HARRI STOJKA TRIO/JOSEF WINKLER/KATHARINA SCHMÖLZER

In his new novel, Büchner Prize winner Josef Winkler brings back to life his five years older, now deceased sister Maria, who primarily took care of the rebellious Josef during their shared childhood on the farm. To pursue a training as a pastry chef, she leaves the village, works for years in various hotels, and returns to her parental home after the onset of her mental illness and following her first suicide attempt, where she meets her brother Josef, who is also seeking refuge there after the scandal surrounding his first book.

The novel Happiness is an Angel with a Serious Face, written in Josef Winkler's unique language, suggests the monstrous events that may have overshadowed his sister's existence until her death, intertwining the return of the lost daughter with the return of the lost son. How Josef Winkler addresses the psychological and physical violence of the rural environment is unparalleled in German-language literature.

Actress Katharina Schmölzer and the author will read from his new release, musically supported by the Harri Stojka Trio.

Josef Winkler is an honorary doctor of the University of Klagenfurt and the most significant writer living in Carinthia. He has received several awards, including the Austrian State Prize for Literature, the Alfred Döblin Prize, the Franz Nabl Prize, the Anton Wildgans Prize, and the Carinthian Cultural Prize.

Katharina Schmölzer has worked as an actress at the Theater in der Josefstadt, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Stadttheater Bern, and Stadttheater Klagenfurt, among others. She is also a director and theater educator.

Harri Stojka is an Austrian guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and singer, regarded as one of the most significant contemporary Austrian jazz musicians. He comes from the Roma group of the Lovara of the Bagareschtschi tribe and is among the most recognized Roma in Austria.