In addition to regular opening hours, the State Hall and the museums of the Austrian National Library be open on May 25, 2026.
On Pentecost Sunday as well as on public holidays the reading rooms of the Austrian National Library are closed.
Although the Literary Archive mainly collects bequests and estates containing manuscripts, correspondence and other written documents, the holdings also include numerous audio and audiovisual documents. They contain recordings of readings, public appearances and interviews, but also of very private conversations and even telephone calls. In some cases, writers have also used the medium to record conversations with contemporary witnesses, which form the basis for later novels. The Literary Archive's audio collection enables you to encounter the authors in a different, perhaps more immediate way.
Below you will find a commented selection of outstanding audio documents stored in the Literary Archive. Clicking on the links provided will take you directly to the relevant hit list in the catalogue.
If you would like to find more audio documents, you can enter the search term "Tondokument" (Audio document) in the catalogue and then click on "ÖNB Literaturarchiv" under "Standort” (Location) on the right-hand side under "Ergebnisse verbessern" (Improve results).
Have you found audio documents that you would like to listen to? You can do so on site in the reading room of the Literary Archive at a playback station.
You can order material directly via the catalogue or write to us at lit[at]onb.ac.at.
The Literary Archive holds a large number of audio documents given to us by authors both during their lifetimes and as bequests in their estates. You can find a selection of outstanding audio documents here. Clicking on the link will take you to the individual catalogue entries.
After leaving Austria in 1938, the writer and actress Maria Crone (1900-1990) lived in Denmark, where she played an important role as a communicator of Austrian culture. In the recording, she talks, among other things, about her "Kinderbrücke" (Children's Bridge), which she founded in 1953 and which enabled physically disabled children from Austria to stay in Denmark and, conversely, children from Denmark to stay in Austria.
ONB-Suche - Maria Crone Tondokument
The writer Elfriede Czurda (born 1946) lived in Berlin for almost three decades, where she wrote the novel Die Giftmörderinnen (The Poisoners, 1991), based on a true story set in Berlin in the 1920s. Czurda held several visiting professorships in Japan and the USA and organised various events at the Alte Schmiede literature centre in Vienna. The collection contains a "workshop discussion", conversations about some of her works and recordings of several radio plays.
ONB-Suche - Elfriede Czurda Tondokument
The writer and translator Erich Fried (1921-1988) remained in exile in London after fleeing Austria in 1938. His political poetry, public appearances and commentaries made him an important voice in public discourse, tirelessly advocating for peace and "love of one's enemies". He also made new translations of more than 20 of William Shakespeare’s plays. The collection of recordings includes interviews, extracts from Shakespeare translations, excerpts from a BBC documentary and readings.
ONB-Suche - Erich Fried Tondokument
The writer Josef Haslinger (born 1955) not only wrote an important essay on the Austrian social partnership ("Politik der Gefühle" [Politics of Emotions], 1987) and the highly acclaimed novel "Opernball" [Opera Ball], he was also co-founder of the human rights platform "SOS Mitmensch". In 1993, the platform organised a demonstration against the "Austria First" referendum, in which more than 250,000 people took part and which went down in Austrian history as the "Sea of Lights". The collection contains recordings of numerous interviews on the "Sea of Lights" as well as conversations and lectures that took place during an "authors' month" organised by Haslinger at the Alte Schmiede literature centre in Vienna. The collection also includes conversations with people from the Waldviertel region, which Haslinger conducted for a book project.
ONB-Suche - Josef Haslinger Tondokument
With his novel "Die kleine Figur meines Vaters" (Negatives of My Father), first published in 1975, the writer Peter Henisch (born 1943) exposed the contradictions in the collective and individual memory of Austrians that date back to the Nazi era and continue to have an impact on the present day. The novel is based on conversations with his father, the photographer Walter Henisch, which the author recorded on cassette tapes.
ONB-Suche - Peter Henisch Tondokument
The wordsmith Ernst Jandl (1925-2000) embodied the idea of the poet as a pop star like no other. His performances, either solo or accompanied by jazz musicians, are legendary. His collection of audio recordings includes interviews and public appearances, as well as private recordings with writer friends, vocal exercises, sound poems, rehearsals for lectures and recordings of telephone calls.
ONB-Suche - Ernst Jandl Tondokument
The writer Elisabeth Reichart (born 1953) studied history and German language and literature at the University of Salzburg and wrote her dissertation on the communist-organised resistance in the Salzkammergut region. The work was based, among other things, on detailed conversations that she conducted and recorded with surviving participants.
ONB-Suche - Elisabeth Reichart Tondokument
The Linz-based author Margit Schreiner (born 1953) is known for her radically subjective narrative perspective, which elevates individual life experiences to a universal level. The interview recordings provide an insight into her writing strategies and recount initiatory experiences that have shaped her as a writer.
ONB-Suche - Margit Schreiner Tondokument
The writer Hilde Spiel (1911-1990) lived in exile in London from 1936 to 1963 with a few brief interruptions, and gained prominence as an essayist, novelist and translator. She held a literary salon in her summer house in the Salzkammergut and was involved in the P.E.N. Club for decades. She returned in 1963 to Austria but retained her critical stance towards the country, including in her activity as long-standing Austria correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Her collection of audio recordings includes interviews, conversations with contemporary witnesses, readings from the estate of her husband Hans Flesch-Brunningen (1895-1981) and an interview with the British writer Graham Greene.
ONB-Suche - Hilde Spiel Tondokument
The writer Oswald Wiener (1935-2021), together with Friedrich Achleitner, H.C. Artmann, Konrad Bayer and Gerhard Rühm, formed the "Wiener Gruppe" (Vienna Group), which as the literary avant-garde in post-war Austria had a major influence on many writers. In the 1970s, Wiener turned away from literature and focused among other things on machine theory and aesthetics. In addition to lectures and the "Berlin Poets Workshops", the collection contains recordings of what were known as the Berlin, Hamburg and Munich concerts, in which artists such as Christian Ludwig Attersee, Richard Hamilton, Hermann Nitsch, Gerhard Rühm and André Thomkins took part.
ONB-Suche - Oswald Wiener Tondokument