Each month we feature free advice from The Expert Guide in our news roundup, The Swiss Month. Get The Expert Guide sent to you today. This month's advice: new apartment rental handover.
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]]>Helvetiq and Bergli Books have shared several projects over the past few years and see this as a natural step in adapting to the changing publishing landscape. “We’re thrilled to welcome Bergli, with its 30-year history of publishing English books in Basel, to the multicultural, growing Helvetiq team,” says Hadi Barkat, Helvetiq’s CEO. “Richard’s American roots and Swiss experience makes him just the person to help us approach a global readership for our great Swiss books.” The combined Helvetiq/Bergli publishing group will be one of the few Swiss publisher regularly publishing simultaneously in three languages, with Bergli releasing English editions and Helvetiq German and French editions. “I’ve always admired how quickly Helvetiq has taken on an important role in Swiss publishing,” Bergli publisher Richard Harvell says. “And I look forward to being part of that success.”
The Schwabe Verlagsgruppe AG is certain that Bergli, with its small but well-defined list of titles, will be in good hands with Helvetiq. “It is very important to us that Bergli gets a chance to excel,” says Peter Riva, Schwabe CEO. “A fusion with Helvetiq presents ideal conditions for synergies. We’re very happy to have found an excellent solution for Bergli moving forward.”
The agreement was signed by Helvetiq CEO Hadi Barkat, Schwabe CEO Peter Riva, and Schwabe owner Ludwig Heuss. Bergli Books titles will continue to be available from all bookstores in Switzerland through regular sales channels, internationally through partners abroad, as well as online.
Get in touch with us for further information!
Schwabe: Simon Rüttimann, Head of Communications, Schwabe Verlagsgruppe, simon.ruettimann@nzz-libro.ch
Helvetiq: Eleni Karametaxas, Head of Marketing, Helvetiq, eleni.karametaxas@helvetiq.ch
Bergli: Richard Harvell, Publisher, Bergli Books, richard.harvell@bergli.ch
]]>Swisstory als bestes internationales Kinderbuch ausgezeichnet!
Die ‘Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ verleiht den ‚International Crystal Kite Award‘ einem Buch des Schweizer Verlags Bergli Books
]]>Swisstory als bestes internationales Kinderbuch ausgezeichnet
Die ‘Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ verleiht den ‚International Crystal Kite Award‘ einem Buch des Schweizer Verlags Bergli Books
Zum ersten Mal überhaupt gewinnt ein Buch aus der Schweiz den ‘International Crystal Kite Award’, der von der ‘Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) verliehen wird. Der Preis ist die einzige weltweite Auszeichnung für Kinderbücher, die von Autoren und Illustratoren vergeben wird. Er wird im Juli 2020 während der jährlichen SCBWI-Konferenz an Swisstory (Verlag Bergli Books, Basel) verliehen. Die Konferenz sollte in Los Angeles stattfinden, wird aber aufgrund der Covid-19-Pandemie digital durchgeführt.
Dieses Jahr waren mehr als zwanzig Bücher für das ‘International Crystal Kite Award’ nominiert, drei davon kamen auf die Shortlist. Nominiert werden dürfen Kinderbücher aus Europa, Afrika und Südamerika, die in den letzten 12 Monaten erschienen sind. Der ‘International Crystal Kite Award’ wird seit 2011 verliehen.
Swisstory erzählt die wahre Geschichte der Schweiz und wendet sich an kluge Kinder und an alle, die im Herzen Kinder geblieben sind. Sie erfahren darin, wie Herzöge hinterhältig von Bauern abgeschlachtet und wie unschuldige 'Hexen' gehängt wurden. Es geht um vergrabenes Gold, Bergsteigerinnen und natürlich um mörderische Kühe. Swisstory meidet erfundene Figuren wie Heidi oder Wilhelm Tell, sondern erzählt vielmehr die Geschichte der Schweizer, von den Gebirgsbewohnern der Frühzeit bis zum Frauenwahlrecht. Geschrieben hat das Buch Laurie Theurer, eine Schweiz/USA-Doppelbürgerin, illustriert hat das Buch mit viel Witz der Schweizer Künstler Michael Meister (Das grosse Monsterbuch der Schweiz). Swisstory ist ungeheuerlich, fesselnd, gruselig – und ganz und gar wahr.
Bergli Books (ein Imprint der Schwabe Verlagsgruppe in Basel) hat Swisstory in Oktober 2019 auf Englisch und Deutsch herausgebracht.
Laurie Theurer (Fotocredit: Schulthess Foto) Michael Meister (Fotocredit: Ben Koechlin)
Bibliographie
Laurie Theurer
Swisstory: Die verblüffende, blutige und ganz und gar wahre Geschichte der Schweiz
Bergli Books
Basel, 2019. 268 Seiten, 200+ Illustrationen
15 x 24 cm, softcover.
Fr. 19.90– (UVP) / € 19.00–
ISBN 978-3-03869-083-2
Links
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The large format, 48-page soft-cover book will not only be a fond memory of a visit to Bern, but a valuable resource of stories which will continue to fascinate children with every re-telling, even far away from Bern. The beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and maps by Jooce Garrett will bring children closer to this fascinating medieval old town.
Here is the link to the Kickstarter campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bergli/berns-hidden-stories?ref=project_link
Your claiming any of these excellent rewards now helps us keep the selling price under 20 Swiss francs so that that the book ends up in the hands of as many children as possible. You not only can receive advance, signed copies of the book, but also rewards that help you experience Bern in new ways—tours, toys, moonlight tower visits and much more.
Thank you for helping us to realize a long-held dream to make Swiss major cities interesting for children and all those who are young-at-heart!
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Picture: (c) Sue Style
We are very excited about our new book on Swiss wine. We've asked Sue Style, author of The Landscape of Swiss Wine, to answer a few questions for us.
Bergli: How did you get the idea for The Landscape of Swiss Wine?
Sue Style: Bergli took on my book A Taste of Switzerland, originally published in 1992 in the UK, and thanks to them it remained in print till just a couple of years ago. Together with Richard Harvell, we explored the idea of doing a complete revamp of the book, which takes a romp through the (many) good things to eat and drink in Switzerland, from cheese to chocolate, bread to sausages, Schnapps to wine. But whichever way we looked at it, it seemed like we would be covering the same ground all over again, albeit updated. Both Richard and I agreed it would be more exciting to embark on a completely new project. By then I’d begun to do more writing about wine, in addition to my usual work on food and travel. Besides, I’d become aware that there had been some dramatic and exciting changes on the Swiss wine scene since I wrote A Taste of Switzerland, which meant there was a great story to tell.
