We spent this week in Switzerland, staying with friends. Tuesday the three of us went to Zürich, just strolling and exploring the city. Thoroughly enjoyed a pop-up art gallery with some graduation projects of the local art academy, at the Spiegelgasse square of Dada fame. Also spent quite some time exploring the Swiss literature section and their German language SF section in the Orell Füssli bookstore on Füsslistrasse, Switzerland’s largest bookstore so they claim. As a teenager in school I read quite a bit of Swiss author Max Frisch (1911-1991), whose 1957 Homo Faber made a deep impression on me. Later when E and I were in the alps of Wallis in 2005 we stumbled across a rich vein of original German SF in a book store in the old Brig post office (part of the Orell Füssli chain it turns out).

I ended up buying books from four Swiss authors and one German author:

• Lanz by Flurin Jecker (his 2017 debut, several awards)
• Die Erfindung des Ungehorsams by Martina Clavadetscher (2021, Swiss literary award)
• Die Entflammten by Simone Meier (2024, published last month)
• Empfindungsfaehig by Reda El Arbi (2023, SF)
• Zeta by Andreas Brandhorst (German SF author, 2024, published last week)