Reading, Conversations and Music
A literary afternoon with Linda Stift and Anna Livesey

Sun, 25.11.2018
3:00 PM Auckland, The Open Book

Come along to an afternoon filled with literature, music and conversation. Austrian writer Linda Stift reads from her book "The Empress and the Cake" and NZ poet Anna Livesey presents new work from her collection "Ordinary Time". Plus it is a unique chance to listen to Bernice Austin and Grace Francis perform songs and music.

Linda Stift is an Austrian writer. She was born in 1969 and studied Philosophy and German Literature. She lives in Vienna. Her first novel "Kingpeng" was published in 2005. She has won numerous awards und was nominated for the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2009. Her second novel "Stierhunger"(2007, English title: "The Empress and the Cake") was translated in Englisch, Italian und French. The novel "Kein einziger Tag" was published in 2011. Her most recent novel "Unter den Steinen" (2016) is available as e-book by Hanser.

Anna Livesey is an Auckland-based poet, comic, strategist and curator-at-large at the Open Book. Anna’s most recent book is "Ordinary Time" and available at The Open Book. You can listen to Anna interview New Zealand book people in the podcast "Ears Wide Open", available here or where ever you get your podcasts.

Soprano Bernice Austin completed her Masters in Music (with first class honours) at the University of Auckland in 2015 and she also holds a Bachelor of arts in Italian. Bernice is a previous winner of the John Bond award for most promising voice at the New Zealand Aria Competition and a recipient of the Anne Bellam Scholarship. Aside from music she is an avid reader and researcher with a particular love of children’s books.

© Grace Francis

Grace Francis loves coming to the Open Book and she has even performed here before! Gracie is a collaborative pianist and is currently preparing for her Masters auditions in the United States. She is really grateful to you all for giving her a platform to try out some of her audition music, and especially grateful to Bernice for being her audition partner!