History

At the end of 2008 Catharine J. Nicely founded PalmArtPress. A migrant herself in Berlin (since 1991), Catharine Nicely wanted to use PalmArtPress to help bridge cultural diffferences, build literary bridges, and promote better mutual understanding. Her goal is to promote cultural diversity and international exchange beyond the mainstream.. German or international authors are published in German or English and sometimes in bilingual editions.

Since 2011, PalmArtPress, publishing house and gallery, located at Pfalzburger Straße 69 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, has been a focal point for people interested in literature and art. Readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts are held regularly. 

Catharine J. Nicely studied art history, fine arts and German literature in New York (Syracuse University), Florence, Mainz and Kiel. In addition to art and literature, the American, who came to Berlin in 1991 with two suitcases, has been fascinated by the diversity of German culture and language since her childhood. Since coming to Germany, she has worked as a freelance artist as well as independently as a translator, editor and proofreader of English texts. 

When Catharine J. Nicely founded the publishing house, the question naturally arose: What should the name of the publishing house be? 

As a tribute to these Swabian ancestors, some of whom later emigrated to America, Catharine J. Nicely gave her publishing house, founded in 2008, the name PalmArtPress. She studied the history of her family intensively, including the Palm family. She found the family crest and family tree at home. She was particularly impressed by the family motto "In Adversis Virtus," which means to be brave and courageous in adverse circumstances. 

Like her relatives back in America, the passionate publisher had to contend with sometimes "adverse circumstances" in Berlin. 

She discovered that there was even a publisher among her ancestors. The publisher and printer Johann Philipp Palm had printed the pamphlet "Germany in its deepest humiliation" against Napoleon and was executed for it.