After more than 90 years, the evangelical Brunnen Verlag Basel gives itself a new name: since June 1^st, the label Brunnen Verlag Basel has become `fontis.

“We’re delighted to make a new start with `fontis and to position ourselves as an independent publisher. We’re convinced that this step is necessary,” says publishing director Dr. Dominik Klenk. The excessive changes in the book and media market call for a clear profiling: “What do you stand for?,” would be the one question which a publishing house needed to address today in order to be recognizable in the crowd. `fontis is Christian, it’s relevant, and it’s modern. “We want to provide established products to seasoned readers but also want to reach people on the fringes with the joyful message of faith. This we want to do in a language they understand and with stories which challenge and elicit them.

The new label is supposed to distinguish the Basel publishing house from the German Brunnen Verlag in Giessen: “The program of the much bigger German Brunnen publishing is pretty strong and broad ranged, and we in Basel were barely recognizable amidst this plenitude,” Dominik Klenk says. According to the motto: “small is beautiful”, the publishing director wants to seize the opportunity to prepare the publishing house for future challenges in the media market. It is important to Klenk that the evangelical publisher stays true to its Swiss roots.

In choosing the new name the publishing house banks on its own history: `fontis (lat. spring) feeds the well, and the fountain is a well (ger. Brunnen) at its best. With the change of name the publishing house mainly wants to reach younger generations of readers with a new design. “Contentwise we want to combine established and innovative products.”

The Bible “Hoffnung für alle – Hope for all“ stays the centerpiece of the publishing house; and the accomplishments of the last weeks by Josef Müller („Ziemlich bester Schurke – Rather best Scoundrel“), of Renate Hartwigs investigative book „Der goldene Skalp – The Golden Scalp“ and the comic book „Coffee with Jesus“ point to where the voyage will be going.

Brunnen Verlag Basel stays the contracting party of the label `fontis and also runs the chain of “Bibelpanorama” book shops and a book and media distributor with altogether 90 employees in Switzerland.