How long did all the research take?
I’d say around two years full-on, but I’d been mulling over the idea of a book for some time before that and writing articles on Swiss wines and wine travel in Switzerland (occasional pieces for the UK wine magazine Decanter and for the FT online magazine How To Spend It) before embarking in earnest on the book project.
Did you visit all the wineries in the book?
Of the 50 wineries featured in the book, starting in the Valais and working all the way round in a clockwise direction and finishing up in Ticino, I missed out on just two, though I was already familiar with their wines from tasting them at events put on by the elite winemakers’ association Mémoire des Vins Suisses, at the annual Grand Prix du Vin Suisse competition and other events around the country.
How did you choose the wineries?
If you follow the Swiss wine scene, the same names crop up regularly – they get noticed by Parker’s Wine Advocate reviewers, or they win prizes at the Grand Prix du Vin Suisse or the Decanter World Wine Awards, or they belong to Mémoire des Vins Suisses. The hardest part for me was to make a selection that would give a sense of both the quality and the variety of Swiss wines available, with a good cross-section from the different regions.
Swiss wines must be as varied as the Swiss, considering that the country is made up of four different language groups. Is there something that makes Swiss wines uniquely Swiss?
For a tiny country like Switzerland, the sheer variety of grapes grown is certainly unusual and a big draw for anyone interested in wine. From Chasselas, the country’s signature grape, to uniquely Swiss varieties like Petite Arvine, Cornalin, Completer or Räuschling, as well as internationally renowned and locally interpreted grapes like Pinot Noir and Merlot, there’s loads to discover. Another thing that distinguishes Swiss operations is the size of the wineries: Small is beautiful here, and wines fall into the boutique category – small-scale and hand-crafted. And then there are the often spectacularly sited vineyards – which of course provided the inspiration for the title, designed to convey the extraordinary landscapes in which the vines grow. If you’ve ever taken the Glacier Express and gazed out the window of the train from Brig to Zermatt or travelled along the shores of Lake Geneva, you’ll have marvelled at the vineyards, planted on terraces on near-vertical slopes and lined by kilometres of drystone walls.
What wine would you recommend to someone who is new to Switzerland and wants to try a typical Swiss wine?
There’s nothing more typical than Chasselas (known in the Valais as Fendant). This all-Swiss grape variety – its original homeland is the Lake Geneva region – is the perfect embodiment of Swissness in vinous terms: shy, self-effacing, often understated, it never elbows itself forward, preferring to perform quietly to the best of its ability. Always described as a remarkable reflector of terroir, it gives the credit to where it is grown (the specific site is often marked on the label) as well as to the winemaker prepared to devote time and trouble to working with it, rather than beating its own chest about any inherent brilliance of its own. In short, a very Swiss grape – but also a grape for our time. It can be simple and thirst-quenching, designed to be drunk young; or it can be complex and timelessly elegant. When you tire of grapes that shout louder – I’m thinking Gewurztraminer, Viognier or those body-built, over-oaked Chardonnays that gave rise to the Anything But Chardonnay (ABC) movement – Chasselas comes as a blessed relief. Besides, it seldom contains more than 12.5% alcohol so you can drink more of it.
What would you recommend to someone who already knows a lot about wine, but is new to Swiss wines?
What sets Swiss wines apart – and makes tracking them down and tasting them so much fun – is their use of little-known grape varieties, some of them found exclusively in Switzerland. Give your jaded tastebuds a treat with such delights as Petite Arvine or Humagne Blanc from the Valais, Räuschling from around Lake Zurich or even the vanishingly rare Completer from Graubünden. And there are some wonderful surprises (and surprisingly good value) to be found in cool-climate Pinot Noirs from the northern cantons like Aargau, Zurich, Thurgau and even right here on Bergli’s doorstep in Basel-Land.
What was the most surprising thing for you when writing this book?
The accessibility of the winemakers and their willingness to share and talk about their wines. All the wineries I included can be visited – just remember they have work to do in the vineyards and the cellar, so to be sure to find someone there to attend you, it’s best to make an appointment. There may be a fancy-schmancy tasting room, or you may be received in the cellar amongst the steel tanks, barrels and hosepipes with the tasting glasses set on top of an upturned barrel, but the welcome is the same. There’s seldom a charge made, but the quid pro quo is that you will buy some wine. Another nice surprise was to find that many of the younger generation of winemakers are now following their parents at the domaine, having completed their studies at Changins (the Swiss oenology and viticulture school) and travelled abroad (France, California, Australia or New Zealand are the favoured destinations) to learn about winemaking practices elsewhere.
What's your current favourite Swiss wine?
I have a weakness for Petite Arvine, the thrilling white variety from the Valais whose wines vary from lipsmackingly dry with gorgeous grapefruit tones and a characteristic salty finish to lusciously sweet and highly concentrated, made from late-harvested grapes.
Thank you for the interview, Sue!
]]>Did you know: The Landscape of Swiss Wine is available at our online shop and of course at book stores. You can also find Sue Style's book Cheese on our website. Check out her food blog here: https://suestyle.com.
In 2016 authorities confiscated over 8,000 counterfeit bills and coins with a total value—or non-value—of almost 400,000 francs. 12 people were convicted of counterfeiting, and 95 of circulating false money.
The problem with all of these counterfeits, though, is that they weren’t any good. Over 1,000 of the false notes were color photocopies, and the rest were made with ink-jet printers. And a photocopier and an ink-jet printer just aren’t up to this job.
Swiss notes are equipped with a vast array of security features, from holograms to embossings to perforations—yes, tiny holes in the paper, in the shape of a number or a cross.[1] Some features are visible only in ultraviolet or infrared light. The newest bills are designed to transfer traces of color onto white paper when rubbed.
A glossy strip runs across the bottom of the new 50-franc note. It contains, in shiny silver, a map of Switzerland, a drawing of the Alps, the names of the main four-thousand-meter peaks in Switzerland, and the number 50. Tilt the note backwards, and the outlines of Switzerland and the Alps appear in rainbow colors, while little shining Swiss crosses become visible inside the number 50. Tilt the note from left to right: red and green numbers appear on four different lines. As you tilt further, the numbers move across the note in opposite directions.
Another security feature is the use of micro-lettering. Texts in tiny, tiny writing—visible only with a powerful magnifying glass—are hidden at various points on the note in four different languages. Two of those texts on the 8th series 200-franc note are buried in the hair of the man looking out at us with weary eyes from the brownish-yellow background. That man is C.F. Ramuz, and the texts read:
Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, one of the greatest storytellers of our time, is considered the founder of modern literature in French Switzerland. His work depicts people in tragic conflict with the powers of nature. His finely wrought language employs modes of expression borrowed from both painting and film.
