The esteemed general assembly elected the president of the Hungarian PEN Club on May 28, 2025. Over the past decade and a half, I have worked as secretary general to ensure that the venerable writing organization, which will be 100 years old in 2026, represents the eternal cause of freedom of expression in a dignified manner and fulfills the cultural bridge role for which it was established at the time. According to the minutes of the time, when Dezső Kosztolányi was elected president, he said, “well, it’s good that I became the president, but what will happen to us in a hundred years, and who will be the president then?” This sentence is binding. Me and all of us who feel that this historical organization that has weathered many storms is ours.
István Turczi
President of the Hungarian PEN Club
The great humanist poet, Janus Pannonius, has published a selection of 62 of his poems, published for the first time in Spanish.
The 1. In 1921, the International PEN Club was founded on the initiative of the English writer Catherine Amy Dawson Scott to promote cultural cooperation, which had been disrupted by the Second World War.
The Presidency of the Hungarian PEN Club is again shocked by the new manifestation of the Janus Pannonius Foundation, which used Géza Szőcs’ name for its activities following his death.
The foundation, which was originally founded by the Hungarian PEN Club as a prestigious literary prize, the Janus Pannonius International Poetry Grand Prize, is… Read more…
The 88th international congress of the Swedish PEN will take place in Uppsala from September 27 to October 1, 2022. The theme of the congress is THE POWER OF WORDS – Future Challenges of Freedom of Expression. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the importance of hate speech, digital surveillance, freedom of expression, and freedom of information. Read more…
Official announcements of the Hungarian PEN Club and writings of its members.
PEN International’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee (TLRC) is thrilled to announce the 5th Indigenous and Minoritised Languages Video Poems Marathon, running online from 21 February 2025 (International Mother Language Day) to 21 March 2025 (World Poetry Day).
Almost all Serbian media and cultural news portals have reported that Hungarian poet István Turczi, winner of the Attila József, the Beaver’s Wreath and the Prima Primissima prizes, will receive the Brankovo kolo international literary prize, named after the Serbian romantic poet Branko Radičević, one of the greatest figures of Serbian literature, who was born 200 years ago this year.
“This volume is too early, this career had to end too suddenly and unexpectedly” – says Imre József Balázs, editor of the volume Géza Szőcs: Collected Poems, which has just been published.
“I’m in it from top to bottom,” said Mária Tóth on Wednesday (27 September 2023) evening at the Present House, as part of the Arad Hungarian Days and under the auspices of the Hungarian PEN Club, in connection with her book The Death of a Courier, published in 1979 and now republished.
Csikszentmihályi is credited with the theory of flow in psychology, which is a mental state that occurs during concentrated activity. His related books have reached millions. In 2018, Hungarian poet and writer Géza Szőcs met him in Budapest and during their conversation they agreed to extend the psychological theory of flow to architecture. The idea of a “follow architecture” project was born, but unfortunately both died before intensive collaboration could begin.
The Visegrad Literature Residency Programme welcomes all applicants! Within the framework of the competition, the programme offers the opportunity for a smooth creative process supported by a grant. The deadline for the call for proposals is 15 October.
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