There is a new innovation this year which I have not yet mentioned, and I would like to do that now: In this, the 32nd year of the Bachmann Prize, the audience in the ORF Theatre will no longer have to sit on long ale-benches but can now enjoy the comfort of plastic chairs with backrests! Bravo!

Public Viewing Zones (Indoor and outdoor)

In addition to this, the event organiser is also offering two small public viewing areas, an indoor zone as a coffee house and an outdoor zone as a beer tent - albeit with the old ale-benches and the associated back pain during the less interesting readings!

Unlike in the Europa Park, the tent is not blue and white, but has red and white stripes. Despite this, you are unlikely to find anyone from Austria in it once the schoolchildren have gone home for lunch.

Germany triumphs

As a German language literature competition it should, of course, be of no consequence from which of the three German speaking countries a participant hails. However, as the abbreviation for the nationality of each competitor is indicated next to his/her name in the programme and the accompanying inserts, I am not the first to notice that of the 14 authors, one is marked with a CH, two with As and 11 with Ds for Germany. It should come as no surprise then if - as is nearly always the case - a German entrant should triumph once again this year. It's the numbers that do it...

It really does exist: Austrian literature

Countless literature seminars have proclaimed the existence of an independent Austrian literature movement. The Bachmann Prize, which takes place here on Austrian soil, will prove once again, however, that Austrian literature does not have what it takes to make the breakthrough in the German-speaking market. This is nothing new, however, despite all of this year's innovations.

Each individual participant has a good chance of winning

14 authors - we have never had that few at the start of the competition. For each of the participants this means that their chances of winning a prize - statistically at least - have never been so high.

A new career: Well worth considering for some

Nobody is going to be torn to shreds anymore. However, if the participant hears something along the lines of "the author's language is not clear", "this story is too predictable", or "I detect indecisiveness in the use of language" then these are bad signs, and the author should perhaps begin to question his/her choice of career. There are plenty of other worthwhile jobs out there, such as literary scholars, agents, publishers or perhaps best of all, the literary critic.

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