"Warm-up session" for the Bachmann Prize

Candidates, members of the jury and culture vultures gathered in the inner courtyard of the Klagenfurt Stadtgalerie on Wednesday for a "warm-up session" prior to the commencement of the German Literature Days.

Candidates, members of the jury and culture vultures gathered in the inner courtyard of the Klagenfurt Stadtgalerie on Wednesday for a "warm-up" session prior to the commencement of this year's German Literature Days. Literature wasn't the only topic of discussion, however - the subject of football was never far away.

Discussion about social phenomena

The writers Robert Schindel, Richard Reich and Burkhard Spinnen, the new chairman of the jury at German Literature Days, used the performance of the German, Austrian and Swiss football teams at the European Championships as their starting point in order to discuss current social phenomena based around sport. There was general consensus that the problems which could emerge in connection with the World Cup in 2010 should be discussed now.

The occasion of the discussion in the inner courtyard of the Stadtgalerie was a "get-together-event", an opportunity for the candidates and jury members who had already arrived in Klagenfurt for the German Literature Days in the ORF Theatre to get to know one another prior to the event. The event, which was initiated in cooperation with the Stadtgalerie and the city's marketing department, was a good opportunity for the people of Klagenfurt to experience the atmosphere of the German Literature Day.