This microtext fails to mention that one of Ramuz’s best-loved works—as we have already seen (Question X)—is a semi-historical novel about a very successful counterfeiter.
So assuming we want to counterfeit Swiss money well—how hard is it? I asked Mark Turnage, the CEO of Dark Owl Security Services. Here’s what he said:
Any object made by one man can within reason be “remade” by another. With enough resources and technology anything can be recreated—counterfeited. However, the reality is that there aren’t unlimited resources, and some things are much, much harder to counterfeit than others. The Swiss currency would be in that category. The range and number of security features found in the notes, as well as the overall design, certainly puts the Swiss currency at the very top of the list of the world’s most secure and difficult-to-counterfeit notes. Like many other things Swiss, they are immaculately designed, extremely well produced, and beautiful to the eye. Counterfeiters beware.
On the other side of the fence stands Hans-Jürgen Kuhl—a graphic designer turned counterfeiter who was undone in 2006 when a forklift at a dump in Cologne poked through a garbage bag and revealed shredded misprints of 100-dollar bills—and, unhappily for Kuhl, an invoice with his name and address on it. Kuhl’s 16.5 million false dollars were, according to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, “terrifyingly perfect.” The judge who condemned him to six years imprisonment simultaneously praised him as an “extraordinary graphic artist.”
Asked by the Swiss online news service Watson if the new Swiss notes are secure, Kuhl replied
Certainly not. All of the safety features can be counterfeited nowadays. It’s just a question of effort. The silver hologram on the new notes is only about 1.5 centimeters wide—that’s ridiculous. It makes it easy for counterfeiters.
But Kuhl doesn’t think false francs are worth the bother.
The market is simply too small—no one worth his salt would want to do it. Why should they? With the same expenditure of effort you can make dollars or euros, which you can circulate in many more countries.
So he advises taking the middle way:
First you need a good photocopier, and they aren’t cheap—at least 10,000 francs. You can easily get a suitable natural paper, one that won’t glow blue under a UV lamp. If you want to get rid of a banknote in a bar at night, that’s all you need.
Yet another middle way doesn’t involve printing anything at all, but rather goes directly to the source. Swiss banknotes are printed by the company Orell-Füssli in Zurich. In the summer of 2012, 1,800 almost finished 1,000-franc notes (see Question 20) disappeared from the press. Two men were later arrested at a currency exchange in London trying to cash in 37 of the incomplete notes—which were noticed because they had no serial numbers. Orell Füssli promised to “painstakingly review its security measures in detail.”
As well they might. For, according to Edwin Schmidheiny of Accent Brand Consultants, Swiss bills are more than a store of value. “As a well-known financial center, our banknotes are an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our global presence, and are an expression of our pride.” As the publication MK Marketing & Kommunikation puts it, banknotes are a country’s calling card.
Are all the expensive Swiss security features worth it? Perhaps not to prevent counterfeits: a Kuhl can outwit them, and an amateur would be outwitted by much less. But they sure do make a splash for the Swiss brand on the international stage—and that, perhaps, is their ultimate purpose.
[1] Hold one up to a light and you’ll see.
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I was intrigued by the Abricotine Spritzer because of its unique ingredients, and the Suissesse because I unequivocally love all things mint.
What makes the Abricotine Spritzer so intriguing (at least to me), is that you infuse the Abricotine with saffron. Of course the Swiss would infuse their cocktails with the most expensive spice on earth!
With the ingredients in hand, I gathered some friends and family to join in the tasting.
We started off with the Abricotine Spritzer, assuming that any drink with the word spritzer in it would be nice and light to start of with. PSA: this is not a weak starter cocktail! Almost immediately, I realized I'd grossly misjudged this drink. My initial impression of a light, breezy drink couldn’t have been farther from reality. The sheer volume of Abricotine in my shaker made it clear we were starting off with a bang.
In hindsight, I certainly didn't need to make six servings for six people, in fact, I bet we would have all been content with just half that. Too late to do anything about this conclusion, I decided to just go with it.
I started by putting the saffron in the Abricotine to steep, and waited.
The Abricotine went from clear to pale yellow and finally took on a deep golden hue. Once the saffron had steeped long enough, I poured the Abricotine into the glasses and strained apricot jam over it. Finally, we added the sparkling wine and gave it a stir! The apricot jam didn't completely dissolve, but formed a little cluster that coated the bottom of the glass. Because of the sparkling wine and the gorgeous glasses we were using, the jam sparkled like jewels.
After trying the drink and realizing how potent it was, we all went back to the kitchen and topped our glasses off with more sparkling wine, hoping to cut the strong Abricotine flavor some.
The drink clearly tastes of saffron, which to be honest, I wasn't really expecting. It isn't sweet at all, although you could probably adjust it quite a bit depending on the kind of sparkling wine you use. I might even consider swapping the sparkling wine out for some other carbonated drink next time, because, if I haven't already reiterated this enough, it was a strong drink!
My mom described this drink as a 'grown up drink', and because it lacked in sweetness, and I'd have to agree. It was slightly bitter and definitely not something to chug down in a hurry, but rather the perfect drink to sip on as the night wears on.
This is the kind of drink that'd you'd love if you like to experiment with flavors and techniques.
For the next drink, the Suissesse, we'd learned our lesson and cut back on the number of servings. Some people were already pretty sure they wouldn't like this one, and those of us who did knew we'd be content with a taste. This drink is fairly quick and easy, just keep shaking. You add equal parts of crème de menthe, absinthe and cream, one egg white and shake the mixture over ice. The commotion quickly attracted our guest of honor, Samea, who couln't figure out what was going on, but certainly wanted in on it.
We split the drink into shot glasses and still ended up sipping on it for a while. It tastes, as you might expect, of mint, with a hint of licorice (thanks, absinthe). The cream gives it a nice smoothness, and helps with the strength. The most widely agreed upon description was toothpaste. I’ll let you decide whether drinking toothpaste sounds like a good or a bad idea. Personally, I loved it.
What I love about the bok is how easy it is to use. The illustrations make this book even more user friendly – most recipes hardly require any reading – much less intimidating for cocktail novices like me. While you don’t need to read, Andie’s anecdotes on how saffron made it to Switzerland, why absinthe was banned in 1908 and how the Swiss Beer Cartel collapsed are certainly worth a peek.
While some of my friends and family had varying tastes, overall the drinks were a hit, and I’ll definitely be trying more. You can check the book out here. If you give them a shot, let us know how they turn out!
Cheers!
