Spain Visit: Círculo Author David Safier Reads At Bertrand

Barcelona, June 25, 2010

"What is German humor?" was the question most often asked of bestselling author David Safier during his visit to Barcelona last Thursday. His purpose was to present his very successful novel "Mieses Karma" ("Maldito Karma" in Spanish or “Bad Karma”) to the Spanish public, where it has also been a success, selling no fewer than 75,000 copies ahead of its publication as a club edition by Círculo de Lectores late this summer. Safier attributes this partly to the fact that most Southern Europeans pronounce his name as if it was French. "Apparently nobody credits the Germans with any sense of humor," he said with a grin as he presented the book to over 50 readers.

Círculo and the Spanish bookstore Bertrand, both DirectGroup subsidiaries, had jointly hosted the event with the German writer as the second part in a German-Spanish authors’ meeting. It was to have originally taken place on World Book Day, Apr 23 but Safier was unable to attend because the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull had paralyzed European air traffic. Part One of the author's meeting took place in March during the Leipzig Book Fair where DirectGroup, together with the Spanish Embassy, had invited four Spanish writers to meet with students.

‘First of all, I want to have fun myself’

Safier was finally able to realize his visit to Spain last Thursday. Late that afternoon, Bertrand boss Sven Huber and editor Anne Vial welcomed the Bremen writer to a photo and video event. Vial was already able to present the author with the dust jacket of the Círculo issue of " Maldito Karma," to his great delight.

After the subsequent reading, during which Bertrand staff member Raquel Friera translated the texts read by Safier into Spanish, the author patiently answered questions from his fans. He revealed, for example, that he has no target audience in mind when writing. "First of all, I want to have fun myself," said Safier, laughing. His daily work routine would probably seem boring to others, he said: "After breakfast, a man goes to his desk. I write five days a week, for six to eight hours a day ," he said. Asked if he had any helpful hints for aspiring writers, he said: "If you want to become a writer, my advice is: keep writing, every day. That is the only way you will get anywhere. I wrote every day for four years before I sold anything."