literature, literature in English, multimedia (in particular audiobooks and interactive fiction)

Juliette Debosque is currently an editorial assistant at Lunii, a publisher of audiobooks for children. Driven by the desire to share her love of books with young readers, she is truly passionate about children’s literature. Having earned a master’s in editorial policies from Université Paris Sorbonne Nord in 2022, she was able to alternate her studies with work experience at Albin Michel Jeunesse, where she worked as an editorial assistant in the novels department. These opportunities to navigate between different media and age groups have continued to fuel her thought process regarding publication projects. Particularly mindful of young readers, she actively contributes to the creation of a catalogue of audiobooks adapted to their world, all while ensuring the inclusion of essential subjects such as ecology or feminism. Cultural outreach and opening up to others are major themes in her work.

Strengths: children’s literature (but not solely!), editing, translation, cultural outreach for children, audiobooks, podcasts

After intensive preparatory studies in literature, Elsa Lagrange earned a double bachelor’s degree in geography and in philosophy at the Sorbonne followed by a master’s degree specializing in publishing. She interned at Editions Autrement and worked as an editorial assistant at the Globe publishing house. She currently is a junior editor at Christian Bourgois Éditeur.

Strengths: coordination and editorial monitoring; proofreading; literature in French, English, and German

After graduating from a literary track in high school, Virginie Robbe earned a bachelor’s in applied foreign languages in English and Japanese. She then pursued a master’s in English education for one year before deciding to shift to a career in the book world. She began her studies to become a librarian at the University Institute of Technology in Nancy-Charlemagne in 2022. As part of her curriculum, she did a two-month internship in tales in foreign languages at a multimedia library. Passionate about literature and language learning, she participated in the group translation of Postcard Stories, the collection of short stories by the Irish author Jan Carson.

Strengths: libraries, literature in English and Japanese, illustration, feminism

After intensive preparatory studies in the humanities and social sciences, Clémentine Saucier studied sociology before turning to a master’s in publishing. Over the course of this master’s degree, she had the opportunity to work as an editorial assistant at Belin Jeunesse, P.O.L, and Éditions Les Petits Matins, where she met Léa Boisset with whom she founded the photography-poetry review Mouche. After graduating and completing her apprenticeship, she moved to Berlin where she worked for the French bookstore Zadig as well as the Institut Français’ office specializing in books, publishing, and libraries, all while studying applied literature at the Free University of Berlin.

Strengths: publishing, bookstores, literature in French and German, poetry

After growing up in Mexico, Wendolyn Trogneux earned a bachelor’s in political science at Sciences Po Paris and a master’s in gender studies at EHESS. She then took her first steps in the French publishing world through the program at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord. She initially worked as an editorial assistant at Presses de Sciences Po, but due to her passion for linguistic and international interactions, she then turned to foreign rights. She has been a rights assistant at Albin Michel in literature and non-fiction since late 2022. In particular, she coordinates interview requests and authors’ trips abroad. Through the Paris-Francfort Fellowship, she hopes to create and foster contacts with German-speaking publishers.

Strengths: rights sales, French and foreign literature, non-fiction, sociology, feminism, graphic novels

Cornélia Sippli studied Literature, Art and Media Studies at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and at the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France. In 2020, she completed her Master's degree in General Management at the htwk Leipzig, Germany, which included courses in publishing.
Her work experience includes positions at ARTE in Strasbourg, France, at the magazine publisher Christian Hartmann in Munich, Germany, and at the art book publisher E.A. Seemann Henschel in Leipzig, Germany. Since 2021, she oversees Dorling Kindersley's in-house developments, B2B & collaboration book projects for industrial clients, as well as licensed titles for the cookbook and children's book programme.

Areas of focus: non-fiction editing, B2B & collaborations, foreign language licence support, in-house developments, cookbook and children's book programme.

During her degree in Literary and Cultural Studies in Paris, Berlin,and Münster, Germany, Inge Orlowski worked on a study of the international francophone book market for the Bureau international de l'édition française, in addition to internships and freelance work in publishing houses and cultural institutions. Since January 2022, she has been working at the Luxembourg publishing house éditions guy binsfeld in the areas of editing, licensing and events. She reviews manuscripts in all divisions and in four languages, acquires children's books for Luxembourgish, proofreads German-language literature and oversees international licensing as well as appearances at trade fairs and events. Since 2023, she has also been doing a PhD at the University of Luxembourg on language dynamics in multilingual book markets – a topic directly related to her everyday work.

Areas of focus: international licence trade, trade fairs and events, multilingual philology, book studies.

Following her Bachelor's degree in French Philology and Art History, Theresa Kirstein completed a Master's degree in Romance Literary Studies and worked as a student assistant for the Frankreichzentrum (French Centre) at the Freie Universität Berlin. Stays abroad during her studies took her to Paris and Montpellier, France. After working in the French editorial department of Cornelsen Verlag and at Der Audio Verlag, she has been a trainee editor at Hoffmann und Campe Verlag in Hamburg since the beginning of 2022.

Areas of focus: editing; German literature; literature in translation, especially English-language and French-language literature; autofictional literature.

Karla Kutzner is a literary practitioner from Berlin. After working in Sweden and West Africa, she studied Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin. She then worked in the field of foreign and development policy before setting up her own business in the cultural sector. In 2017, she and Stefanie Hirsbrunner founded the agency InterKontinental, which combines the fields of politics, culture and literature. Together, they have been organising the African Book Festival and numerous literary event formats since 2017. In 2018, she founded a bookshop. Since 2021, she has primarily been active as a publisher at InterKontinental, which also became a publishing house. On the side, she does readings, moderates and is involved in the Berlin cultural scene, especially in the classical and literary fields.

Areas of focus: contemporary African and Afrodiasporic literature, feminism, editing, project management, film, founders, press and events.

Emilia von Senger is the founder of the queerfeminist bookshop “She said” in Berlin and works there in the management team. She has a German-French degree in Social Sciences.

Insa Hansen-Goos studied German Language and Literature, Art History as well as General and Comparative Literature and Art Studies in Stockholm, Hamburg and Potsdam, Germany. After her studies and internships in the event and gallery sector, she completed a traineeship at Verbrecher Verlag in Berlin. Since 2019, she has been responsible for the areas of editing, distribution, and rights & licences at the audiobook publisher SPEAKLOW.
She also organises readings and literary events in Berlin under the label "nochnichtmehrdazwischen" and is involved in the young talent network "NaNe" of the Berlin Publishers and Booksellers Association.