]]>On September 27, 2001, Friedrich Leibacher entered the Parliament building in Canton Zug and shot to death 14 politicians with four different guns. He fired 91 rounds, wounding eleven people besides those who died, set off a homemade bomb, and then shot himself. He acted in the belief that he was being persecuted by the cantonal authorities, and left a letter behind entitled “Day of Wrath for the Zug Mafia.”
Due solely to this incident, the death rate by mass shooting between 2000 and 2014 was 1.7 per million people in Switzerland. In the United States, by contrast, there were 133 mass shootings in the same period of time—for a death rate of 1.5 per million. Had Switzerland had as low a rate during these years as the United States, only 12.4 politicians would have died on the Day of Wrath in Zug.
You might object that mass shootings are an anomaly in Switzerland, and that the high toll of this single incident and the small population of the country combine to render this statistic meaningless. In the United States, you might say, mass shootings are a regular enough occurrence that the numbers actually mean something.
Before dismissing the statistic entirely, however, it’s worth putting it into a relevant context. A recent study by University of Alabama professor Adam Lankdorf demonstrates that mass shootings, both internationally and locally, are correlated with only one single variable. This variable is not mental health, it is not the playing of video games, it is not racial diversity, and it is not overall crime rate. It is, purely and simply, the rate of gun ownership.
And Switzerland has, after the United States, the highest rate of gun ownership among all developed countries. Its gun homicide rate—in 2004, 7.7 deaths per million people— is correspondingly very high. The rate in Great Britain is eleven times lower.
If Lankdorf’s conclusion is correct, we can expect Switzerland to have an exceptionally high rate of deaths by mass shooting. It ought not to be higher than that of the United States—as it was in the period from 2000 to 2014—but rather, based on gun ownership statistics, about half as high: the second highest in the developed world. Thus, while the Zug massacre was horrifying and shocking, it can’t truly be said to be an anomaly.
As, indeed, it wasn’t. In 1912 in Romanshorn a local man began shooting from the window of his house. He hit twelve people and killed six on the spot.
This is probably not the result the Swiss Tourism Office is looking for. But, as the comedian Eddie Izzard has commented, spoofing the slogan of the National Rifle Association: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. (Pause) But I think the gun helps.” Swiss guns help just as much as their American cousins.
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Santé / Proscht / Cincin / Cheers!
]]>Switzerland has almost as many winter drinks as it has mountains. Even though the Swiss may not have a reputation for drinking a lot, a rich drinking tradition continues throughout the land. Andie Pilot's new book, Drink like the Swiss, allows you to explore Switzerland through its drinks.
Below, we are giving you a winter drink recipe to try. Whether you drink it for après-ski, or you skip the skiing altogether, this warm concoction is bound to warm your belly. So let's raise a glass and drink like the Swiss.
Glühmost
This is a great alternative for children who can't drink the heady and alcoholic Glühwein so beloved in the winter months – though you can always use boozy cider if the occasion demands.
You need:
With a vegetable peeler, peel off a few thin sections of rind. Juice the lemon and the oranges, add to the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients. Warm over medium heat, but don't boil. Serve warm.
Santé / Proscht / Cincin / Cheers!
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Could a Tsunami Strike Switzerland?
The Tauredenum Event could be the title of a disaster movie. And a disaster it was, but not a movie—yet. Here is a description from the contemporary chronicler Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks. The year is 563.
A great prodigy appeared in Gaul at the fortress of Tauredenum, which was situated on high ground above the River Rhône. Here a curious bellowing sound was heard for more than sixty days: then the whole hillside was split open and separated from the mountain nearest to it, and it fell into the river, carrying with it men, churches, property and houses. The banks of the river were blocked and the water flowed backwards. The water flooded the higher reaches and submerged and carried everything which was on its banks.
And yet again the inhabitants were taken unawares: as the accumulated water suddenly broke through the blockage, it drowned those who lived lower down, just as it had done higher up, destroying their houses, killing their cattle, and carrying away and overwhelming with its violent and unexpected inundation everything which stood on its banks as far as the city of Geneva. It is told by many that the mass of water was so great that it went over the walls of the city.
In 2012 geophysicists at the University of Geneva published a paper analyzing huge deposits of sediment near where the Rhône enters the lake. Their conclusion was that the Tauredenum event involved a massive landslide that caused a collapse of the Rhône delta and a slippage of sediment at the eastern end of the lake, and this in turn created a tsunami. A 13 meter high wave, traveling at 70 kilometers per hour, would have reached Lausanne 15 minutes after the slippage. Three quarters of an hour after that, its height reduced to 8 meters, it would have inundated Geneva, crashing over the city walls just as Gregory reported.
The Swiss Seismological Service agrees. It catalogues several tsunamis that have crossed Swiss lakes and inflicted widespread devastation. An earthquake near Aigle set off a tsunami in Lake Geneva in 1584. In 1601 an earthquake caused submarine landslides in Lake Luzern, and a 4 meter high wave engulfed the city. Luzern was hit again in 1681, this time with a 5meter tsunami. And in 1806 the Goldau landslide, which destroyed the village of that name and killed 500 of its inhabitants, unleashed a 10meter high wall of water in Lake Laurerz.
Today there are over a million people living on lowlying land around Lake Geneva. And it turns out that the Tauredenum event was not a one-off.
In fact,
The sedimentary record of the deep basin of Lake Geneva, in combination with the historical record, show that during the past 3,695 years, at least six tsunamis were generated by mass movements, indicating that the tsunami hazard in the Lake Geneva region should not be neglected . . . We believe that the risk associated with tsunamis in lakes is currently underestimated, and that these phenomena require greater attention if future catastrophes are to be avoided.
So wrote the Geneva geophysicists, who calculated that we can expect a tsunami on Lake Geneva, on average, once every 625 years. A big one happened in 563. A small one in 1584. Now it’s 2018. Do the math.
Next time you’re in Geneva, don’t just worry about what’s going on in the Large Hadron Collider out by the airport. Keep an eye on that big lake as well—for an only partly unexpected “event.”
(c) Ashley Curtis
PS. You can get a German version of this book as well!
]]>Picture: Ashley Curtis, (c) Thomas Andenmatten
Author Ashley Curtis has leafed through hundreds of books to find the most entertaining quotes on Switzerland. He published the result, "O Switzerland!", with Bergli Books (also available in German). We've asked him a few questions about his book.
Can you explain the title of the book, "O Switzerland"?
The title of the book consists of the first two words of the book, and comes from a letter that Mark Twain wrote to a friend in 1878 expressing his longing to return to Switzerland. In the context of this letter, “O Switzerland!” is a cry in the vein of “Oh Glory!” or “Oh Loveliness!”—the cry of a man overwhelmed with the beauties of the country.
