A man as a woman as a man? A woman as a man as a woman? Barbara Vinken revels in analysing fashion as a game played with gender and identity.

Do we dress as women or as men? Are our clothes simply a form of self-expression or are we also conveying a wealth of social codes? Fashion, according to Barbara Vinken, is always simultaneously a language, a set of conventions to which we are subject, and a means of defying those conventions – surrendering ourselves to the charms of dressing up. Only as a game played with gender, class and identity is fashion capable of performing gender as a sophisticated rhetorical construct. What fashion does, therefore, is not to erase gender, not to make gender fluid, but to radically unsettle and juxtapose the constructs of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’. Provocative, witty and brilliant.

There’s no reason to give up, says Mieze Medusa, writing with humour and warmth – and especially not if you’re a woman!

Friends and partners, mothers and daughters: Mieze Medusa’s captivating new novel is all about women and their right to not give a monkey’s about ‘what people say about them’. Laura, a native of Tyrol, lives in Innsbruck and hates skiing, cosy romantic chalets and the magic of the Alps. Forty-year-old Frederike, known as Fred, still hasn’t settled down and is frequently out of work. She lives in Vienna, previously with Marlis – until she falls in love with musician Milla YoloBitch. Marlis wants a baby, Fred wants Milla, Milla wants to rap, Laura wants to draw comics, Laura’s sister Isabella wants a family and a career. And although not all their wishes will come true, in this novel Mieze Medusa makes a passionate case for allowing women to be, become and want anything they please.

The follow-up to the bestselling "When the Jasmine Leaves" goes straight to the heart.

In "When the Jasmine Puts Down Roots", Jad Turjman explains what happened to him after he successfully fled Syria and made a new home in Austria. He reflects on the differences and commonalities between the two cultures, the linguistic gaffes that Syrians learning German can make, and the racism that has sometimes confronted him. Of course, Austrians and their quirks also come under the microscope, and his outsider’s viewpoint is often highly illuminating. Turjman explores how a person can process traumatic events and describes his personal experience of therapy. The follow-up to his bestselling "When the Jasmine Leaves" is multi-layered, humorous and profound.

In a novel at once merciless and tender, Moritz Franz Beichl explores lovesickness, depression and what it means to have a lust for life.

Moritz Franz Beichl’s compelling debut novel is an unrestrained hymn to desire, but also bears unvarnished witness to the realities of living with depression and bipolar disorder. When the narrator is abandoned by his boyfriend and – after a suicide attempt – is admitted to a psychiatric ward, he begins messaging his lost love. He texts obsessively, without hoping for a reply, but is lucid and ironic when discussing conditions at the hospital. After being discharged, he tries to find a precarious balance in his new life between ordinary everyday reality and excess. Building on these intimate, confessional passages, Beichl explores society’s treatment of feelings and bodies, of non-normative psyches and queer desires.

The life and work of Freud, Adler and Frankl, the founders of world-renowned schools of psychotherapy, grounded in the historical context of their age.

Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Viktor Frankl – giants of Viennese intellectual life – revolutionised the science of psychological research within a strikingly short span of time. They became the founding fathers of theories and methods of treatment that are still highly influential even today: psychoanalysis, individual psychology and logotherapy. What were their social environments, how were they shaped by their family backgrounds, and what did their professional networks look like? The authors offer a gripping account of a hundred and fifty years of cultural and scientific history, shedding light on the complex relationships between these three figures.

This amusing and profound book of questions is the perfect gift for yourself or anybody else who matters to you.

Do you get bored by people who only ever ask themselves things they already know the answers to? Have you been waiting ages for someone to finally ask you the revelatory questions that make you realise what you’re truly made of, deep down? That reveal to you your hidden desires and self-delusions? That make you understand why nobody thinks about you the way you think about yourself? In these 666 questions, Sven Michaelsen sends readers on a journey of self-discovery through the brain, heart and belly that’s as instructive as it is hilarious. By the end of it, you’ll be seeing yourself and your life with fresh eyes.

It's a fine line between indulgence and addiction. Liberate yourself from dependency!

Addictions increasingly dominate our society. This has been further exacerbated by the pandemic, which has led to greater psychological strain and consequently an increased risk of addictive behaviour. When we yearn to experience moments of pleasure with growing frequency, we pay for it with the loss of our personal freedom. Quite often, even the search for this moment becomes addictive. And addiction can revolve around many things: cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, food, work, internet, shopping, gambling and more. 'Addiction' by Georg Psota and Michael Horowitz explores addictive disorders and their causes in all their forms and variations, and offers guidance on overcoming dependency and finding a way back to a freer, more balanced life.

Two vociferous thinkers have teamed up to write a passionate plea in favour of action and against fatalism and apathy.

The warming of our planet is a global emergency. We have altered the world to such an extent that the resulting change threatens not only us and our health, but the entire planet Earth. The only remedy is a comprehensive transformation of our way of life and economic systems. Yet most concerned individuals assume that they themselves cannot make a difference, given the extent of the threat. This also applies to scientists, as well as economic and political decision makers. But that’s not the case – as this spirited book points out. In 'Leap across the Abyss', physicist Harald Lesch and doctor Martin Herrmann issue a joint appeal for people to overcome their state of paralysis and promote the "big transformation".

Kaśka Bryla's manic realism draws the reader under its spell, in this highly topical and painfully intense novel.

Iga the skateboarder, the beautiful Jess and their chubby friend Ras are outsiders at their school, but the bond between them is strong. Secretive and inseparable, they call themselves the "Ice Divers". One night, the youngsters witness a brutal assault by the police. When the iniquity remains without repercussions, they decide to take the law into their own hands. Twenty years later, a mysterious stranger turns up who seems to know about the act of revenge that took place all that time ago. The precarious balance is under threat. Kaśka Bryla skilfully weaves a gripping story about the causes of radicalisation into a plea for solidarity and love. Not for the faint-hearted, this novel will be warmly embraced by passionate spirits!

As convincing as it is provocative, Simon's novel is a portrait of a not-so-distant future in which surveillance state and identity politics make for a perfect match.

Fast-paced and humorous, Cordula Simon's biting novel describes a future that is worryingly close to our present. Surveillance and self-regulation by means of an implanted log have become common place – those who don't participate attract suspicion. When Sandor, the weatherman on Honest Airwaves reveals the destructive intentions of the Tolerance Union while on air, the regime's response is merciless. He is persecuted relentlessly, just like the "Wolves of Pripyat", an alleged terrorist group that fights against the Consul who reigns over the Union with supposed benevolence. Simon's sweeping novel is a hallucinatory vision of a future in which even the longed-for freedom is no more than a digitally generated illusion, a particularly cunning trick of the system.