Hardly back in Vienna time flew like crazy. The Possum arrived and with Dr Gugu we took off for Graz where I’d been invited to read from my work at the Christmas party of the Austro-American Society for Styria.
And what a terrific event it was all jazzed up by The Bingo Boys in the Grand Cafe of the Grand Hotel Wiesler. The Austrian journalist and writer, Werner Kopacka, read excerpts in German from his latest work on the UrSteirer, an original from the Styrian region.
Then it was my turn, so I read from Back Burning and from the anthology, Women against Men, and wound up with my Christmas poem, The Tourist Visa.
We were treated to music and a wonderful buffet in a room full of a welcoming and attentive audience, a writer’s delight.
The next day we had sunshine on our stroll through Graz to see some of the sights before taking the train back to Vienna. It was the perfect start to Advent.
