He was elected President of the Hungarian PEN Club in September 2021 by the General Assembly of the writers’ organisation. My predecessor, Géza Szőcs, was a Kossuth Prize-winning writer friend of mine, who died in 2020. died tragically on 5 November in the Covid epidemic. I am the founding editor-in-chief of the monthly literary magazine Irodalmi Jelen. You can read about my writing and published books here, and on Wikipedia.
Zoltán Böszörményi
President of the Hungarian PEN Club
Haim Dotan Rain Drops - Rain Drops
1 500 Ft
The music I listen to with you: poems by Adam Zagajewski
2 000 Ft
Yang Lian: Where the sea is frozen
1 500 Ft
Janus Pannonius: Colección De Poemas
2 900 Ft
All Works by Ferenc Békássy
5 000 Ft
In Memoriam Aladár Szoboszlay I. Victims and the Blessed
5 000 Ft
Federico Garcia Lorka: Romancero Gitano
3 000 Ft
Enikő Bollobás: Reading Through Theory
1 990 Ft
Tibor Weiner Sennyei: The Thousand-Faced and Simple Life and Work of Béla Hamvas Essay
4 000 Ft
Federico Garcia Lorca: Romance of the Gypsies
3 000 Ft
Miklós Barabássy:The Hungarian Holy Crown through the Eyes of an Engineer
7 900 FtThe 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…
The Silence of Babel – Presentation and round table discussion of Central European poets
The Silence of Babel will be the title of a series of evenings in May, moderated by Gizella Csisztay and György Mandics, where Central European poets will present their work and hold a round table discussion.
Women’s Day Open Reading
The Hungarian PEN Club cordially invites you and your friends to the next programme of the PENDrive Evenings series and the modest reception to follow in 2024. 12 March at 18:00 in the ground floor of the Muzikum.
The tradition continues! PEN Christmas
The tradition continues! We cordially invite you and your friends to a festive reading and toasting on Friday, 15 December 2023, from 18:00 at Muzikum, Kossuth Klub (1088 Budapest, Múzeum utca 7 – behind Kálvin tér).
Double book launch at the Benczúr House
The Hungarian Writers’ Association, Orpheusz Publishing House and the János Arany Foundation cordially invite you to the presentation of Mariann Tallián’s Outlawed and Balázs Lázár’s Karanté(y)ek!
Szilárd Demeter:Géza Szőcs 70 – Commemorative Evening at the Petőfi Literary Museum 2023. on 9 November
We know who Géza Szőcs was. Do we know? We don’t know. There were many Géza Szőcs, each of them had a Géza. Géza himself appeared in various ways, as the mood took him. Sometimes as a Hungarian, other times as a Chinese, or a dolphin, or a swan who returned from America as an Indian, came to help Father Bem at Segesvár, and so on ad infinitum. He was able to be both King Attila the Hun and the producer of a Hollywood production making a film about Attila. Who Géza Szőcs was, we do not know, but it is not our business to know, it was enough to guess that he at least knew when and why he changed his form.
Método Cuba: Independent Artists’ Testimonies Of Forced Exile – a New Report on Cuba
Two years after the historic July 11 peaceful demonstrations in Cuba (also known as 11J), a new report by PEN International, PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) and Cubalex, profiles 17 exiled cultural professionals -demonstrating their resilience- while documenting the repressive and sometimes violent tactics by the Cuban state that forced them to flee.
A new nest for the luxurious word
Passionate love poems, unavoidable and tragic historical themes, identity, patriotism, Ettore Majorana, the mysterious nuclear physicist-figure, letters to Endre Ady, Kavafis, Sándor Csoóri, Thomas Mann, Áron Tamási, Géza Szőcs, György Kondrád, narrative poem about a crash landing, summing up of existence, landscape poems, existentialist lyrics, all with varied stylistic features and rich art – Zoltán Böszörményi’s volume “Fellázadt szavak” (Rebellious Words) is a condensed impression of several decades of poetic career in László Márton’s selection.
PenDrive reading event
The Hungarian PEN Club’s reading and music event in the Ötpacsirta Szalon of the Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest on 27 April 2023 at 18:00
Greetings to György Mandics on his 80th birthday
The Hungarian PEN Club invites you and your friends to celebrate György Mandics on his 80th birthday.
Zero degrees – Experimental reading in the Bükk Mountains
We have already seen that contemporary literature can be easily absorbed between 18 and 23 degrees in indoor spaces. But what happens to it at freezing temperatures?
‘Közelítések a Miatyánkhoz – Értelmezések és tanulmányok az ökumenizmus jegyében’ (Approaches to the Lord’s Prayer – Interpretations and Studies in the spirit of Ecumenism)
We invite you to the presentation of the book of studies entitled ‘Közelítések a Miatyánkhoz – Értelmezések és tanulmányok az ökumenizmus jegyében’ (Approaches to the Lord’s Prayer – Interpretations and Studies in the spirit of Ecumenism).
The renaissance of an important book
“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.
Flow Architecture – Folk Architecture
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.
