Zuckersüß Verlag - important topics for young and old lovingly explained

Zuckersüß Verlag is a publishing house that translates and lovingly illustrates children's books from all over the world. They focus on important, beautiful, emotional, and socially critical topics, tailored precisely to children's needs and encouraging them to reflect and question.

Lukas founded Zuckersüß Verlag together with his wife Anna. In this interview, he explains why reading is so important for children and just as valuable for parents. He also shares how they find and select their books, what they're planning for the publishing house, how the books resonate with children, and why they're so moving.

1. Dear Lukas, you are the father of adorable twins and, together with your wife Anna, founded Zuckersüß-Verlag in Germany. Since 2019, you have been dedicated to exciting books and their translations. Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers again?

With pleasure! I'm Lukas, 34 years old, father of Zoë and Vincent, who are almost two and a half, and husband of Anna, with whom I started Zuckersüß Verlag last year. We consider ourselves a "family business" in the truest sense of the word – we've built our company around our family, enjoy the luxury of being able to spend more time with our little ones by working from home, and publish books that we want to read to our children or that we want them to read themselves.

2.  Zuckersüß is a children's book publisher, and one thing immediately stands out: your books contain more than just a sweet children's story. They address important social issues such as healthy self-love and feeling good about one's own body, men who cry sometimes, the importance of bees on our planet, and much more. What do you think of your books, and what ideas are at the forefront of them?

Before the coronavirus pandemic, we spent a lot of time at children's book fairs across Europe, where we talked to our international publishing partners about their new releases. These days, we also often browse Instagram for great international illustrators or small independent publishers. What's always important to us, in addition to outstanding artistic and content quality, is that the books should ideally have a strong message, because we see ourselves as a modern publishing house for modern families.

3. Your books have been published in three different languages ​​so far, because you personally felt that many publishers lacked this. What is your vision for the publishing house? Would you like to publish books in every language at some point, or write your own?

We're certainly concentrating on German-language books for now – tens of thousands of new children's books are published worldwide every year, and only a fraction of them make it to Germany, so there's a lot to discover. Writing our own book is a fun idea, but to be honest, it hasn't occurred to us yet because, as publishers, we see ourselves more as a curator in the background, providing a platform for the world's great authors and illustrators. In the long term, we want to create a children's book publisher with Zuckersüß Verlag that is modern and high-quality in every respect and that appeals to parents and young families like us. One of our principles is "small but mighty": We don't publish 40-50 books a year, but select our titles very carefully. With Zuckersüß, we want to be the kind of publisher we ourselves, as parents, would have dreamed of, where there are truly special children's books to discover a few times a year.

4.  Before founding your publishing house, you worked as an entrepreneur, but you've always loved reading. Had you toyed with the idea of ​​starting a publishing house before, or did the idea actually only come about after the birth of your children and buying books for them?

I had actually already gained experience at another publishing house, which ultimately encouraged us to found Zuckersüß Verlag. However, the idea of ​​how we run the company, our values ​​and priorities, changed fundamentally with the birth of our children, and so the publishing house is truly the result of us as a family. We asked ourselves what corporate culture and strategy would be optimal for us and what titles and products would excite us as a family, and built the publishing house on that foundation. And it works very well for us personally.

5. Your book "Love Your Body" was published last year. It's aimed specifically at children and young girls and is lovingly illustrated. With the quote "What if every girl loved her body?" you're now on everyone's lips. How did you come across this book, and is it a work of art close to your heart?

We discovered this book at a very small independent publisher in Melbourne and immediately fell in love: The cover features women with very different body types: in wheelchairs, with cellulite, with body hair – all characteristics that are usually hidden and invisible in our society. And when we learned more about the author, Jessica Sanders, and her work as a social worker, it quickly became clear that we wanted to bring this title to Germany. Precisely because it's so important for girls (and boys!) to understand that what a body can do is much more important than what it looks like. Our society still has a lot of work to do in this regard, and we hope that children's books like "Love Your Body" can make a small contribution. So, it's a matter close to our hearts, especially as parents of a daughter and a son.

6. How do you feel about the response to your books? Are there many parents and people who have been waiting for such loving stories, or have you encountered some resistance?

To be honest, we've been quite overwhelmed by the many positive responses to our books so far. We've even received mail from clinics and therapists who use our books to comfort children or help girls with eating disorders, and that's naturally wonderful for us. So far, opposition has been the exception rather than the rule.

7. As parents, how important do you think it is to read together with your children? And what advice would you give to parents whose children might still be a little reluctant to read?

Reading a good children's book aloud is simply quality time. Reading encourages language in little ones, the illustrations fire their imagination, and the stories promote creativity, emotional intelligence, and empathy. But most importantly, you spend time together, giving your children closeness and security and your undivided attention. Especially in hectic everyday lives, and when both parents work, these minutes together are incredibly valuable. As for little ones who don't like reading, our recommendation is to simply spend a little time together and have one or two interesting books around that can pique curiosity and spark conversation. Children are little explorers; if there's something new or exciting on the table, they'll usually quickly take a look themselves.

8. Will you publish books with other themes for adults in the future? If so, what kind of genre would they take?

We're currently planning to focus on children's books, but we'll soon be releasing our first book for young adults between the ages of 10 and 17: "The Book of Anti-Racism" by Tiffany Jewell. A powerful, loud, colorful book—and more relevant now than ever.

9. What is your current favorite book, or that of your children, and why?

We're currently loving a picture book about Anne-France Dautheville: She's the first woman to circumnavigate the world solo on a motorcycle. The book gives us goosebumps and a taste for travel every time we read it, especially now that traveling isn't so easy. Anne-France Dautheville is a fantastic role model, a truly inspiring figure for girls and boys alike, making her a perfect subject for our family and Zuckersüß-Verlag! 

Dear Lukas, thank you for the inspiring and interesting interview! We're looking forward to all the other wonderful stories and books you'll publish in the future!