The Cancelled Invitation
from Memoirs of a 39er

“Herbert Kuhner is predestined to represent Austria in Australia”
– Dr. Fritz Cocron, Director of the Austrian Institute in New York

“Yes, they’d send a writer but it wouldn’t be Kuhner.”
– Rosemary Wighten, Writers Committee, Adelaide Festival

“Herbert Kuhner is a less than mediocre author who would never be able to
represent Austria in any way.” Dr. Wolfgang Kraus, Cultural Advisor, Foreign
Ministry.
– Dr. Wolfgang Kraus, Austrian Foreign Office and Head of the
Austrian Literary Society (Austria Presse Agentur, Index on Censorship)

(I was invited to Adelaide in order to recite my translations of Austrian
poetry that had been published in Poetry Australia, as well as my own poems.)

All Hell Breaks Loose

After articles in the London-based Index on Censorship and Profil
magazine in Austria concerning the “official” blocking of my invitation
to the Adelaide Festival of 1976, all hell broke loose.