Dezső Tandori has passed away

Dezső Tandori was born on December 8 1938 in Budapest. He studied Hungarian and German and worked briefly as a teacher, then from 1971 as a freelance writer and translator. At a young age, he entered the circle of friends of Ágnes Nemes Nagy, whose spirit defined his career. His first book of poetry was published in 1968(“Töredék Hamletnek” Fragments for Hamlet), and he had been publishing poetry regularly since the mid-1960s. His poetry has always been characterised by diversity, playfulness combined with philosophical depth, and a constant need for renewal. He lived in seclusion for most of his life, but published a number of books of poetry, novels and essays. He also wrote plays, a bird-rearing manual, and a crime novel under the pseudonym Nat Roid, and a fantastic novel under the name G. S. Solenard. Altogether, he has published more than a hundred individual volumes. Generations have grown up on his children’s poems and novels; his literary oeuvre is comparable only to the greatest. Among others, he has translated into Hungarian the works of Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Thomas Bernhard, Egon Erwin Kisch, Franz Kafka, Oscar Wilde, George Byron, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Samuel Beckett and many others. His most important awards and honours include: the International P.E.N. Club Award (1966); the Attila József Award (1978); the Tibor Déry Award (1989); the Laurel of the Republic of Hungary (1996); the Kossuth Award (1998); the Prima Primissima Award (2007); the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civilian category; 2009); the National Artist of the Nation Award (2014).

His memory will be cherished!

(Hungarian Writers’ Union)