I liked it as a title, however, because it can be read in so many ways. “O Rover!” is what you might say to your dog when it pees on the rug. “O George!” might be what you say when your boyfriend brings you home roses. “O Tamara!” might be when your five-year-old daughter reveals that she’s just shoplifted some candy. The phrase ranges from glorification to condemnation—and that’s just what the 430-some quotes in this book do.
The subtitle of the book mentions that you cover more than 2000 years of quotes. How can you write about “Switzerland,” when the country is not that old yet?
For Julius Caesar, it was Helvetia; for Napoleon, the Helvetic Republic; early travelers referred rather to, say, the Grisons, or the Bishopric of Sion. Switzerland in the sense of the book means the territory that is currently referred to as Switzerland.
How did you find so many good quotes?
Often my starting point was the bibliography in Gavin de Beer’s 1949 book, Travelers in Switzerland. De Beer was an evolutionary embryologist at Oxford, and later the director of what is now the Natural History Museum in London. He apparently had an obsession with journeys through Switzerland. During World War II he worked in intelligence by day—but at night, by way of relaxing, he collected the itineraries of travelers, sometimes adding a quote from something they had written, but more often than not simply citing the name of the traveler and the itinerary.
It seems to me a strange way to relax, but it was certainly very useful to me. Still, he missed a lot of big names, like Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, and, of course, everyone after 1949.
What is your favorite quote, and why?
That’s a hard one. John Evelyn‘s account of crossing the Simplon Pass in 1646 is certainly one of my favorites. He describes the “goodly sort of people” living on the pass, with their “strange puffing dress, furs, and that barbarous language, being a mixture of corrupt High German, French and Italian,” a people “of great stature, extremely fierce and rude, yet very honest and trusty.” He goes on to report on the trouble he gets into when his traveling companion’s “huge filthy cur that had followed him out of England” kills one of the Simplon goats—which reminds me, hilariously, of something straight out of Shakespeare. Evelyn is disarmed of his beloved carbine, thrown into a makeshift jail, and fears having his head cut off. Reluctantly buying his way out of the jam, he ends up in Brig, which he misidentifies as “the Valpelline,” and where there is a “bear's, wolf's, or foxes head” nailed on the outside of every door. “As the Alps are full of the beasts, the people often kill them.” The contrast with today is striking, and the story is told with great gusto.
Evelyn, by the way, is whom the soap company Crabtree & Evelyn is named after. He also wrote the first book about salads, another on reforestation, and a third that recommends combatting the foulness of London air by planting sweet-smelling trees. He’s best known for his Diary, however, which is where I took my quotes from.
Other favorites are some one-line zingers. Oscar Wilde said, “I do not like Switzerland. It has produced nothing but theologians and waiters.” And F. Scott Fitzgerald daringly declared Switzerland a “flat and antiseptic-smelling land.” Quite a lot of chutzpah, to call Switzerland “flat”!
Any quote that did not make it into the book?
Hundreds if not thousands didn’t make it in. I had instructions to limit the book to 100,000 words. Which was probably for the best, or I’d still be working on it.
The one I most regret leaving out is by Rainer Maria Rilke concerning Valais. Early on in the book I have some disparaging quotes by Rilke, such as, “How happy I am to have broken out of Switzerland, which, more and more, I really can take only for a waiting room on the four walls of which a few Swiss views have been hung up.”
But once Rilke started living in the Château de Muzot above Sierre, he became far more appreciative. “This Valais (how is it people do not mention it when they enumerate the most famous regions of the earth?) is an incomparable landscape,” he wrote, and went on to characterize it as “a reality beyond all dreams.” (I won‘t quote the whole letter, which is long, but you can look it up. It’s written to Frau Knoop on November 26, 1921).
A few weeks after writing the letter Rilke became completely possessed, and penned both the greater part of the Duino Elegies (very little of which was written in Duino—they might rather be called the Veyras Elegies) and the Sonnets to Orpheus in only a few weeks. After this possibly unparalleled performance, he went on to write, in French, over 400 poems in praise of Valais. He chose to be buried in front of the beautiful Felsenkirche in Raron.
Since I live in Valais myself, it was especially hard to leave this one out. But, like many of the others that I left out, it didn’t fit into any of the threads I was drawing through the chapters. So it had to go.
Which was the most surprising quote for you?
You would never see someone today saying about Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald what the Irish naval surgeon James Johnson said in 1823: “The Highland glens and valleys [of Scotland] are not quite on a par with Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and Meiringen; but they are not blotted and deformed by goitres and cretinism.” Nor would you see a guidebook saying what John Murray‘s did in 1861: “[In Grindelwald] most of the children are beggars—occupations arising from the influx of strangers in to the valley, which has exercised an injurious influence upon its morals and ancient simplicity of manners.”
There were some amusing attempts to figure out why Switzerland was home to so many cretins—which used to be the medical term for what we now call people suffering from congenital hypothyroidism—before it was discovered that both goiters and cretinism were due to the low levels of iodine in Alpine soil. I include a quote from an English priest named Richard Lassels in 1670: “One thing I have observed particularly in this windy country, which is, that they have many natural fools here, which makes me think it no vulgar error, which is commonly said, that the climates that are most agitated with winds produce more fools than other climates do.”
The best explanation, however, comes from Victor Hugo. Speaking of the fantastic view from the Rigi, he says, “In the presence of this inexpressible spectacle one understands the cretins who abound in Switzerland and Savoy. The Alps produce large numbers of idiots. It is not given to every intelligence to live with such marvels and to walk about from morning to night with a view of fifty leagues' radius without becoming stupefied and dazed.”
Who of the people you quote in the book is your favorite author or contributor?
I find Mark Twain and Alexandre Dumas the most comic, John Ruskin the best stylist, Gertude Bell the most fun, Henry James the most refined, D.H. Lawrence the most pessimistic, James Joyce the most obscene, Voltaire the wittiest, and Mary Shelley and James Baldwin the most heartrending.
Have I successfully evaded your question?
You have...
You were not born in Switzerland, yet you became Swiss in 2013. Do you consider yourself to be Swiss?
In one sense, yes. I feel most at home here. Emotionally, though, I feel a stronger attachment to particular places than to a nation-state. I’ve lived in Hasliberg, Lenk, Sissach, Gümligen, and now in Villaz in the Val d’Hérens. But to go one step further, I feel a greater attachment to parts of the natural world than to a given society. Particular places in the mountains, rivers, forests give me the feeling of belonging. Many of those places are in Switzerland.
