Boldizsár Nagy M: I'll Be Poor Where I Want To

"This much ambition could crush a whole library of novels – Spiró, with amazing knowledge, places it all within a tale." – Spiró’s monumental novel, Captivity, was published by Magvető in 2005.

An abridged interview with Péter Esterházy from 2002, in which the author discusses two of his monumental works: Celestial Harmonies, a baroque tome of post-modernist poetical devices relying on inter- and para-textuality, and Revised Edition, a stark, realist "sequel" in which he addresses the revelation that his father, Mátyás Esterházy, had worked for many years as an informer.

The Margó Prize-winning debut of Rita Halász is being published by Catapult Books in Kris(ten) Herbert’s English translation.

Hungarian author Pál Závada talks about the literary influences that shaped him — from Sebald and Flaubert to Esterházy and Nádas — the unexpected success of his 1997 debut novel Jadviga párnája (Jadviga’s Pillow), and his new novel Pernye és fű (Ash and Field), which follows a film crew in the politically charged late 1980s as they investigate a real-life 1950s arson case that led to a series of show trials and one execution.

Péter Nádas' monumental work Parallel Stories was published in 2005, and to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Jelenkor Publishing House has a series of special events planned for 2025.

On 27 March, Kossuth Prize-winning writer, poet, and translator Ottó Tolnai passed away at the age of 84.

Two important literary festivals will soon take place in Budapest: Spring Margó between April 4 and 6 and PesText between May 7 and 10. Find out more about the programmes on offer.

"It is a great pleasure to follow a remarkable writer as his successive novels detail the critical junctures of 20th century Hungarian history, giving his readers a Hungarian lesson." Sándor Radnóti reviews Pál Závada's 2024 novel Ash and Field for Revizor.

"We have to be born with a name and then climb into our grave with it, and this Aurél is rather Romanian-sounding, I should at least choose some respectable Hungarian name, or keep the original name, which he gave me for life, not to borrow until I find a better one." – An excerpt from Zsombor Aurél Biró's debut 2024 novel I Often Dream of Waking Up on My Father's Shoulder, translated by Timea Sipos and Ádám Dániel Németh.

"for they still want to live / through our skin / suck our past out from our bones / trapped / in our memories" – Three original poems from Hungarian-American poet, translator, and author Gabor G. Gyukics.

We continue our emerging translators series with a selection of three short poems from Dániel Nagy's 2024 volume It Seems That Feelings Are Back in Fashion, translated by Tyler Langendorfer.

Ádám Nádasdy and Peter Sherwood will discuss forms of address in Hungarian and English on March 24 in a lecture titled ‘What sayest thou, Bully Bottom?’.

"Singability is an important concept for singers and lyricists. It sometimes comes down to not having too many consonants clogging things up – making sure you have long, open vowels on the soaring notes." – A fascinating essay by David-Houston Hill that offers a peek behind the curtains into the world of translating Hungarian musical lyrics into English.

"People feel abandoned and ignored by the elite. This fosters anger and drives support for far-right parties." – Eszter Kállay interviews French writer Didier Eribon, whose 2009 book Returning to Reims was recently published in Hungarian by Napvilág Publishing.

"Timar puzzled his head as to the position of this woman, who chose her words so well and expressed herself so sensibly. He could not reconcile it with this hut, which was more like a cave, and with the residence on this lonely island in the midst of a wilderness." – An excerpt from the 1872 novel The Man with the Golden Touch, written by Mór Jókai who was born 200 years ago this month, and translated by Agnes Hegan Kennard.

Literary and cultural historian, writer, and university professor Marianna D. Birnbaum has passed away at 90 years old.

Exciting times for fans of György Gömöri! From a new autobiography to a significant literary prize, the Hungarian-English literery historian, poet, translator, and university professor has had a busy few months.

For the next in HLO's Starter Pack Series, in honour of the 19th-century Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai, born 200 years ago, Hanna Zelma Horányi reads his classic The Man with the Golden Touch in an 1894 translation by Agnes Hegan Kennard, and basks in a tale of hope and ambition, humorously and sensitively told.

"You’re a hopeless case. You know, don’t you, that we’ll never go home now? We’ll be vacationing here forever, always staying in the cheapest hostels, always choosing the cheapest dishes on the menu, because we’re Hungarian"—patriotic self-pity and gloom on the sunny streets of Italy, in Panni Puskás's short story, translated by Elizabeth Lukács Chesla.