CATAN Novel by Klaus Teuber Gets Long-Awaited English Translation

A CATAN novel written by Klaus Teuber is getting an English translation.

By Christian Hoffer

A CATAN novel, written by the creator of the beloved board game franchise, will finally get an English translation released later this year. Blackstone Publishing has announced that they will be publishing an English translation of Klaus Teuber's CATAN novel, which describes the history of the fictional island of Catan and its peoples. The novel, originally published in 2022 in Germany, will focus on three Nordic brothers fleeing their home and ending up on a treacherous voyage to Catan, the land of the sun. The novel follows their journey and eventual settlement of Catan and the drama that follows such a journey. 

The novel explores the history behind the Catan series of board games, which is one of the most popular board games ever made. Over 40 million copies of Catan and its various expansions have been published as of 2023, with each expansion and new game adding various twists to the classic gameplay of cooperation and competition. 

Speaking with ComicBook last year, Klaus Teuber's son Guido spoke about the novels and how they came into being. "My dad, the way he invented or designed games, he would sit on the train and daydream," Teuber said. "Eventually it would find its way into game form because he wanted to tell that story. So all of his game designs were always born out of the story, whether it's Barbarossa, his first game of the year, or with CATAN." For CATAN, Teuber was inspired by Vikings, specifically the ones who went to Iceland and were more traders and agrarians rather than raiders.

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"He was always an avid reader and that always informed his game design," Guido Teuber said of his father. "He had so much still going on and so much in his head that he wanted to create and make happen, and unfortunately he wasn't able to." Several aspects of the games, such as The Helpers expansion, would go on to appear in the novels. 

The CATAN novel by Klaus Teuber will be released on October 1st. A preview of the book can be found here.

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