What was your favorite part of writing “O Switzerland!”?
A favorite part came toward the end of my research, when I was looking for some very obscure, short texts in German. I was in the Swiss National Library in Bern, and the books I had ordered were waiting for me in a special glass case because they were so old. I had to wear latex gloves to handle them—which made turning the pages rather difficult—and I had to leaf through them directly under the watchful eye of a librarian seated in front of me at a raised desk. One book even had to be placed on a double foam wedge, to be sure that I didn’t open it more widely than at a certain angle. The books were all in the old German script, and a couple of times I was looking for a single sentence in a four-volume work, with no idea where I would find it. Talk about skimming! Or a needle in a haystack! It was extremely satisfying to locate the last quote I needed.
But the most lasting “favorite part” is that I now see Switzerland so differently. Almost wherever I go, I see not only what is there, but can hear one writer or another describing his or her experience in a different time and context. It is as if something two-dimensional has just become 3-D. This is marvelously enriching. Traveling through Switzerland has actually become a bit like reading a book. There is much more present than was ever there for me before. My great hope is that readers of “O Switzerland!” will experience this same effect.
Thanks, Ashley!
]]>Did you know: Ashley Curtis is also the author of our title Why Do The Swiss Have Such Great Sex? (click here for the German edition), a book that asks improbable questions about Switzerland.
We'd like to thank you for coming to our Bergli Birthday Party! It was a lot of fun to meet you all and celebrate our 30 year anniversary. Here are some pictures of the event.
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Picture: Aperol Spritz Cocktail in Sunset, (c) Marco Verch, Flickr, Creative Commons Licence.
We'd like to cordially invite you to the Bergli Books Summer Fest.
WHAT
Meet many of our Bergli authors and celebrate our three wonderful summer titles:
-Ashley Curtis: "O Switzerland!"
-Steffan Daniel: Wild Swim Switzerland
-Jeanne Darling & Michael Meister: The Monster Book of Switzerland
WHEN
Thursday, 30th of August 2018, 6.30 PM
WHERE
Rhybadhüsli St. Johann, St. Johanns-Rheinweg 50, 4056 Basel
Free use of changing rooms and swimming facilities!
Free entry. Casual dress. Free appetizer buffet. Cash bar. And naturally the chance to get signed copies of many of our books!
No registration required, but please help us estimate numbers by signing up for the event on Facebook. Feel free to invite your friends.
We hope to see you there!
Monster Book author Jeanne Darling went on a trip to look for the monsters in her book. Here is her travelogue.
My lovely husband decided to humor me and joined on my quest to find some monsters this summer. On Day 1, we visited the Caves of Vallorbe – well hidden in a huge rock cliff. The lovely gurgling stream which flows from it is actually the mighty river Orbe which created the underground caverns.
A small tunnel, carved by man, led us through the cliff wall and into another world. Indescribable – go visit. At the end of our walk through, we found the fairy guarding her treasure of jewels.
We were so dazzled, we left without checking her feet. But at least I now know that moon milk is real – and abundantly available for passing dragons.
Day 2 took us to the Devil’s Bridge. We cruised past Mt. Pilatus but it was probably too hot for any dragons to venture forth. We passed below the Rütli fields but left the hike upward to more stalwart souls.
We hopped a bus through Altdorf where William Tell lives on. The bus ride was an amusement car ride with crazy hair pin turns climbing to Göschenen. We went past the Devil’s Stone – but I was so enamored (or terrified) that I forgot to snap a picture. From Göschenen, we took a cogwheel train up to Andermatt.
And there, we finally found my bucket list destiny: the Devil’s Bridge! It took some searching, lots of scrambling up and down pebbly paths and crossing through a low tunnel, dripping wet, with the deafening roar of raging water in our ears. But we finally emerged straight onto the bridge spanning the infamous gorge.
The old lady (me) immediately scrambled across, reciting “Fiddle Dee Dee – be bold but not foolish.”
I can now die happy.
Before leaving we scoured the cliff side full of caves, but there were no devils in sight. Rats.
On Day 3 we set off for the Great St. Bernard Pass. The Hospice St. Bernard is a most welcoming place – even today – in a very unwelcoming environment. The wind really and truly moans - just like a ghost!
This is Alpine Tundra land with a great view of the glacier zone. The Hospice was filled with trekkers – the real thing – deep tans, muscular legs. I felt guilty eating a croissant for breakfast in front of them. We took a far less ambitious stroll around the lake to Italy, and then supped at the Hospice, family style – good food, good cheer.
St. Bernards are completely adorable and soft as silk – and great guard dogs. We know – we slept above their kennel. Barking and howling erupted at 3:00am when a group of inebriated teenagers passed by. But without that rude awakening, I would never have seen the full moon shining in through my window perfectly perched between two mountain peaks. Wait, was that a shadow of wings? A dragon? I blinked and it was gone. Sigh.
Next day, I insisted that we sit at the very front of the bus for the ride back down. Another roller coaster ride as I gasped in terror at every turn in the narrow mountain road. When we finally “landed” I gushed my compliments to the bus driver. He clearly thought I was a bit batty – and with reason.
After all, who else spends their summer in search of monsters?
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Wild swimming means leaving the comfort of your regular man-made swimming pool, getting out into the fresh air and going for a swim or a dip wherever you can find water. It's about experiencing the world from a different perspective, enjoying nature's free playground and becoming excited about exploring lakes, plunge-pools, riversand waterfalls! Where there's water, there's wild swimming!
Switzerland is an amazing place to swim. There are thousands of spots dotted across the entire country – this book is just the tip of the iceberg! There's a prominent summer swimming culture here. The sparkling freshwater caters for all levels. A brave few even venture into the lakes in the winter... Lots of tourists come here for the mountains, but an increasing number are realizing that it's a great destination for water sports too.
I spent a lot of time scouting online maps and created a bucket list. Switzerland's swim spots aren't really reported widely so it required lots of insider tips to get me started! Soon I realised that many places had to be visited in person to know if a swim was even possible – there were loads of spots hidden away amongst forests and cliffs that you just couldn't see on Google Maps. So I designated lots of weekends (rain or shine) to explore each region, kicking off 2017 with a chilly swim in March, in a stream near Basel. It was freezing and surrounded by mud. I was hooked immediately.
That's such a difficult question! There are so many cool places to visit, and I couldn't possibly narrow it down to one spot. I liked experiencing places that were a little different, those places which required effort to access, or places that told you something about the region. Some of the busier spots were fun too, because there was always a good atmosphere – everyone was just having a good time being in or near the water. I'm always looking forward to finding the next spot – Switzerland is full of surprises!
