Crime reading: potpourri from the crime genre for cool autumn days
Just in time for the Crime Festival in the Literaturhaus at the beginning of November, an exciting crime reading should not be missing – that’s what Literaturhaus director Tomas Friedmann thinks too.
SALZBURG. Autumn is crime thriller time in Salzburg. Not only because of the often mystical, gray and foggy weather, but also because of the Crime Festival, which has been organized by the Salzburg Literature House every year since 2009. Today, between the tenth and twelfth of November, the breadth and diversity of this genre will be presented to the public at the 14th Crime Festival.
Crime Festival in the House of Literature
The program includes a colorful potpourri of crime novels: historical crime novels, crime novels with a connection to Salzburg, national and international authors and various publishers. The musical accompaniment is also selected to match the respective readings or thrillers. It is precisely this mixture and variety that one wants to show the public, says Literaturhaus director Tomas Friedmann.
Friedmann had the idea of initiating a crime thriller festival in Salzburg as early as 2008. “At the time, I asked myself why such a broad genre as crime thrillers rarely or never occurs in literature houses, and why it is sometimes scorned. That was the reason for me to give this genre an appropriate space. To show that crime novels also have a place in the literature houses. In the meantime, the crime novel has arrived in literature, but Salzburg is certainly considered a pioneer here,” explains Friedmann.
show the diversity of crime genres
He himself appreciates the variety in crime fiction. “Of course there are the Agatha Christie classics that you read when you were young, but there’s a wide range now. For me personally, it’s about how and what someone writes, the style has to captivate me. And I like it , when the psychological level, the dark points and dark sides that every human being carries, flow into the thriller,” says Friedmann.
Crime thrillers are also very popular in Salzburg’s bookshops, especially during the darker months of the year, and are in high demand. The BezirksBlätter Salzburg asked six bookshops for “autumn” recommendations from the crime genre.
The result is a colorful potpourri of books, with plots embedded in a cruise in the late 1920s or in wintry Iceland. Some written in the “old crime classics” vein, others with a psychological sophistication that’s not for the faint of heart. You can read more about the individual crime thriller recommendations from the bookstores in the respective captions.
You can find a report on the premiere of the musical “Hair”. here:
The musical “Hair” premiered at the Felsenreitschule