The Martin Werhand Verlag is a German publishing house with a focus on contemporary literature and poetry.[1] More than 25% of the 150 published authors have an immigrant background with parents who were born outside of Germany and have their roots in countries like the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Russia or Uganda.[2] Thus is also a mirror image of the German Society. The Martin Werhand publishing house stands for tolerance, integration and openness. It is located in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The beginning history of the publishing house started with the University of Bonn and University of Cologne, from where the first anthology of poetry Junge Lyrik took its beginning in 1999.[5][6] From 1999 to 2002 the Martin Werhand publishing house has published three successful poetry volumes named Junge Lyrik,[7]Junge Lyrik II and Junge Lyrik III, in each of which 750 poems were included from 50 young, previously unpublished authors. This was associated with a reading series where the authors recited their works in different towns in Germany like Essen, Bonn or Cologne.[8] In 2003, the Thalia bookstore organized via its parent company Poertgen Herder in Münster on World Book Day on 23 April a reading with the anthology series Junge Lyrik.[9] In 2006 the Bremer Straßenbahn AG under the direction of Dr. Joachim Tuz started a visual lyrical project called Poetry in Motion (Poesie bewegt) with many of the Martin Werhand publishing house authors with their contemporary poems.[10]
In 2014, the Martin Werhand Verlag started a poetry series called 100 Gedichte.[11] In 2016, the publishing house presented some new book series at Frankfurt Book Fair.[12] like 50 zeitlose Gedichte[13] or 50 Gedichte.[14]
Renowned literary publishing houses such as Reclam Verlag or Thienemann Verlag engage in choosing their anthologies back on the authorship of the Martin Werhand publishing house in the recent past.
^Martin Werhand Verlag. In: Patricia M. Mazón, Reinhild Steingröver: Not So Plain as Black and White: Afro-German Culture and History, 1890–2000., Boydell & Brewer, 2005, P. 231
^Kurzporträt: Ulrike Walden: Er schult sich an Schiller und Rilke – Student unterstützt junge Poeten. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. Nr. 86, Mittwoch, 14. April 1999.
^Verleger-Portrait Martin Werhand, buchreport magazin. April 2001, Ausgabe 4, 32. Jahrgang, ISSN0176-8220 -K 5446 ,Harenberg Verlag, Düsseldorf, Rubrik Bücher & Autoren – "Junge Dichter zeichnen Herzen in die Wolken" von Kirsten von Hagen, P. 85–86
^"Junge Lyrik". Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2023.