A Writer's Guide to Klagenfurt
Start at Robert Musil's birth house on Bahnhofstraße, where the city's literature museum and the university's Musil-Institut share the building. Each year the city and ORF Kärnten hold the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, where the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis is awarded, and Bachmann's own working library is kept at the university. Two bilingual shops, Haček and Mohorjeva/Hermagoras, sell Slovene and German books. Novelists, poets and university faculty turn up at the same readings.
Libraries · Bookstores · Places to Write · Places to Eat · Writing Community · Presses · Journal · Awards and Grants · Printing and Binding · When the Manuscript Is Ready
Libraries
Bring photo ID and proof of address to open a borrowing account at the university library. Book the Bachmann library well before you plan to visit.
The University of Klagenfurt's library is open to people outside the university. Anyone can register for a borrowing account and activate it at the lending desk with photo ID and proof of residence; there is an annual fee, and students of Austrian public universities and Carinthian colleges borrow free. The library has a 24/7 area, and group study rooms can be booked online. Manuscripts and rare books are seen by appointment. Library pages are mainly in German.
Ingeborg Bachmann's own working library is on loan to the university from the State of Carinthia and the City of Klagenfurt, and it is housed in the university library. Researchers and interested readers can see it by appointment only.
The Carinthian Chamber of Labour runs this public lending library at the main railway station. A card also opens the digital AK library, with e-books and audiobooks, and PressReader access to about 5,500 newspapers. It works mainly in German.
Independent Bookstores
For books in English, ask at Heyn for its English section.
Helmut Zechner runs Heyn, a general bookshop in the old town. Its English-language section is called THE.FIVE. The shop holds author events and literary dinners, mainly in German. It is an official Ö1 bookshop.
Mohorjeva/Hermagoras was founded in 1851 to publish books in Slovene, and it runs this bilingual bookshop on the Ring. The shop has a large selection of religious books. It is open weekdays and works in Slovene and German.
Haček is a bilingual bookshop in the old town. Look here for dictionaries and language courses; there is an antiquarian section too. The shop hosts readings and film evenings. It is closed Mondays and Saturdays and works in Slovene and German.
The Klagenfurt publisher Verlag Johannes Heyn runs this antiquarian shop in the Bärenlauben arcade, and it doubles as the press's pickup point in the city centre. It can close for holidays or illness. Check the hours before you go. The shop works mainly in German.
An association for Christian literature runs this small shop west of the old town. It sells Bibles and devotional books, along with stories for adults and children. It works in German.
Places to Write
For a free seat on a weekday, try the Literaturlounge at the Musil museum.
HOLLYHUB is a co-working space on Heiligengeistplatz, the city's public transport hub. Fixed desks in the open space come with 24/7 access, and quiet zones are set aside for focused work. A networking evening, Impuls After-Work, runs on the first Thursday of each month. The site is mainly in German.
The Robert Musil Literatur Museum is the city's literature museum, with permanent exhibitions on Musil, Christine Lavant and Ingeborg Bachmann. In its Literaturlounge you can read and browse donated books. Admission is free. It is open weekdays, and readings and exhibitions are mainly in German.
Places to Eat
Hafenstadt is a creative life-and-work space on the Lendhafen. Its DOCK 01 bar serves breakfast until mid-afternoon and food from late afternoon into the night. The DOCK 04 theatre in the same complex stages live music and DJ nights. There is co-working too. The programme is mainly in German.
The city theatre's in-house gastronomy posts a lunch menu each weekday, with a soup of the day and a vegetarian dish among the choices. Productions are mainly in German, and operas sung in the original language carry German surtitles.
Writing Community
Literary Organizations
Most readings in Klagenfurt are in German. Entry to liTONale, the sound-and-poetry festival, is free.
The Robert-Musil-Institut is the University of Klagenfurt's literary research institute and home to the Kärntner Literaturarchiv, the Carinthian literary archive. Its readings and author conversations include the author@musil series, mainly in German. For library and archive use, start with the institute's secretariat.
liTONale is a free annual festival that sets spoken word and literature to music, with texts woven into the music's rhythm and mood. The Musil-Institut and the city's literature museum run it with the festival's curator.
The Carinthian group of the GAV, an Austrian writers' association, holds readings and book presentations in Klagenfurt/Celovec. The GAV keeps an office in the Musil-Haus. Its events are mainly in German.
