Andrea Capovilla – Ingeborg Bachmann Centre

The ACF in its beautiful surroundings has been a vibrant setting for cultural encounters, offering many happy memories to choose from. It has always worked closely with the Bachmann Centre, co-hosting readings by younger Austrian writers, such as Milena Michiko Flašar, the most recent writer-in-residence, and, just as importantly, their translators into English. The ACF has also provided festive opening events for many of the centre’s academic conferences on a variety of themes, and on Austrian writers from Ilse Aichinger to Stefan Zweig. As one particularly fond memory, I would like to pick the launch of the 2019 edition of Ingeborg Bachmann’s “Malina” by Penguin Modern Classic, which commemorated the semicentenary of its first publication. Philip Boehm presented his award-winning translation in conversation with Heinz Bachmann, who was, as ever, a wonderful and sensitive champion of his late sister’s legacy.