Arena Publishing 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 Publishing 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. The publishing house receives the German Children’s Literature Award for Otfried Preußler’s “Krabat” in 1972, as well as for “The Long March of Lucas B.” by Willi Fährmann in 1981. In 1981, Arena pioneered in developing a pedagogically thought-out, multilevel concept for learning to read, which is today known as “Bookbear First Readers Collection”. Since 1987, the children’s and young adult fiction programme of Zurich publishing company Benziger belongs to Arena.In 2000, Arena took over Ensslin Publishing, a publisher founded in 1818 with a programme steeped in tradition.Arena started its own audiobook programme in 2006 labelled “Arena audio”.
With about 2,000 available titles, Arena Publishing nowadays keeps a diverse range for infants, children, and young adults on hand.Arena is a partner of the picture book prize “Der Meefisch”.
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