From unforgettable Classics from the World Literature, to the most important German speaking and international Contemporary Authors; from Children and Juvenile Literature to non-fiction that deals with History and Knowledge: Hanser has an inspiring and inviting program.
Inside Hanser there are two different editorial areas: one that deals with literature and the other one that deals with professional issues for Magazines and books. This was the main idea from the founder Carl Hanser: searching independence through variety. That is why Hanser is still today one of the few independent publishers in its size, that still belongs to a family.
This concept saved the publishing house in 1933. During the Nazi dictatorship Hanser stopped publishing new literary works, but concentrated in publishing technichal books and magazines that contained no ideology. After the liberation in 1946 and because of that, it was one of the first publishing houses that the US-authorities gave a lisence to.
At that moment the publishing house started developing an own and real profile. The German classics from Goethe to Fontane played an important role. Also the new translations from international literature from Melville, to Tolstoi to Flaubert. Regarding the contemporary literature Hanser took a rather conservative position. It was throught the Magazine Akzente founded in 1953 that the publishing house opened also to younger authors.
The importance of German literature grew with the years. Just to name a few authors: Botho Strauß, Arno Geiger, Wilhelm Genazino, Martin Mosebach, Michael Köhlmeier, Sibylle Berg, Alex Capus, Navid Kermani, Annika Reich, Olga Grjasnowa, Karen Köhler.
In Hanser’s Program we can find an extend number of Nobel Prize Winners: Ivo Andric was the first one, followed by Elias Canetti. In this last century we find Ohran Pamuk, J.M.G. Le Clézio, Herta Müller, Tomas Tranströmer, Mo Yan, and Patrick Modiano. International names as Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Milan Kundera, Julien Green, T.C.Boyle, Yasmina Reza, Per Petterson are almost contemporary classics.
With the publication of Umberto Eco‘s “The Name of the Rose” in 1981, Hanser hit for the first time the bestseller lists.
Since the 60s. the non-fiction program was also established with a special interest in Philosphie and Sociology and we find names like Rüdiger Safranski, Timothy Garton Ash, Philip Blom, Peter Bieri, Alfred Brendel and Umberto Eco.
The continuity of the publishing house can only be granted by concentrating in its strenghts. This also means to keep the house managable. In oder to be able to participate in as many different segments of the market as possible, the publishing house has created through the years a network of cooperations and affiliated companies. Hanser was one of the founders back in 1960 of the Deutscher Taschenbuchverlags (dtv) and in 1963 it was co-founder of the Hörverlags. A few years later it took over the giftbook publisher Sanssouci, afterwards the Austrian Zsolnay Verlag, the Swiss Nagel & Kimche and finaly the Deuticke Verlag. With the foundation of Hanser Berlin (2012) and Hanser Box (2014) the publishing house builds its Program towards the future.
For Zsolnay/Deuticke check here.