Ombra GVG, one of the foremost publishing houses in Albania, has acquired Albanian translation rights to Dark Traces / Donker spoor, the debut novel of top local crime writer Martin Steyn.

This publishing house prides itself on assembling on their list a carefully curated selection of the most well-known classical and modern authors from all over the world. It is home to works by, amongst others, Ali Smith, Ann Patchett and Zeruya Shalev. 

It has been awarded with many important cultural prizes such as The Lumo Skëndo Prize 2010, granted by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports (Republic of Albania), and the National Library of Albania.

Donker spoor was originally published in Afrikaans in 2014 and awarded the ATKV Prize for Suspense Fiction in 2015. In 2017, its English translation Dark Traces was released locally by LAPA Publishers and in the US by Catalyst Press, where it proceeded to garner high praise and receive a prestigious Kirkus Star. A Turkish edition was published in 2019.

Steyn has since published three other lauded novels, all published by LAPA, now a division of Penguin Random House South Africa.

Rights sold: US (Catalyst Press), Turkish (A7 Kitap), Albanian (Ombra GVG).

Contact Catrina Wessels with your rights queries: catrina@catrinawessels.com

Praise for Dark Traces:

“[a] dark, intriguing, and satisfying tale with strong characters.”  

Kirkus Reviews

“A captivating debut thriller”

The Library Journal

“[F]ascinating and compelling for its unfamiliar—at least, to most American readers—setting, its well-drawn and sympathetic characters, and the totally believable psychopath whose vicious murders are at the center of the plot.”

The New York Journal of Books

“Martin places a premium on realism, and it shows in the book. But his character study of his protagonist, Jan Magson, and the people caught up in the killer’s wake are riveting.”

The Big Thrill