Grass Bangs 'Tin Drum' for Writers' Rights

by Rüdiger Wischenbart -- Publishers Weekly, 1/24/2005

Using the example of his famous first novel, The Tin Drum, German laureate Günter Grass angrily complained in a speech in Berlin last week that he, like many writers, has limited power over his writings. The issue: he wants to have the novel retranslated in English by Harcourt, the U.S. publisher of all his books except The Tin Drum, but has heard nothing from the company that owns U.S. rights for the book, Random House. Grass said he has written to Reinhard Mohn, the head of Bertelsmann and Random House, but did not receive an answer.

Although it took some time, Grass's actions drew a response. His German publisher, Steidel, said that since the speech, Knopf has offered either to do a new translation of The Tin Drum or to return U.S. rights to Grass.