There are many great societies for burgeoning and established writers in Vienna – we’ve compiled a list for you!
Sunday Writers’ Club
The idea: Helmed by published author Keith Gray (“Ostrich Boys”) and creative writing workshop coach Paul Malone (“Creative Writing on the Go”), the Sunday Writers’ Club offers (near-)weekly creative writing sessions for every kind of writer. Participants sign up on the website and pay €9 to receive an “exclusive cafe ‘menu’ of writing prompts carefully prepared to stimulate your imagination and inspire creativity”. Occasionally, the SWC also hosts longer weekend workshops.
The frequency & location: As the name implies, meetings usually take place on a Sunday and usually in the cosy atmosphere of a traditional Wiener Kaffeehaus. Exact times and locations are revealed on the website.
The online nesting place: Facebook & Website
Vienna African Writers (VAW) Club
The idea: Founded by university professor Dr. Adams Bodomo and hosted by linguist, writer and translator Dr. Tomi Adeaga, the VAW Club organises slam poetry events (with cash prizes, potentially interesting for starving artists!) and publishes its “Daworo” newsletter. Anyone can send in their texts for the newsletter and present them at the next VAW meeting, as long as their text is connected to Africa in some way, and anyone can attend the meetings for free.
The frequency & location: The Vienna African Writers meet at university, specifically in Seminar Room 1 at the Department of African Studies (Spitalgasse 2, Hof 5, 1090 Wien, first floor), on the third Thursday of every month. Special events can be found on their website.
The online nesting place: Facebook & Website
Vienna Whiskey & Poetry Salon
The idea: Led by Irish poet Neil McCarthy (“Stopgap Grace”) , the W&P Salon is hosted in the spirit of Rita Dove, who argued that “poetry is language at its most distilled and powerful”, combining the distilled best of two worlds: whiskey and poetry. For around €18.5, you will get to taste five different whiskeys, brilliant poetry by both published and unpublished authors and fantastic tunes in the form of live musicians. Places are limited, but when you make it in, you are invited to bring along poetry you wrote or borrowed.
The frequency & location: The Whiskey & Poetry Salon meets irregularly, roughly once a month and usually at Piaristengasse 60, 1080 Vienna. Find their next event on the Salon’s Facebook page!
The online nesting place: Facebook
Literaturverein Trapez
We are Trapez. We write (mostly in German but other languages are welcome too) to stay sane. Or have we lost our marbles already? Come and find out!
We write our own stories, texts, poems and everything in between since 2016. We meet bimonthly, every first and third Friday of the month to share, read and discuss our works of art. We give each other feedback and learn to be better writers. Come and join!
Usually, we meet at Café Votiv in the back room, but in times of a pandemic, we hold our meetings online. You can still join of course, at 7pm on said days, just drop us a line on Facebook or via E-mail (info@literaturverein-trapez.com) and we’ll provide you with the links for the Jitsi call and Google Drive folder with the texts for the night.
So far, we’ve held ten readings as a group, we became an official society in 2017 and are proud to say that we’ve published three anthologies with our texts (a fourth one is already in our thought process). We are always looking for new members and are looking forward to meeting you!
To check out the date of our next meeting, go to https://de-de.facebook.com/Trapezliest/ .
If you want to get a general impression of us and our work check these out: http://literaturverein-trapez.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/literaturverein_trapez/ !
Oh, and also we did this online reading on You Tube that you can have a look at here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzpbTxwvJIg&list=LL&index=93&t=16s
Looking forward to seeing you at one of our regular meetings,
Literaturverein trapez 😊
Not technically Writing Societies, but writing-related and very cool:
The Vienna Storytelling Collective
The idea: The Vienna Storytelling Collective is a group of dedicated professional writers that seeks to help the Viennese community of story-tellers to thrive and grow. They organise Open Mic nights that allow
short story writers, poets, singer-song writers, personal essayists, novelists, stand-up comedians and “something we haven’t heard of yet”s to showcase their talents.
The frequency & location: The Open Mic nights ususally take place once a month, always at Café Korb.
The online nesting place: Facebook
Vienna Lit
The idea: For the past 14 years, English Professor Julia Lajta-Novak and eternal librarian of the English Department Karin Lach have succesfully been running the English book club “Vienna Lit”. Drinks are always provided and participants usually bring their own snacks along to mingle and share.
The frequency & location: Surrounded by books in the homey library of the English Department, the participants discuss a different piece of contemporary literature every month.
The online nesting place:
Website (check for a new book every month!)
