Journey into Language Land with Bestseller Author Axel Hacke

Why not present a good book that brings joy to the heart? With Axel Hacke, you'll certainly have your fun; we surely did ;-)

“In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” is Axel Hacke's latest work, promising absolute reading pleasure. It comes from a large box in his office, where he has gathered over 15 years of linguistic finds from readers, ads, signs, menus, and newspaper texts. They all share surprising little errors and quirks. “You will surely like it,” wrote the finders to the author, who over the years also collected anecdotes on old receipts and coasters.

A Unique World of Stories

As the mountain of stories grew larger, Axel Hacke pondered what to do with the thousands of letters and notes. Upon closer examination, linguistic errors, misheard phrases, and poorly translated texts revealed a unique world of stories that had to do solely with language, and thus Language Land was born in Hacke's imagination. “This could be a lovely book,” he thought. “A fun, dreamy, whimsical, playful language book.”

“Think a Book”

The final push for “In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” came from an email from Mr. B., who photographed a sign for a boat rental in Agde in Southern France and sent it to Hacke: “Boat rental with or without a license – Think a Book.” For Hacke, this was a sign of fate to finally put into action the long-postponed project. After years of collecting, he started to gather all the material from corners and shelves and simply from his computer to create a book.

A Country Made of Language

Axel Hacke's Language Land is the only country in the world that consists solely of language. Right behind the book cover, there’s even a specially designed map including a Heartbreak Sea, a bakery for emotionless donuts, and the buried mile-high durum mountain. It becomes clear that one is allowed to heartily laugh at Axel Hacke's new book, where time is measured in pampering minutes, people work in “sleepfall” offices, sport body tattoos, and write the word zipper as “Rajs-ferszlus.” In the stories, species like the Acorn Darter, Avenger Salmon, and the Ash Poodle roam, and the rare black-eyed peas and Tiftrijnen grow.

Fried Capri Trousers and Curved Numbers

As a reader, you can't help but marvel and chuckle: In Axel Hacke's Language Land, people are not concerned with dreary reality, correct speech, or proper writing, but rather the opposite: the flawed, the ridiculous, the high and low, the bewildered, the brief pause, and the poetry and thinking that arise from it. There are straight and curled numbers, and people enjoy fried Capri pants as well as dishes with delightful names such as “Little Cephalopods Drowned.”

In times when actual traveling has become a challenge, you can escape with Axel Hacke into this near yet distant funny, dreamy Language Land and enjoy carefree hours. And best with a glass of your favorite wine!

We wish you a delightful experience!

“In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” by Axel Hacke, Kunstmann Verlag, www.kunstmannverlag.de