The Salon of Exiled Artists in California

Salka Viertel was a Jewish actress who emigrated to Hollywood and became a central figure of the European exile community. As Greta Garbo’s screenwriter and the host of a celebrated literary salon in Santa Monica, she brought together actors, prominent intellectuals and anonymous refugees fleeing Nazism, creating a space where exiles could feel a sense of Europe that no longer existed. Her life intersects with the major movements of the twentieth century: Weimar Berlin, the rise of National Socialism, forced exile, the transition from silent to sound film, and later the anti‑communist witch hunts. Modern, complex and far ahead of her time, Salka Viertel emerges here as an essential figure whose story deserved to be told.

“A necessary corrective: Añó restores a key figure of the European exile community.”
— Dialog International

“A fascinating book about Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s and the influence of European artists.”
— J. W. M. Groenewege

“An illuminating biography that explores sexuality, exile, art and survival — from the Weimar Republic to McCarthyism.”
— Catherine Wray


NÚRIA AÑÓ is a Catalan novelist, biographer and translator specializing in the lives of artists and exiles. Her work, translated into fifteen languages, is noted for its psychological depth and meticulous observation. She has been recognized with several literary awards and has taken part in prestigious international writing residencies in Europe and Asia. This project, developed over three years, was written in part during literary residencies such as the Shanghai Writing Program and the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators.