Family and memory have been among the central subjects of my work as a writer and publisher for many years. I keep returning to them, trying to understand what remains of people and relationships as time passes, and how a personal history becomes part of our own identity.
In my essay collection Voices in the Radiator, I write about tiny moments, memories, and objects that gradually shape our sense of who we are. In a family book about my father, my sister and I explore our family’s story – told and untold.
The same questions continue in my plays. In the diptych The Dead Man and Me and in Three Rooms, memory, the past, dimensions of life, and relationships that never end with someone’s death. With ongoing thrill, I explore how the past continues to exist in the present and in the ways we become its carriers.
As a publisher, I also work with personal stories and cultural memory. Our Narratives series is a collection of personal stories about people, places, and communities. For me, this is another form of working with memory.
I am quite fascinated by small objects that carry stories. A photograph, a letter, an old notebook, a recipe, a document, a toy, or an object that has been kept in a drawer for decades can sometimes tell us more about a family than an official biography ever could.
Now, I want to take this work one step further and work with other families and their stories.
Families continue to live in different dimensions: in our memories, stories, photographs, objects, habits, family myths, and in the ways we remember and talk about one another.
I create family books on commission.
It can be the story of a parent or grandparent, the history of a family home or business, a particular period of family life, a relationship, a tribute to someone who is no longer with us, or simply a collection of stories to pass on to children and grandchildren.
For each book (working closely with family members), I choose its own form, voice, and scope.
We begin with a conversation and decide together what the book should preserve and what form it should take. I then conduct interviews, research the material, write and edit the text. After my own editing, I invite a professional editor to review and further edit the text. We then work with a designer on the structure and visual form of the book.
The result can be a printed book or an e-book.
Production of one family book from scratch usually takes approximately 2–4 months to complete (depending on the scope and complexity of the project).
Prices and timeline:
A personal or family memoir book, developed from a series of interviews and shaped into a finished, illustrated hardcover volume — printed in a small edition of 20 copies. Pilot pricing.
Budget
| Item | Estimated cost |
| Book development (interviews, writing, editing, layout) | €1,500 – €1,800 |
| Printing — 20 copies, hardcover, quality paper, incl. proof copy | €400 – €700 |
Total: €2,200 – €2,500
Book length: 120–150 pages. Illustrations in black & white; color illustrations increase printing cost by roughly €100–€150 for the edition.
Payment terms:
30% deposit is due before work begins. The remaining 70% is due after the layout is approved, before the edition goes to print.
Timeline
| Stage | Duration |
| Interviews (5–10 sessions) | 3–5 weeks |
| Transcription | 1–2 weeks |
| First draft | 3–5 weeks |
| Client review & revisions | 2–3 weeks |
| Editing & proofreading | 1–2 weeks |
| Photo/illustration preparation | 1–2 weeks (parallel) |
| Layout & design | 1–2 weeks |
| Final approval | 1 week |
| Proof copy & final corrections | 1–2 weeks |
| Printing of the edition | 1–3 weeks |
Total: approximately 2 – 4 months from the first interview to the delivered edition.
Pilot pricing. Full rates for future projects are higher and will be quoted individually based on scope.
If you have been thinking about preserving your family history in a book, I would be happy to talk about your story.