Loewe Verlag

The Publishing House and its history

For over 150 years, Loewe Verlag has been making books out of passion! Its credo is to publish books that children and young people want to read. Because reading is a central competence in our society, which Loewe wants to convey with innovative concepts and exciting stories. Loewe is one of the leading publishing houses for children and young people in the German-speaking world.

The traditional brand "Leselöwen" has been turning first-time readers into reading professionals for over 45 years and is constantly being developed further. Classics such as "Das magische Baumhaus," "Die Gespensterjäger" and "Skulduggery Pleasant" are at home in the independent publishing house. Authors such as Ursula Poznanski, Sonja Kaiblinger and Jochen Till inspire their readers and are part of a book program that offers pure reading pleasure for everyone aged 6 months and older.

The traditional company has been owner-managed since it was founded in 1863. Christoph Gondrom, the 3rd generation of the Gondrom family, joined the management team in 2012. He has headed the publishing house since 2016.

Loewe's concern is to make books accessible and palatable to all children and young people, regardless of their circumstances. Whether it's the early learning program "Loewe von Anfang an," the first-reading concept centered around the "Leselöwen" or the innovative "Loewe Wow!" series - Loewe focuses on the needs of children, young people and their families with its books - for holistic reading promotion.

The publishing house works closely with institutions such as Stiftung Lesen and enters into a variety of cooperative ventures with other companies that are equally committed to the printed word. It also maintains close contact with teachers and educators and provides them with extensive material for their work.

But direct contact with readers is also essential for Loewe. In order to reach the target group where they like to be, it is constantly exploring new avenues: with TikTok videos, WhatsApp book tips, digital author events and much more.

Anticipating social developments and recognizing trends at an early stage is one of the guiding principles in program design. After all, the publisher wants its content to help children, teenagers, and young adults in their everyday lives. For this reason, the program also includes books for children and young adults on topics such as sustainability, environmental protection and artificial intelligence, as well as on gender identity, racism and discrimination.

Even in its early days, Loewe has repeatedly shown itself to be a pioneer. In 1975, for example, it fundamentally changed first-reading literature with a differentiated learning-to-read concept and is still the market leader in this field today. However, the publishing house is not resting on its past successes, but is constantly developing its program to bring exciting stories to current and future generations. In 2020, it launched the "Loewe Wow!" program for this reason. In response to changing reading habits and the increasing media competition from smartphones, Netflix and co., the "Loewe Wow!" books offer highly exciting stories without a desert of text - with an innovative combination of ingenious texts and cool pictures that are in no way inferior to the digital world. Because: All children and young people love stories - they just need to be told and presented differently today.

Loewe sees its responsibility not only in making exciting stories accessible to children and young people. With its books, it is also important to it to make a contribution to an earth on which future generations can continue to live carefree. For this reason, the publishing house dispenses with plastic packaging as far as possible for its products.

The "Naturkind" books also use vegetable oil-based inks and up to 90 percent recycled paper. With partial proceeds from the sale of the "Naturkind" titles, the publishing house also regularly supports regional environmental and nature conservation projects - and thus makes the world a little bit better together with its readers!

Authors and Illustrators

Isabel Abedi, Julia Boehme, Cornelia Funke, Franziska Gehm, Dagmar Geisler, Julia Ginsbach, Kyra Groh, Sonja Kaiblinger, Irmgard Kramer, Derek Landy, Antonia Michaelis, Annette Mierswa, Karl Olsberg, Mary Pope Osborne, Alice Oseman, Ursula Poznanski, Ava Reed, Margit Ruile, Arno Strobel, Frauke Scheunemann, Michelle Schrenk, Jochen Till, Carolin Wahl, Vanessa Walder and many more.