Astrid Assél works alongside Janine Hilz in the cntract and royalty department, where she is primarily responsible for contracts.
After completing her master's degree at LMU Munich (German language and literature, theatre studies and philosophy), her career path took her through many areas of the publishing industry (art, music and book publishing), and after completing a part-time degree in business administration, she most recently headed the rights and licences department at an e-book publisher.
An enthusiastic resident of Munich, she works as a city guide in her spare time, introducing her tour guests to the history and stories surrounding Munich's beer and its brewers.
Jessica Iser, born in 1991 with German-Spanish roots, has been writing fantasy stories since childhood. She is most at home in the darkly romantic corners of the genre, from dark fantasy to horror. Her debut novel, Deathbound, was nominated for the 2022 Seraph Fantasy Award in the »Best Independent Title« category. The kickoff of her fantasy duology will be published by the Droemer Knaur publishing group in spring 2026.
Henrik Szántó, born in 1988, is half Hungarian, half Finnish and lives as an author and presenter in Hanover. As a spoken word artist, Szántó performs on stages throughout the German-speaking world. Szántó gives seminars on poetic and creative writing, performance and presentation skills, and prepares stages for new and established voices. The core themes of his work are multilingualism, remembrance work and cultural diversity.
Anna Weydt, born in Hamburg in 1989, studied German language and literature and lives in Lower Saxony. She enjoys travelling and lets her enthusiasm for travel and new places flow into her writing. In her stories, she searches for the tiny spark that can turn worlds upside down.
Cleo Sternberg was born in 1975 and fell in love at first sight. She still commutes between Europe's most beautiful cities with her family, studied history because there is so much future in the past, loves dazzling films and prefers to write with a view of a river and lots of people. She can afford to be interested in the dark side of the human soul because there is so much light in her life.
Duygu Maus, born in 1989, studied literature and film studies in Mainz. As an editor for renowned publishing houses, she has accompanied numerous SPIEGEL bestselling authors on their journey. Her time as a translator in Edinburgh inspired her to write her debut novel. The author has lived and worked in Germany, Turkey and the United Kingdom. She currently lives with her husband in Hamburg.
Sophie Czerny, born in 1979, lives with her family in the heart of Vienna. She holds a doctorate in law and worked as a lawyer for many years. She currently works as a lawyer and freelance author. After graduating from the Leonding Academy of Literature, she has published in various literary magazines and anthologies and won several literary competitions, most recently the Wiener Werkstattpreis 2024.
Dr. Hanna Heikenwälder, born on 1 April 1986 in Bad Oldesloe in Schleswig-Holstein, grew up south of Munich at Lake Starnberg. She studied molecular biology in Lübeck, the USA and at ETH Zurich before completing her doctorate at the Technical University of Munich on the links between inflammation and cancer development in the intestines. She then went on to research personalised treatment approaches for pancreatic cancer at the University of Heidelberg's surgical clinic and studied medicine for several semesters to improve her knowledge of anatomy.
Nena Tramountani inspires her readership with her soulful new adult and fantasy novels, most recently with the Twelve of Nights series, a magical romantic fantasy full of myths and legends set against the backdrop of a Greek mountain village.
Christian Gerhard was born in 1982. After studying East Asian Studies, he worked in Tokyo in the technology industry.
The author draws inspiration for his stories from the people and myths of the metropolises as well as from rural areas. Christian Gerhard lived in Japan for almost ten years.
The author Christian Gerhard regularly reaches up to 200,000 Japan fans on social media.