Szilárd Demeter:Géza Szőcs 70 – Commemorative Evening at the Petőfi Literary Museum 2023. on 9 November
We know who Géza Szőcs was. Do we know? We don’t know. There were many Géza Szőcs, each of them had a Géza. Géza himself appeared in various ways, as the mood took him. Sometimes as a Hungarian, other times as a Chinese, or a dolphin, or a swan who returned from America as an Indian, came to help Father Bem at Segesvár, and so on ad infinitum. He was able to be both King Attila the Hun and the producer of a Hollywood production making a film about Attila. Who Géza Szőcs was, we do not know, but it is not our business to know, it was enough to guess that he at least knew when and why he changed his form.
István Turczi receives this year’s International Grand Prize for Literature of the Republic of Serbia in Bosnia
Once again, Hungarian literature receives a prestigious international recognition.
The PEN Club and the awakening duck
We talked to István Turczi, Babérkoszorú Award-winning writer and poet about the special music and literature events organised by the Hungarian PEN Club and the preservation of Géza Szőcs’ memory and work.
Hungarian PEN Club Annual General Meeting 2019
2019. We held our Annual General Meeting on 17 December at 10 AM
The Hungarian PEN Club’s festive publications for 2019 on the occasion of the Janus Pannonius Award
The publications can be purchased at a discount at the Hungarian PEN Club headquarters and at our upcoming events.
Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize – 2017
The Hungarian PEN Club announces that the Board of Trustees of the Janus Pannonius Foundation has awarded the 2017 Janus Pannonius International Poetry Grand Prize to Brazilian poet Augusto de Campos.
Zoltán Tófalvi on the ’56 and Romania conference
Zoltán Tófalvi talks about the ’56 and Romania conference.
Statement by Géza Szőcs, President of the Hungarian PEN Club on the closure of Népszabadság
On Népszabadság, freedom of the press and freedom.
Activities of the Hungarian PEN Club 2001-2014
A report on the activities of the Hungarian PEN Club between 2001 and 2014.
Szilárd Demeter:Géza Szőcs 70 – Commemorative Evening at the Petőfi Literary Museum 2023. on 9 November
We know who Géza Szőcs was. Do we know? We don’t know. There were many Géza Szőcs, each of them had a Géza. Géza himself appeared in various ways, as the mood took him. Sometimes as a Hungarian, other times as a Chinese, or a dolphin, or a swan who returned from America as an Indian, came to help Father Bem at Segesvár, and so on ad infinitum. He was able to be both King Attila the Hun and the producer of a Hollywood production making a film about Attila. Who Géza Szőcs was, we do not know, but it is not our business to know, it was enough to guess that he at least knew when and why he changed his form.
Gábor Görgey has passed away
This morning, at 7.34am, I received this text message. Then, I thought, he could be sitting at István Vas’s table again, next to Ferenc Juhász and István Kormos, as I first saw them together in the spring of 1960.
Janus Pannonius Grand Prize-winning Polish poet Adam Zagajewski passed away
Poet and essayist Adam Zagajewski, the creator of the Polish New Wave and winner of the 2016 Janus Pannonius Grand Prize for Poetry, died on Sunday evening in Krakow at the age of 75.
Itamar Jáoz-Keszt passed away
Once again, one of the greats has gone. ITAMAR JÁOZ-KESZT, the world-famous poet and literary translator, born in Szarvas, Hungary, has lived in Israel since 1951, died on February 11, the 29th of the month of Swat. He was 87 years old.
Online concert of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra in memory of Géza Szőcs
The MÁV Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gergely Kesselyák will perform in memorioam of Géza Szőcs, poet, writer, literary scholar and politician who has died on 5 November 2020. The concert will be on 3 February at 19.00 at the Liszt Academy.
Albatross, ostrich, swan…
Géza Szőcs has left us. From today, the sun will rise differently and nothing will be the same. We could list, as one does in an obituary, his titles, his awards, his rank, his status – but those who knew him, beyond being aware of all this, know that a much greater tragedy has occurred.
In memory of János Benyhe
A marble plaque was erected by the Hungarian PEN Club. The monument was unveiled on 23 October in Budapest. Below is a eulogy by the linguist-journalist, literary translator, read at the memorial plaque by his son, poet István Benyhe.
Éva Bonczidai: “All homesickness came from the sky” – in memory of Ádám Makkai
“It’s all miracles or nothing” is the admonition or encouragement on the memorial plaque of Sándor Török, but for me it is also linked to Ádám Makkai.
Ádám Makkai passed away
Ádám Makkai was a retired professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who did much to promote the international recognition of Hungarian literature. The MMA considers Ádám Makkai as its own dead.
György Konrád passed away
György Konrád, one of the founders of the DIA, Kossuth Prize-winning prose writer, essayist, former president of the Berlin Academy of Arts and the International PEN Club, died in Budapest on 13 September at the age of 87.
Goodbye, János Térey!
We are deeply saddened to learn that our fellow member, János Térey died tragically on 3 June 2019. He lived 48 years. Arrangements for his funeral will be made later.
Dezső Tandori has passed away
The Hungarian Writers’ Union is sad to announce that on 13 February 2019, Dezső Tandori passed away.