For Faculty and Researchers
Researchers based in Austria should start with the FWF. U.S. scholars should look at Fulbright Austria.
Fulbright Austria and Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt jointly sponsor this award for U.S. scholars. It is a four-month visiting professorship hosted in Klagenfurt.
The FWF, the Austrian Science Fund, funds research through a portfolio that includes Principal Investigator Projects and Arts-Based Research. It also funds book and digital publications and open access.
Presses in Klagenfurt
Wieser and Drava share an address on 8.-Mai-Straße. Read a few titles from each list before you write to either press.
Wieser Verlag publishes literature and books on Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Its series include the Slowenische Bibliothek and Europa Erlesen.
Drava, a Klagenfurt/Celovec publisher with catalogues in German and Slovene, publishes fiction and poetry. Its travel books cover hiking and day trips in the border region where Carinthia, Slovenia and Friuli meet.
A Journal Edited in Klagenfurt
Our Promise
We will ensure that the final draft you receive from us is completely ready to publish or submit. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full.
Theory, Culture & Society explores the relationship between culture and society and gives social and cultural theory a central role, working across sociology, cultural studies, the social sciences and the humanities. Its masthead lists one of its managing editors at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, and its editor-in-chief is at Goldsmiths, University of London. Preparing an article for Theory, Culture & Society
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
For Austrian Writers
Most of these guidelines and calls are in German. The state culture prizes go to people born or working in Carinthia, or with another significant tie to it.
The City of Klagenfurt endows the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis, awarded each year at the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, which ORF Kärnten and the city organize. Jurors nominate the authors. Each invited author reads an unpublished novel or story manuscript, and a jury discussion follows. Further prizes for German-language literature are awarded at the same event.
The Carinthian state government awards culture prizes each year, with literature among the categories. The Würdigungspreise go to people 40 and over and the Förderungspreise to people under 40. Advisory boards of the Kärntner Kulturgremium propose the candidates.
The Carinthian state culture department awards stipends in literature and other disciplines through public calls. Check its current-calls page. Calls are in German.
The federal arts ministry offers literature stipends to authors, translators and illustrators. They range from the Startstipendium and Projektstipendium to the Robert-Musil-Stipendium and travel stipends. Applications are in German.
Printing and Binding
Off the Grid Editing offers book printing and binding at competitive rates. We handle layout, cover design, and print-ready files once your manuscript is edited. See our book publishing and printing services. Local printers and binders in Klagenfurt are listed below.
Kopien-Zentrum Guzelj is a copy and digital print shop in the old town. It binds books as well as printing them, and its online shop takes orders for theses. It is open weekdays and works mainly in German.
Satz- & Druck-Team is a Klagenfurt commercial printer and a member of Druckland Kärnten. It prints books, digitally for short runs and offset for large ones. Adhesive binding is done in house. Digital runs can use special colours such as gold and silver, and the printer works mainly in German.
Copyplan is a copy and print shop east of the old town that has specialised in large-format printing since 1984. It also binds. Ask by email or phone which binding styles suit a thesis or manuscript. It is open weekdays and works mainly in German.
When the Manuscript Is Ready
Off the Grid Editing has edited books and scholarship since 2002.
Publishing Scholarship
For a monograph, an edited collection, or a revised dissertation headed to a university press: dissertation to book editing, our guides to academic press requirements, English language editing for researchers, and journal article editing.
Publishing Fiction, Memoir, and Poetry
For a novel, a story collection, a memoir, or a book of poems: fiction and creative nonfiction editing, memoir and biography editing, developmental editing, and our guides to trade and literary publishers.
Every manuscript can also go through copy editing, line editing, or proofreading. The book editing services page compares all four levels.
- Structuring the Theoretical Framework: Grounding Your Study in Established Scholarship
- Writing for the Peer Reviewer: Anticipating and Addressing Methodological Criticisms
- Condensing 200 Pages Into 25: Strategies for Extracting a Journal Article from a Dissertation
- Tracking Source Material: Best Practices for Archival Citations in History and Humanities
- De-Dissertationizing Your Prose: Stripping Away Academic Language for a Broader Audience
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Off the Grid Editing. Places and links checked November 2026.
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