Arena Verlag

The Publishing Company and its History

Arena Verlag is one of the major publishing companies for children’s and young adult fiction in Germany. Founded in 1949 by Georg Popp, its place of business has been Würzburg ever since. Georg Popp had been the head of the company for thirty years. Since 1979, Arena Verlag has been a part of the Westermann Publishing Group situated in Braunschweig.

Ever since the company’s establishment, the name Arena has been standing for knowledge and entertainment, for sophisticated, informative, and simultaneously thrilling children’s and young adult fiction. As the first publisher in Germany, Arena launched a paperback series for children and young adults in 1958. In 1981, Arena pioneered in developing a pedagogically thought-out, multilevel concept for learning to read, which is today known as »Bookbear«. Since 1987, the children’s and young adult fiction program of Zurich publishing company Benziger belongs to Arena. In 2000, Arena took over Ensslin Verlag, a publisher founded in 1818 with a program steeped in tradition. Arena started the first own audiobook program in 2006 labeled »Arena audio«. With about 2,000 available titles, Arena Verlag nowadays keeps a diverse range for infants, children, and young adults on hand.

Program

The world of Arena children’s and young adult books is colorful! From infant to young adult – there’s something to discover for everyone.

Already the youngest immerse in the imaginative world of the »Kiddilight« program, have fun with mandalas or love the stories of »Tilda Appleseed«, »Snöfrid«, »Hieronymus Frogg« or »Strawberry Fairy«. With the »Bookbear«, children make their first own reading advances. Later on, titles like »My life as LOTTA«, »Eulenzauber«, »Woodwalkers« or »Muffin-Club« allure to read for themselves.

In the young adult program, the Arena thrillers stand for goose bumps and suspense. Modern love stories touch the heart. Mystery thrillers as well as the autobiographical series ›Mein Leben‹ cast a spell over their young readers. With their controversial topics, ›Life‹ and ›Life Junior‹ are frequently discussed in class. In the Arena non-fiction section, the ›Library of Knowledge‹ as well as single volumes of high value give an exciting insight into a multitude of interesting topics for different age groups.

Since October 2017, our new arena imprint digi:tales is directed to the fans of mobile reading. Here, digital natives can find appealing eBooks in the four genres »Romance«, »Fantasy«, »Crime & Thriller« and »Science Fiction«, especially fit for reading on the go. Our program offers best entertainment at home, on trips or for the daily commute, with stories to devour or just to take a breather – eBooks in their best form. The new imprint has started with four titles in the genres »Romance«, »Fantasy« and »Crime & Thriller« and is accessible via http://www.arena-digitales.de.

Authors and Illustrators

Isabel Abedi, Katja Alves, David Arnold, John August, Antje Babendererde, Jürgen Banscherus, Rüdiger Betram, Ella Blix, Katja Brandis, Ina Brandt, Claudia Carls, Stefanie Dahle, Hans-Günther Döring, Nina Dulleck, Ilona Einwohlt, Lukas Erler, Andreas Eschbach, Alex Falkner, Willi Fährmann, Neil Gaiman, Kira Gembri, Kerstin Gier, Russel Ginns, Max Held, Beatrix Gurian, Jennifer Alice Jager, KNISTER, Daniela Kohl, Kathrin Lange, Tom Limes, Anna Lott, Frauke Nahrgang, Emily Palmer, Alice Pantermüller, Harald Parigger, Gisa Pauly, June Perry, Friederun Reichenstetter, Anna Ruhe, Jo Nesbø, Andreas H. Schmachtl, Heribert Schulmeyer, Christian Seltmann, Alex T. Smith, Jörg Steinleitner, Stefanie Taschinski, Thomas Thiemeyer, Anja Tuckermann, Andreas Venzke, Günther Wessel, Tania Witte and many more.