Some places looked great on the map, but when I arrived, I realised they were large reservoirs or steep gorges with no access to the water. Some spots were even empty, full of dry rock, and others just looked dangerous. I guess that's the nature of exploring – you win some and you lose some!
Of course! Some of the best outdoor swimming can be found in urban places here. In Switzerland, the rivers are very clean and there's a fantastic culture of river floating as a way to absorb the city sights and atmosphere. Many city dwellers choose to float home downriver after a hard day's work. There is probably no better way to unwind and clear your head.
I'd be delighted if the book gets more people to connect with the outdoors, and if it inspires people to explore parts of Switzerland they've not seen before, especially people who have lived here all their lives. There's still so much to explore!
]]>We are big fans of our author Clare O'Dea. So we were very excited to interview her on the new edition of her very successful book The Naked Swiss. Learn more in the Q&A below.
1. Why are there so many myths about the Swiss?
Every country builds some kind of reputation over time. In former centuries the Swiss were famous for their mercenaries and mountain passes and not much else. I would say the growth of the tourist industry in the nineteenth century started off the whole mystique of Switzerland. If you look at the posters of that time, it was marketed as a place apart, one that could offer luxury and unspoilt nature. Many writers spent time in Switzerland and spread the word.
Nowadays so many developments of global relevance happen in Switzerland, from peace talks to banking scandals. The quality of life scores are almost too good to be true. People are curious about the success and they look for simple explanations, hence the myths.
2. How true are these myths?
They all begin with some kernel of truth but quickly get padded out with half-truths and exaggerations. My approach in the book is not to declare every stereotype a myth. What I do is raise questions, provide some evidence and analysis. The reader will have his or her own perspective to add to the mix. In the end you have something more useful than a snap judgment.
3. Which myths make the Swiss look bad and which make them look good?
Bearing in mind that we are talking about possible myths, some are clearly negative. The notion that the Swiss are crooked bankers has enduring power. With all the talk about the 1 per cent, austerity for the poor and tax evasion for the rich, this image of Switzerland enabling global inequality is damaging. The Swiss record in the Second World War is also something that people hold against the Swiss.
Swiss achievements in living standards, neutrality and democracy do a lot to make them look good.
4. How can you write about ‘the Swiss’ considering that the country is made up of four different language groups, not to mention generations of immigrants from around the world?
With difficulty! The Swiss have a very diverse society which is why I spend the first chapter checking the “myth” that the Swiss are actually Swiss. But whatever the cultural and linguistic differences of the people, Switzerland did not turn out how it is today by accident. Certain values and characteristics have emerged and newcomers have, by and large, adopted them. Self-determination is important in Switzerland, essential for a small country buffeted by empires on all side. There is also a rejection of top-down rule within the country, as seen in the direct democracy system. I think the harsh terrain and winters also helped foster the work ethic. Long-term prosperity has also made people used to high standards, even new residents quickly notice this effect.
5. You refer to ‘the Swiss’ but you’re Swiss now yourself. Why not ‘we’?
Good catch! I was freshly naturalised when I wrote the book and the truth is I will never feel 100 per cent Swiss because I lived the first two thirds of my life in Ireland. There are all sorts of complications that come with life as an immigrant. Accepting a new country as home is a bit like accepting a new step-parent. No matter how nice they are …
6. How is the second edition different from the first?
The statistics and some current events have been updated in the second edition. But the main difference is that I have written a new chapter about the Swiss relationship with the European Union, which is a very interesting case study for any country that might be experiencing EU relationship troubles. Ahem. The upshot is that the Swiss model is deeply entwined, impossible to replicate and about to reach its use-by date.
To learn more about Clare, be sure to follow her on her blog, on Twitter, and on facebook!
]]>Picture: Dianne Dicks with a Dolmen in Donegal County, Ireland. (c) Mary Hogan
By Dianne Dicks, Founder of Bergli Books.
Switzerland may be small but the way of life is a lot more complex than in many bigger countries. When I founded Bergli Books 30 ago, the aim was to help explain things to foreigners and Swiss alike.
Using logical thinking, one would have to be out of one's mind to publish books in English where the media and infrastructure for selling books are based on another language – or four other languages in Switzerland. But after 30 years, Bergli Books shows that the challenges explain the success.
When international people get together, “Where do you come from?” and “How long have you been here?” are followed by entertaining anecdotes about intercultural encounters. I always enjoyed this exchange of personal experiences. The sharing of sometimes-trivial incidents often leads to the profound. People with a foot in more than one culture develop skills in coping with life that cannot be learned at any university. And you don't have far to go in Switzerland to find yourself in another culture, even if you are Swiss. You only have to open your mouth and you'll be labeled by where you come from, even if it is just the next village.
During several decades of living abroad, mostly in Switzerland, I've collected intercultural “stories.” The media always seems full of wars, conflicts of cultures and religions. It implies people of different cultures are destined not to be able to get along. But in my own experience, communicating across cultural barriers is a natural part of life. It often adds spice to routines, work, travels, and friendships. I found that writers, journalists, teachers, and translators living in Switzerland had valuable messages for the world—realistic experiences of how to communicate across cultural barriers and overcome cultural differences.
The Swiss are not easy to describe. Perhaps that is why the task is so fascinating. Clichés rarely work across cantonal borders or even across garden fences. Almost anything you say about the Swiss, another Swiss will disagree with. And living with the Swiss as neighbors, business associates, spouses, is like riding a bicycle. It is difficult when you try to explain it in words and in isolated steps. Sometimes it hurts, but if you stick to it, you'll eventually catch on.
I did not start publishing books in English about the Swiss to inform outsiders but to get the Swiss to talk about themselves. I wanted to help the Swiss in my English classes talk in English about their country, their values, and their heritage. My students couldn’t do that, not even in their own language. These adult “students” in Swiss firms and schools were often keener to talk about American and British ways of life.
One way of getting them to talk about life in Switzerland was to relate stories from my English-speaking international friends about living with the Swiss. It set off lively discussions, sometimes arguments, but mostly an exchange of their own anecdotes. They learned as much about themselves as they did about the English language. So I kept nagging my international friends (journalists, translators, and teachers) to write down their impressions. Soon I had quite a number of “stories” which other English teachers wanted to use as well. Newcomers to Switzerland wanted copies to help them develop “cultural resiliency” and understand their Swiss neighbors and colleagues (and spouses) better.
Tired of photocopying these stories, I decided to find a publisher. But none was willing (or foolhardy?) enough to publish a collection of personal experiences in English about living with the Swiss. So, very naïve (a polite word for being uninformed about the hard knocks of publishing), I decided to do it myself.
