Live webchat: Dennis Johnson on Hans Fallada

The publisher who brought Fallada back to prominence with English readers will be chatting with us on Monday 8 April. Please post your questions now

Monday 8 April 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of the execution of Otto and Elise Hampel, the couple who inspired Hans Fallada's Alone In Berlin, by spreading anti-Nazi postcards around wartime Berlin.

This, admittedly, is a grim anniversary, but an important one to commemorate. We're going to do it by discussing their acts of lonely heroism in a live webchat with Dennis Johnson, the co-founder of Melville House and one of the main reasons that Fallada's book re-emerged into the English speaking world.

You'll be able to ask Dennis how he rediscovered the book (legend has it that it was no less than fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg who first suggested to him that it should be translated), about how it felt to oversee such a global success story. You might also want to ask about the other Fallada titles published by Melville House. (Others are almost as remarkable as Alone In Berlin and have similarly extreme back stories. The Drinker, for instance, was written in code while its author was in an asylum.) Ask about Fallada himself too. In 2012, Dennis met and interviewed Fallada's son Ulrich Ditzen and knows a great deal about this strange and wonderful writer – not to mention the Hampels themselves.

Elsewhere, it's also worth noting that as well as co-running a comparatively new and unusually successful publishing company, Dennis is the founder of one of the world's first book blogs, Mobylives.com, and a leading light in the civilised world's ongoing fight against the encroaching darkness of Amazon . He is, in other words, a fascinating man and we're lucky to have him with us. So please ask him a question!

Dennis will be with us a 1pm BST on 8 April, but you can start posting your questions now in the comments below.

Hans FalladaFiction
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