Založba /*cf. - Institute for Publishing and Research Activities publishes books in various fields of humanities, written by both eminent and new authors. Cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin-derived word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is often used in footnotes to refer the reader from one text to another. The publishing house founders chose this name because they saw all texts as interconnected and incomplete, and their aim is to introduce readers to books that transcended what they already knew.

The books are published in ten series, which complement each other:

Rdeča (Red)

Rdeča (Red) is our core series. It encompasses translated works in the humanities and social sciences, ranging from foundational texts to recent outstanding titles. The series covers critical theory, sociology of culture, political economy, anthropology, marxism, epistemology, semiotics, discourse theory, art and literary theory, and symbolic formations, among other fields. Within this extensive range of inquiry, the focus is on authors investigating the historical and material conditions of social formations, elucidating the function of ideology, social structures, and institutions in perpetuating capitalist and colonialist relations. Each book in the series includes a companion study by a Slovenian or international scholar.

Modra (Blue)

The Modra (Blue), also known as The Making of Europe series, is the result of a unique collaboration between five European publishers – Beck in Germany, Blackwell in Great Britain and the United States, Critica in Spain, Laterza in Italy and le Seuil in France, followed also by Atlantisz form Hungary and Založba /*cf. publisher from Slovenia. Each book was published in all seven languages. The scope of the series is broad, encompassing the history of ideas as well as of societies, nations, and states to produce informative, readable, and provocative treatments of central themes in the history of the European peoples and their cultures. The main editor of the series was the world-known French historian Jacques Le Goff.

Oranžna (Orange)

Oranžna (Orange) series, like the Red series, centres on humanities and social sciences, originally written in Slovene. It features monographs that address, among other things, the specific nature of the transition from socialism to neoliberal capitalism, the political economy of socialist and post-socialist societies, and the social, cultural and artistic processes in semi-pheripheral regions and countries that are primarily determined by dependent development. It also critically examines the questions of writing history, and the issues of identity and national myths in post-transitional societies.

Zelena (Green)

Zelena (Green) is a series of carefully selected fiction, both Slovenian and in translation. It debuted in 1997 with the acclaimed novel Šolen z Brega by Zoran Hočevar. The collection is distinguished by its diversity of literary genres, themes and styles, and includes works by canonised authors as well as prominent authors writing today. These works reflect questions of intimacy, memory, justice, identity – questions that are most often a reflection of social relations and a given historical moment.

Lila (Lilac)

Lila (Lilac) is a series dedicated to feminist theory, both translated and originaly written in Slovene, from classic works in gender studies to the latest groundbreaking contributions to current feminist thought. The works, published in the Lila book collection, focus on issues of inequality, emancipation and social reproduction, on critiques of patriarchal social structures and norms, as well as on thinking new forms of social organisation based on equality, justice and solidarity.

Rumena (Yellow)

Rumena (Yellow) series encompasses works that traverse discurses, fields, genres and disciplines. It is a collection of works that move between essays and fiction, between biography, autobiography and autofiction, historical narratives and testimonies, with an emphasis on social and cultural critique and the anthropology of everyday life: these books are firmly situated in their concrete social and historical contexts. They address isues of personal and social emancipation, individual and collective experiences, oppression and resistance, trauma and testimony, and are distinguished by their direct writing, at once intimate, universal, and accessible to a broad readership.

Kaif (Kaif)

The Kaif series brings together translations of top-quality non-European fiction from Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean… Kaif is the Arabic word for well-being. But not for any kind of feeling: "...this is the Arab's kaif. The relish of animal existence; the passive enjoyment of naked sensuality; the intoxicating debauchery, the dreamy abandon, the castles in the clouds, all that in Asia replaces the virile, rugged, passionate life of Europe." So wrote Richard Burton in 1855 – traveller, soldier of empire, translator and commentator on the Thousand and One Nights. Burton believed that the Arabic kaif could not be translated. But former peoples knew how to help themselves, adopting the term without translation. In the languages that were captured or crawled over by the Ottoman Empire, the word caught on remarkably well - from the New Greek κέφι, Turkish kef, Albanian qejf and Cincinnatian chefe, to the Slavic κeиф, κeф, ќeф, ćef, ćeif. In Russian it is κeйф. They have stored in the vocabulary a trace of the education of the heart, they have softened the communion with a new nobility of feeling. Even in Dalmatia, the word jumped into the Ikavian version of ćip. It sowed a rich idiom everywhere – the sensitivity that came with the expression was precious and welcome. Some forty years before Burton, Vuk Karadžić knew exactly how to translate ђeф into European: libido.

