The Danube anthology Der Fluss was developed as part of a project funded by the BW Foundation between 2015 and 2023, which included five international student seminars at the universities of Budapest, Novi Sad, and Tübingen. The anthology was edited in 2018 by Edit Király and Olivia Spiridon and published by Jung und Jung in Salzburg. In 2020, it was translated into Serbian under the title Reka. Jedna drugačija dunavska antologija and published in Novi Sad. In 2022, it appeared in Hungarian as A folyó. Egy másfajta Duna-antológia in Budapest. By 2024, two further translations into Slovak and Romanian were initiated.
The book's popularity across various Danube countries stems from its uniqueness: unlike conventional Danube anthologies, it does not follow the "natural" course of the river. Instead, it gathers and comments on texts from various European literatures in 24 chapters, each addressing significant topoi—both tangible and rhetorical locations—such as source, cities, bridges, delta, estuary, as well as themes like flight and persecution, war and defeat. The chapters juxtapose various perspectives on a single theme and invite readers to approach the European river as a valley rich with meanings and layers of history. The anthology encourages exploration of the Danube region through literary and travel texts, presenting it as an extensive network of relationships and locations. The Danube Swabians are also a recurring theme in various chapters. Through the lens of literature, the histories of the Danube countries and their minorities are presented as episodes of harmony and conflict within the greater region.