Stefanie Sargnagel reads from "Opernball" and "Oktoberfest."

Stefanie Sargnagel was at the Vienna Opera Ball, and now she has quite a bit to share: about the rich and beautiful, the rich not-so-beautiful, evening gowns, and waltz dreams. Of course, everything is terribly awful, but also terribly interesting! And the perspective of this author is sharp, yet not merciless, as she is too intrigued by the worlds that are foreign to her.

After her book about the Opera Ball, Stefanie Sargnagel follows up with another adventurous travelogue: Now she writes about the Munich Oktoberfest. Despite all warnings and dressed in a dirndl, she heads to a place that is a trial for many and paradise for others. This offers plenty of food for thought about the lovable and less flattering similarities between Austria and Bavaria. Above all, however, it is a thrilling, hilariously chaotic journey into a paradise of excess, as only imaginable in Bavaria. There is not just drinking, but binge-drinking, feasting, and debauchery, staggering, vomiting, losing consciousness, all in the euphoric feeling that it should be just like this.

Stefanie Sargnagel, born in 1986, studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but spent more time at her day job in a call center. Since 2016, she has been a freelance author – and has since spent more time with her tax advisor. In the same year, she was awarded the Audience Prize at the Bachmann Competition, with more awards following. Her books "Statusmeldungen," "Dicht," "Iowa," and "Opernball" have been bestsellers.

"Sargnagel's name – that’s quite an achievement – is mentioned in the same breath as those of Karl Kraus, Helmut Qualtinger, and Thomas Bernhard... wonderfully written, incredibly funny, and enlightening." (ZEIT)

Stefanie Sargnagel, Opernball. Visiting the Hautevolee, Rowohlt, 2026
Stefanie Sargnagel, Oktoberfest. A Walk at the Wiesn, Rowohlt, release on 14.08.26