AB - Annette Brüggemann

It all began with reading – an endless, vibrant supply of books. As a girl, I would take a suitcase full of books with me on family holidays to Finland. Later, I began writing poems and prose and setting them to music – such as my poem „Komet“.

In 1996, I moved to Vienna to study literature, to live in the city of the writer whose work I so admired: Friederike Mayröcker. She became my most important mentor. In 1997, I won an Austrian literary prize and was awarded a grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to publish my first collection of poetry. But I found myself drawn away from the solitude of the desk towards working as part of a team. For over 10 years, I found my professional home in German radio and television: as a journalist, literary critic and presenter. Until, in 2010, I flew to Iceland for an ARTE film and met the comedian Jón Gnarr there. He had founded the „Best Party“ following the financial crisis in Iceland and was elected mayor of Reykjavík in 2010.

Together with the „Best Party“, I organised the „We Are Democracy“-series of events in Germany. In a taxi on the way to such an event, I asked Jón Gnarr if he’d like to write a book. True to form, he already had one in his drawer. Through my efforts „Hören Sie gut zu und wiederholen Sie!!! Wie ich einmal Bürgermeister wurde und die Welt veränderte“ was published in 2013.

At that time, I was still managing the philosopher and bestselling author Richard David Precht (2009–2016) and the founder of the „Economy for the Common Good“ Christian Felber (2012–2014).

In 2016, I set up my own literary agency specialising in popular non-fiction. Since then, I have been representing German-speaking and international non-fiction authors. I have helped some of them become best-selling authors in the German-speaking world. I enjoy spending time with people who write books. A great deal comes from listening.

My agency is based in Cologne, but I also live in Finland. More specifically, in Ekenäs, about an hour’s drive from Helsinki. There, my partner and I run the writers’ and artists’ residence SATAMA HOUSE. Every two years, we organise the German-Finnish literature festival. EKENÄS DIALOG. Our guiding principle is to give something back – for the support we ourselves have received, and for the good fortune of being able to live in a unique country like Finland.

Here’s a selection of books I managed: