Gruner + Jahr | Hamburg, 04/25/2019

‘Wohllebens Welt’ To Encourage Readers To Enjoy Nature

Bestselling author and forest ranger Peter Wohlleben has launched his own magazine in Hamburg. “Wohllebens Welt” (Wohlleben’s World) is published quarterly by Gruner + Jahr and in collaboration with the “Geo” editorial team. The German-language publication will pick up and expand on the nature topics of Wohlleben’s books. The author himself acts as chief reporter for his magazine.

When 300 people gather in the Great Outdoors, it’s usually for an open-air concert, or a play at an open-air theater – not for a magazine launch. And yet that was precisely why droves of visitors on picnic blankets and benches occupied the Hermeswiese in Hamburg. Against the backdrop of Gruner + Jahr’s publishing building on Baumwall, bestselling author Peter Wohlleben presented his new magazine “Wohllebens Welt.” Its goal is to encourage people to enjoy nature and focus on the beneficial effects of flora and fauna on human health. The topics are drawn from Wohlleben’s experience and knowledge as a long-standing forest ranger on the one hand, and on the other from the expertise of G+J’s “Geo” magazine’s editorial staff in the fields of nature and science. After “Barbara,” “Dr. v. Hirschhausen’s Stern Gesund Leben,” “Guido,” “Joko,” and “Boa,” “Wohllebens Welt” is the next title in Gruner + Jahr’s program to provide new impetus in the magazine segment with a prominent figurehead.

As part of Gruner + Jahr’s first open-air launch of a new magazine, Wohlleben told the publishing staff and guests, for example, how you can tell the temperature from  crickets’ chirping, why “forest bathing” lowers blood pressure, and why he likes to describe trees as plant elephants: “Trees are not bio-robots but living beings. They have a memory, they look after their offspring, and communicate with each other.” In “Wohllebens Welt” he invites readers to experience nature in a sensual way four times a year. The fact that Peter Wohlleben has hit a nerve with his topics and messages is shown in his by-now lasting success as an author. The forest ranger had a bestseller with his 2015 nonfiction book “Das geheime Leben der Bäume” (“The Secret Life of Trees”), which he has so far followed up with six more in Germany alone. His books, published by Ludwig Verlag, a Verlagsgruppe Random House imprint, have been translated into 41 languages to date. In his personal magazine he now acts as a kind of chief reporter.

Two Cultures Had To Converge

Michael Schaper, Editor-In-Chief of “Wohllebens Welt” and “Geo Wissen,” explains: “‘Geo’ writes scientifically; Peter Wohlleben from the heart.” He says finding the appropriate style for the magazine required the two cultures to converge. The result was a blend of the two worlds with a new way of describing natural processes. The idea is to transfer and expand Wohlleben’s world of books to the magazine world, says Schaper. So, the first issue is about more than just the forest; it also features mountains, meadows, and seas. In addition, new trends in the relationship between man and nature will be highlighted, such as bushcraft and land art. But above all, according to Wohlleben, it is about experiencing, not about instructing: “We should engage with nature.”