Luftschacht
Founded
2001
Titles per year
10-16
Location
Vienna
Luftschacht (meaning “air shaft”) was originally a hybrid music, text and performance project initiated in the mid-1990s. An air shaft connected the basement rehearsal room with the outside world: it supplied the artists with oxygen inside and simultaneously released their sounds and texts to the outside. The first book programme followed in 2003, and today Luftschacht is a trade publisher driven by a sense of mission.
Authors
Martin Baltscheit, Nele Brönner, Rosemarie Eichinger, Robert Göschl, Verena Hochleitner, Melanie Laibl, Rahel Messerli, Pascale Osterwalder, Michael Roher, Raffaela Schöbitz, Dorothee Schwab, Tessa Sima, Michael Stavarič, Franz Suess, Lisa Maria Wagner
Illustrators
Titles
The Snow Leopard
Verena Hochleitner
Winner of the Austrian Children’s and Youth Book Award 2022
One of Austria’s Most Beautiful Books, 2021
You can find new friends anywhere!
“Papa, there’s a big cat lying on the grass!“ The little girl is very excited. It’s a beautiful day to go to the park to walk and play … but Papa seems more interested in his mobile phone than in big cats. Maresa isn’t discouraged, though: after all, adventures with a snow leopard are waiting for her … After her Luftschacht debut, ”Der verliebte Koch (The Cook in Love)“, Verena Hochleitner’s ”The Snow Leopard“ captivates readers with powerful strokes of brush and pen, enticing us to join her in a colourful world where digital and analogue realities merge. A snow leopard in Vienna’s Augarten park? But of course!
Spectacled Bear’s Inventions
Nikolaus Ober, Nina Ober (Illustration)
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What can you invent if everything already exists?
“I’m going to invent SOMETHING,“ said Spectacled Bear. He didn’t yet know what, but he was certain it would become clear. Something USEFUL, he decided a little later, something TOTALLY NEW! “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be an invention at all,“ said the know-it-all baboon, but the other animals were already bombarding Spectacled Bear with their wishes – and he invented one thing after another: a Full-Moon Lamp, a Courage Dipper, a Curse Compensator, a Partner Palm … With affectionate, humorous dialogue, Nina and Nikolaus Ober lead us through an abstracted, imaginative jungle, full of surprising details (including “Spectacled Bear’s Inventions”) for readers big and small.
Tiger Dreams
Julian Tapprich
Collection of the Austrian Children and Youth Literature Prize 2025
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Who do you talk to when your dreams are bigger than you are?
Leo was small and yellow, but he was no ordinary bird. The twittering, trilling, and singing of the other birds was so boring, it made him want to fly away. Always the same tunes! He preferred sitting on his favourite branch and daydreaming. Unfortunately, though, he couldn’t share his dreams with anyone – certainly not with the other birds. You see, Leo’s dreamed of a wild feline friend. Leo loved cats. “I’ll tell the cat about my dreams,“ he decided excitedly. “She’ll love them!“
With affectionately wry humour and elaborate, expressionistic illustrations, Julian Tapprich’s debut children’s book, Tiger Dreams, narrates the adventures of Leo, the little yellow bird. After his attempt to make friends with the cat next door miscarries, Leo sets out on a long trip into the jungle, where he’s heard there are really big, wild cats to match his big, wild dreams – tiger dreams!
The Snow Leopard
Verena Hochleitner
Winner of the Austrian Children’s and Youth Book Award 2022
One of Austria’s Most Beautiful Books, 2021
You can find new friends anywhere!
“Papa, there’s a big cat lying on the grass!“ The little girl is very excited. It’s a beautiful day to go to the park to walk and play … but Papa seems more interested in his mobile phone than in big cats. Maresa isn’t discouraged, though: after all, adventures with a snow leopard are waiting for her … After her Luftschacht debut, ”Der verliebte Koch (The Cook in Love)“, Verena Hochleitner’s ”The Snow Leopard“ captivates readers with powerful strokes of brush and pen, enticing us to join her in a colourful world where digital and analogue realities merge. A snow leopard in Vienna’s Augarten park? But of course!
Spectacled Bear’s Inventions
Nikolaus Ober, Nina Ober (Illustration)
–
–
What can you invent if everything already exists?
“I’m going to invent SOMETHING,“ said Spectacled Bear. He didn’t yet know what, but he was certain it would become clear. Something USEFUL, he decided a little later, something TOTALLY NEW! “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be an invention at all,“ said the know-it-all baboon, but the other animals were already bombarding Spectacled Bear with their wishes – and he invented one thing after another: a Full-Moon Lamp, a Courage Dipper, a Curse Compensator, a Partner Palm … With affectionate, humorous dialogue, Nina and Nikolaus Ober lead us through an abstracted, imaginative jungle, full of surprising details (including “Spectacled Bear’s Inventions”) for readers big and small.
Tiger Dreams
Julian Tapprich
Collection of the Austrian Children and Youth Literature Prize 2025
–
Who do you talk to when your dreams are bigger than you are?
Leo was small and yellow, but he was no ordinary bird. The twittering, trilling, and singing of the other birds was so boring, it made him want to fly away. Always the same tunes! He preferred sitting on his favourite branch and daydreaming. Unfortunately, though, he couldn’t share his dreams with anyone – certainly not with the other birds. You see, Leo’s dreamed of a wild feline friend. Leo loved cats. “I’ll tell the cat about my dreams,“ he decided excitedly. “She’ll love them!“
With affectionately wry humour and elaborate, expressionistic illustrations, Julian Tapprich’s debut children’s book, Tiger Dreams, narrates the adventures of Leo, the little yellow bird. After his attempt to make friends with the cat next door miscarries, Leo sets out on a long trip into the jungle, where he’s heard there are really big, wild cats to match his big, wild dreams – tiger dreams!