Editing Feminism in the ROWOHLT VERLAG Paperback Series RORORO NEUE FRAU and RORORO ROTFUCHS during the 1970s and 1980s

In 1977, the ROWOHLT VERLAG launched a paperback series for women, RORORO NENE FRAU, becoming the first major West German publisher to publish alternative women's literature or Frauenliteratur. But RORORO NEUE FRAU was not the only ROWOHLT paperback series producing a new kind of literature for female readers. In 1972, ROWOHLT had already founded a series for young readers called RORORO ROTFUCHS. The founding editor, Uwe Wandrey, and his colleagues and later series editors, Renate Boldt and Gisela Krahl, chose to publish realistic, critical and political books that encouraged values like equality and fairness. Many books in the series dealt with emancipation and empowerment for girls and women. On the basis of archival sources, this contribution discusses how the editors chose and edited texts for publication, shedding light on the intricate relationship between publishing houses, editors, authors and readers.