Press release

The mentioned foundation, originally established for the purpose of serving the organizational and financial transparency of the prestigious literary award created by the Hungarian PEN Club, the Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize, continues its activities after the death of Géza Szőcs. It continues to distribute literary awards and organize competitions. All of these activities are carried out by the foundation, which includes settling the commission of the last awardee, Susan Howe, specifically related to the fifty-thousand-euro value of the grand prize.

After the election of the Hungarian PEN Club’s presidency, it immediately issued a legal statement in which, as one of the founders of the Janus Pannonius Foundation, it completely disassociates itself from any activities of the Foundation following the death of President Géza Szőcs. We did not make this statement public at the time, out of respect and professional considerations, trusting that the Board of the Foundation, in line with the visions of the PEN Club, the Janus Pannonius Foundation, and the late Géza Szőcs, would uphold professional premises in its future activities that are exceptionally important for the prestige of Hungary. In contrast, bypassing the Hungarian PEN Club entirely, we are now witnessing that the Janus Pannonius Foundation has publicly announced a prestigious mid-level poetry award through an open competition. The jury, including Géza Szőcs and the awarding committee, formulated it as follows: ‘Since 2016, the Foundation has been awarding the Filius Ursae Prize, which, referring to a poem by Janus Pannonius nicknamed by his fellow students as ‘Bear Cub,’ rewards poetic achievements breaking conventions, transcending well-groomed norms and templates. (Janus Pannonius Grand Prize booklet, 2019)

At this moment, the leadership of the Hungarian PEN Club must stand up for the ideology of the Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize, following the intellectual direction of our former president, respecting the professional credibility of the Hungarian PEN Club. We must declare again – publicly – that the Hungarian PEN Club has no connection, neither morally nor professionally, to anything that happens or appears in public under the auspices of the Janus Pannonius Foundation. The Hungarian PEN Club does not provide any support for these activities and protests against associating the mid-level and minor awards related to the Janus Pannonius International Poetry Prize – the Filius Ursae and Khelidón Awards – with these names and in this form in the future.

The Hungarian PEN Club has already taken the necessary legal steps to disassociate itself from the founders’ rights of the Janus Pannonius Foundation. However, until the legal procedures are concluded, distancing ourselves from the foundation remains our only chance to clearly separate abuses of Géza Szőcs’s intellectual legacy in this manner from the intentions and views of the PEN Club in the eyes of the public and the Hungarian creative community.

Budapest, 9 April 2022.

Presidency of the Hungarian PEN Club