I arranged to have 10,000 copies of Ticking Along with the Swiss printed, confident they would simply sell themselves. By some miracle, they did. The Swiss loved it as much as international newcomers. Swiss firms bought the book for their associates abroad and for their employees who were transferred to Switzerland from other countries. I had discovered a niche and a need. Within two years, all the copies had been sold and there was a great demand for more “stories.” Hundreds were sent to me in response to the first book, and within two years Bergli Books published Ticking Along Too. Both books have had several reprints.
I admit that while waiting for the first print-run of 10,000 copies to arrive, I did panic. I was afraid that I'd start receiving hate-mail, get banned from the country or worse, have to stay here and face the you-shouldn't-have comments from Swiss friends. That was 30 years ago. Still no hate-mail.
In publishing, you have to trust your gut feelings, find a sense of scale and nuance. And above all, you need to hang on to your dreams and dare to fail. I'd like to think the Bergli Books’ success is due to my efforts and skills. But in all honesty, by pure chance I discovered a niche market. I met the needs of international people eager to find and share experiences about living in a fascinating, multicultural society.
It pleases me the most that our publications seem cherished by the Swiss. This is not because they are written to flatter them. Many different impressions of living in Switzerland are recorded. There is wonder, perplexity, social commentary, warm admiration, and critical observations. Our authors tell the stories sincerely without trying to teach or sell anybody anything, and they sprinkle them with playful humor.
]]>A version of this article appeared in Hors Ligne Magazine in 1998, under the title of “Handling Helvetia.”
Gathering in the kitchen to chat and sample the food being cooked is a common pastime in many homes over the holidays. On Sunday, December 10th, Christmas shoppers at Stauffacher’s English Bookshop in Bern were invited to join “the family” at the launch of Helvetic Kitchen, a new Bergli Books cookbook written and illustrated by Swiss-Canadian author Andie Pilot (photo, right).
“It was delightful to celebrate the book with some Brunsli and bubbles!” says Pilot, who provided a plate of the traditional Swiss cookies (freshly baked!) for the launch. Besides pouring Prosecco, Andie signed copies of her book, available in Swiss bookstores and online at www.bergli.ch.
Andie even gave an on-the-spot interview to Carmela Reyes (pictured, left), who bought five books as presents for the recent graduates of Neuchatel Junior College, which Andie attended in 2001.
]]>Initially, my being in charge of promoting a cookbook seemed a bit ludicrous. My cooking repertoire is limited to seven recipes. It took me three months to gather up the courage to put a pan in my new oven, which has a built-in microwave function.
But the more I thumb through Helvetic Kitchen, the more I realize that it’s actually the perfect book for me.
“I think many of the recipes that may seem overwhelming to people are actually really easy,” says the author, Andie Pilot. “All the recipes in the book are simple recipes, and I've tried to lay out the simplest way to make them.”
Is there really joy in cooking? On a sunny afternoon in November I set out for Langnau, outside Berne, to watch Andie cooking and to talk with her about her book.
“What I like about cooking and baking is that it’s something that almost everybody in the world does,” says the Swiss-Canadian former pastry chef. “So you can usually find a starting point with anyone by talking about food,”
The cookbook Helvetic Kitchen began as a food blog in 2015. “My Canadian friends kept asking me for my fondue recipe or my Mom’s Christmas cookie recipe, and I thought, if I stick the recipes online, then they’ll all have access,” says Andie.
The cookbook grew out of “all the interesting Swiss foods and recipes” she collected for the blog. “I thought, ‘Everybody has to make more Swiss food!’ ”
I watch Andie making Basler Schoggitorf, a brownie-like Swiss dessert. Although she does have a top-of-the-line KitchenAid mixer, it doesn't figure prominently in the recipe. And even I have to admit that there isn't much previous cooking experience required.
At the end of the afternoon, waiting for the Post bus, I hold the aluminum foil-wrapped chocolate dessert in one hand and the small book containing Andie’s favorite recipes in the other.
It’s time for me to develop the courage to cook, I resolve.
I’m not quite ready for a KitchenAid, but I’m definitely buying myself a copy of Helvetic Kitchen for Christmas!
To read more about Andie and Helvetic Kitchen subscribe to the Bergli Books newsletter.
]]>As I crossed the Midwest every summer in the 70’s with my family and a tent, I had no way of knowing that I would someday cross the ocean and end up settling down in a little-known country with very big hills.
I’ve passed through many Swiss cities since arriving in Bern in 1992. I’ve adapted, integrated and become Swiss. But it’s only now, as an intern two days a week, that I‘m getting to know the city of Basel, and discovering new facets of my adopted country in the varied publications produced in Basel by Bergli Books.
Corner on the market
On a Monday morning at 8:30 the Basel train station is humming. Travelers arrive from Germany to the north, from Zürich to the east, from Bern to the south, from France to the west. Thousands of workers head for the soaring, shining, glass-and-steel buildings that house the pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Rhine river, in a small office above the Narrenschiff bookstore, three people settle down to a very different kind of business: telling the stories of Switzerland.
I am one of them: a journalist interning as a marketing professional. My task: to help relaunch the Bergli Books website. My goal: to build a community of readers and writers who want to share their experiences of life in Switzerland.
Bergli Books has had the English-language corner on this market since 1988, when founder Dianne Dicks published “Ticking Along with the Swiss”, the first in what was to become a four-book series about cultural encounters between Swiss and non-Swiss in Switzerland.
Since then, Bergli has published just under 50 books, branching out to include coloring books, cookbooks, children’s books, guides to the Swiss German dialect, a range of books illustrated with cartoons, biographies, history and politics, and German and French translations of popular titles.
Welcome to the new website
Obviously, selling books is the main goal of a publisher’s website. But my focus as Bergli’s web content developer has been on making the new website a place to spend some time learning about what Switzerland and Bergli have to offer, not just a place to search for one title.
This blog – offering a personal viewpoint – is our first attempt to reach out to our readers. Under the menu item “News & Views” we’ll also be reporting news related to Bergli’s books and authors. If you're a potential author with an idea for a book, you’ll find submission guidelines under “About Us”, along with a short history of the company and links to book reviews and press coverage. Helping Bergli authors publicize their books is on our agenda for the future.
An organization is made up of its people. Bergli Books may have a small staff, but it has many authors, and even more readers. Our goal is to bring the website to life – to show that books are created and read by people, and that Bergli’s books are created and read by people in Switzerland.
We hope you’ll be one of those people. So check back often. We look forward to meeting you – virtually or in person – as we share the stories of Switzerland.
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