Bettina Balàka was born in Salzburg in 1966, studied English and Italian and lives in Vienna. She has been awarded several prizes for her poetry, essays and fiction, including a Robert Musil Scholarship for Eisflüstern. Previous works include: Krankengeschichten (1996); Road Movies (1998); Unter Jägern (2002); Der langangehaltene Atem (2000); the essay Das Messer (2000) – all Droschl. Translation rights available from: Literaturverlag Droschl GmbH, Alberstraße 18 A-8010 Graz, Austria Tel: +43 316 32 64 04 Email: annette.knoch@droschl.com Contact: Annette Knoch Applications for assistance with translation costs - Austria Literaturverlag Droschl is based in Graz, Austria’s ‘secret capital of literature’, and is devoted to promoting contemporary authors in the German language and others. Droschl’s first book was produced in 1980 when the decision was taken to convert the eponymous gallerycum- bookshop into a publishing house. Authors include Gerhard Roth, Eleonore Frey and Peter Waterhouse. Poet Ernst Jandl praised Droschl Verlag as being ‘a courageous and dynamic enterprise’.