Žepna (Pocket)

Žepna (Pocket) series is a collection of shorter books on art, architecture and urbanism of the 20th to 21st centuries. It includes translated and original essays that reflect on contemporary art productions and practices, which are essential for understanding the social role of art, as well as the processes of urbanisation, globalisation, and the transformation of capitalist societies.

Extra (Extra)

The Extra (Extra) series is a small-format book series, dedicated to shorter works by revolutionary thinkers, leaders and activists from around the world. There include evergreen manifestis, essays and articles on important moments in social history that are too often sidelined by the main-stream contemporary academic thought.

Varia (Varia)

The Varia series is the most diverse and vivid collection in terms of genre and subject matter. It includes both popular science monographs and autobiographies, as well as carefully selected novels, essays, philosophical, historical and social-critical commentaries, travelogues, photomonographies... The authors of these works address questions of personal and collective history, art, politics and violence, analyse selected cultural phenomena, as well as the consequences and echoes of colonialism and/or social oppression of all kinds.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - FAQ

1. How long has Založba /*cf. publishing house been in existence? What are the main subject areas for Založba /*cf. publishing? How many titles does Založba /*cf. publish a year and what percentage are translations/reprints?

Založba /*cf. is a small Slovenian publishing house specialising mostly in social sciences, humanities and non-European fiction. We are working in close cooperation with the academic sphere: members of our Editorial board, editors and reviewers are mostly university professors and researchers while our publications are highly regarded in the academic community. We were established in 1997 and until today we have published almost 270 different titles (8 translations per year, 2 domestic authors per year, and 1 revised edition per year); in each book we also publish a new afterword by a prominent scholar. Our publications are thematically organized in ten series. Our central series, Rdeča (Red), consists of translations of referential classics and new books in humanities and social sciences. Oranžna (Orange) series consists of treatises by Slovenian authors in this same field. We are also the Slovene exclusive publisher of Jacques Le Goff's series Faire l' Europe which is being published as the Modra (Blue) series. The Lila (Lilac) series consists of works in feminist theory, while the Žepna (Pocket) series presents short texts on modern and contemporary art. Shorter texts and collections by important world-known engaged authors and activists are published in the Extra series. In Rumena (Yellow) we publish biographies and autofiction.

Fiction is published in two series: in Zelena (Green) series we publish important works of both Slovenian and foreign authors from the Western worlds; and the Kaif editions present selected works of important non-European literature: both classics and contemporary. Varia series consists of socially engaged literalised essays by world-known authors.

2. What rights agreements has Založba /*cf. signed recently with British, European or American publishers?

Založba /*cf. has been collaborating with (among others): Howard Fertig Publisher (NY, USA), Penguin Random House LCC/Knopf Doubleday Rights (NY, USA), Melville House Publishing (NY, USA), Fischer Verlag Gmbh (Germany), Suhrkamp Verlag (Germany), Verlag C. H. Beck (Germany), Carl Hanser Verlag (Germany, Austria), Polity Press Ltd. (UK), The Institute of Psycho-Analysis London (UK), Edward Arnold Publishers, London (UK), Verso (UK), Blackwell Publishers Oxford (UK), Liepmann AG, Zurich (CH), Editions du Seuil (France), Les Editions de Minuit (France), Editions raisons d'agir (France), La Fabrique (France), Librairie Aetheme Fayard (France), Plon (France), Lester Literary Agency (France), Rossijskij gosudarstvennyj gumanitarnyj univerzitet (Russia), Codice edizioni (Italy), Laterza (Italy), Eulamy Literary Agency (Italy), Editorial Critica (Spain)...

3. Založba /*cf. full address, telephone number, VAT number, and other contact details:

Založba /*cf.
Amelia Kraigher (editor-in-chief)
Alvina Žuraj (general manager)
Dalmatinova 2/I, SI-1000 Ljubljana 
Slovenia, Europe
mob. ++386 (0)41 932 062; ++386 (0)31 386 664
tel. ++386 (0)1 434 44 31
www.zalozbacf.si
VAT NO.: SI87121972