The 35th edition of the London Book Fair took place in the halls of Olympia London. Publishers, book agents, rights agents, prominent representatives of the book trade, literary and academic circles from all over the world were here in London, including the Petőfi Cultural Agency, which had its own stand representing Hungarian literature and three events.
The Liszt Institute London hosted the three literary events for the occasion, introducing the British public to the depths and treasures of Hungarian poets, writers and journalists.
Poets Krisztina Rita Molnár, Zita Izsó and Borbála Kulin, translator and poet Gábor Gyukics discussed their poetry collection titled Shelter Under the Sun: Poetry of Three Hungarian Women with Owen Good, translator and editor of Hungarian Literature Online.
As Orsolya Rákai, literary scholar and associate professor at the University of Szeged writes in the collection’s preface: “[t]he way they see the world, their visions and methods are different. Still they are united by a common point of view. From this perspective the world is alien, often hostile, incomprehensible, and operates according to rules that are not their own, and I, the speaker, pay the price. Still, it doesn’t seem to be changeable within the framework of our longstanding social parlour game. The game itself is the problem, so the poems of this book constantly bump into the walls of the game, questioning it and revealing its absurdity—the absurdity that remains hidden from the players, forever.”
Shelter Under the Sun: Poetry of Three Hungarian Women
British novelist and short story writer Tibor Fischer and Hungarian poet, performance artist and actress Katalin Ladik talked about the Continental Literary Magazine with and Sándor Jászberényi, editor-in-chief of the magazine.
The magazine focuses on the literature of Central Europe with the aim of creating a platform for contemporary Hungarian and Central European fiction writers to stake out their place in the English-reading world and, in particular, the North American literary market. This time two of the latest issues of the Magazine were presented to the audience: Young & Beautiful and Future.
Continental Literary Magazine
And at last, but definitely not least author Krisztina Tóth and translator Peter Sherwood introduced the English translation of Krisztina Tóth’s novel, Barcode, with associate professor Eszter Tarsoly.
Barcode , Krisztina Tóth's first substantial work in prose after four volumes of remarkable verse, consists of fifteen beautifully written short stories. Each story is told with poetic intensity and intimacy from a young, unnamed female narrator's point of view. Whether about childhood acquaintances, school camps and trips, or love and deceit in love, they are all are set against the backdrop of Hungary's socialist era in its declining years.
The translation by Peter Sherwood – published by Jantar Publishing - has won the English PEN's flagship translation awards in 2022. Titles are selected for PEN Translates on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project and their contribution to the diversity of books published in the UK.
