Julia Lajta-Novak is a university lecturer, literature manager, literary journalist, and a published poet, based in Vienna. She studied English Literature in Vienna and Edinburgh and completed the Masters in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths in 2005, focusing on literature management.
Back in Vienna, she set up a society for English Literature called “Vienna Lit” and organized two international three-day literature festivals in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Vienna Lit now runs regular literature events, as well as a monthly book group.
Julia wrote her M.A. thesis at Goldsmiths on book groups and got sufficiently interested in the subject to continue research in Vienna and publish a book on reading groups as a social phenomenon and an economic force. During her year at Goldsmiths and the work placement she also discovered her passion for spoken word poetry and decided to embark on a PhD on that subject. Her thesis on live poetry will be published in 2011 by Rodopi. She currently holds a lecturer position at the University of Vienna’s English Department. She has also worked freelance as a project manager for the British Council in Austria.
Julia Lajta Novak