2024
Founders: Attila József Circle (1995-2019) and the Hungarian Literary Translators’ Association (2019-)
The Hungarian Translators’ House Foundation
Twenty-Sixth Newsletter
Guests of the Translators’ House in 2023 and the works translated by them:
Robert Svoboda, Czech Republic (Miklós Bánffy: Erdélyi történet);
Adan Kovacsics, Spain (László Krasznahorkai: Kegyelmi viszonyok);
Owen Good, United Kingdom/Hungary (Ferenc Barnás: Másik halál);
Éva Zádor, Germany/Hungary (Kinga Maksai: Mia és Maja);
Leelo Jõulu, Estonia (Szilárd Borbély: Nincstelenek);
Eszter Orbán, Spain/Hungary (József Debreceni: Hideg krematórium);
Martin Hrisztov, Bulgaria (Selected poems by Péter Kántor);
Yu Zemin, China (László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér);
Daniel Hirsch, Germany/Hungary (Zsolt Kácsor: Cigány Mózes);
Elzbieta Sobolewska, Poland (Péter Nádas: Párhuzamos történetek);
Sandra Buljanović, Serbia (Edina Szvoren: Verseim, István Beszédes: Versek);
Marko Čudić, Serbia (Zoltán Danyi: A dögeltakarító);
Karol Wlachovský, Slovakia/Hungary (Gyula Juhász: Szegedi emlékezés Szakolcára);
Erzsi Vaculiková, Czech Republic (Aladár Kuncz: Fekete kolostor);
Rachel Mikos, USA/Czech Republic (Zsófia Balla: Az élet két fele);
Jonka Najdenova, Bulgaria (Péter Esterházy: Kis Magyar Pornográfia);
Adan Kovacsics, Spain (Imre Kertész: Vázlatok);
Sophie Aude, France (Péter Nádas: Világló részletek);
Mari Alföldy, Netherlands (László Krasznahorkai: Herscht 07769);
Éva Zádor, Germany/Hungary (Noémi Kiss: Karácsony a Dunán);
Tähti Schmidt, Finland (works by Anna Terék, Rimma Dalos and Attila Bartis);
Abdallah Al-Naggar, Egypt (Éva Bánki: Aranyhímzés);
Leelo Jõulu, Estonia (Szilárd Borbély: Nincstelenek);
Natalia & Charles Zaremba, France (Szilárd Borbély: Kafka fia);
Gabriela Constantin, Romania ( Kristóf Kelemen: A nemlét asszonya, a play);
Lenka Nagyová, Slovakia (Anita Harag: Évszakhoz képest hűvösebb);
Heike Flemming, Germany (László Krasznahorkai:Aprómunka egy palotáért, Mindig Homérosznak, Állat van bent);
Robert Svoboda, Czech Republic (Géza Csáth: Naplórészletek);
Thomas Sulmon, Belgium (János Lackfi: Milyenek a magyarok);
Ingrid Tomonicska, Romania (Zoltán Dósa: Sírversek);
Yu Zemin, China (László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér).
Translation events and seminars in 2023
January 9-15 2023 Students on the Balassi Scholarship KKM Literary Translation Programme (Eren Denizbilen, Lu Jianchem, Małgorzata Joanna Fedorowicz, Maja Elzbieta Marzec, Marija Nikolić, Tatiana Overchuk, Nadzeya Shulhina, Eszter Virág Toldi, Anzhelika Vakulenko and Maria Francisca van der Pluijm) worked on the first draft of their final translation pieces.
February 27- March 4 2023, Bulgarian Translators’ Seminar led by Svetla Kioseva (literary translator). Teodora Todorova, Zornica Bolneva, Zornica Videnova, Elitsea Boriszova Klimentieva and Maria Koleva worked on poems by Tamás Jónás, Géza Szőcs, Zita Izsó, Márta Júlia Nagy and András Ferenc Kovács. Our thanks to the Terézváros Bulgarian Local Government for their support.
March 27- April 2 2023, our first Slovenian Translators’ Seminar led by Tamás Kruzslicz (language editor) and Marjanca Mihelič (literary translator). Ana Belovič, Manca Tea Devetak, Veronika Lisjak, Mihaela Modic, Aleksa Martinović and Tina Raj translated works by the Hungarian writer Diána Vonnák and the Slovenian poet Lajos Bence.
April 15-29 2023, as part of the Poems in Veszprém project, organised within the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture programme, we welcomed 6 celebrated European poets to the House. Gérard Cartier (France), Guy Helminger (Luxembourg), Ija Kiva (Ukraine), Jaan Malin (Estonia), Yvonne Reddick (United Kingdom) and Antonio Rivero Taravillo (Spain) wrote poems about their experiences in the area, and a team of renowned translators translated their works into Hungarian. A poem by each poet was published along with its translation in the form of dual-language postcards. Our guests visited the Dual-Language Grammar School in Balatonalmádi, the Lovassy László and Vetési Albert Grammar Schools in Veszprém and the Lóczy Lajos Grammar School in Balatonfüred where they gave literature lessons in Spanish, English, German, French and Italian. These lessons were such a success with the students that the schools invited both the poets and the Translators’ House to work with them again in the future. We ran two events that were open to the public at Pannon University and the House of Jewish Excellences in Balatonfüred which were attended by throngs of booklovers. Through two organised tours, our poets got to know the region’s natural attractions and its other places of interest (Zirc, Bakony, Hegyestű, Tapolca, Badacsony).
July 29-30th 2023 The second part of the programme took place at the end of July, when Hungarian actors and drama students (Dorottya Gellért, Julianna Horváth, Dávid Kerek, Katalin Nagy, Ádám Porogi, and Péter Valcz) performed poems by the visiting poets in their Hungarian translations on the shore at Balatonalmádi, the Tagore Promenade at Balatonfüred and in Veszprém’s Old Town. These performances were organised by Dorka Porogi. An anthology of the poems will be published by Labirintus Press in the spring of 2024.
May 30 - June 5 2023, Italian Translators’ Seminar: Gianluca Volpi, Nóra Lengyel, Giulia Cicerone, Anna Maria Cutrupia, Sara Luigia Tomassetti and Anna Zemek worked on translating a short story by Diána Vonnák under the direction of Lorenzo Marmiroli and Eszter Sermann.
June 6-11 2023, The first Turkish Translators’ Seminar to be held at the House was led by Sevgi Can Yağcı Aksel. Ökten Asli Nur, Bariş Yilmaz, and Ismail Dogan practised their skills on works by János Komáromi, László Darvasi and Péter Rácz. Literary translators Gün Benderli and Tarik Demirkan were guests of honour.
June 19-22 2023 As part of the Visegrad Four Literary Seminar: Eva Andrejčáková, Robert Svoboda, Renáta Deák, Magdaléna Garbacik-Balamowicz, Krzysztof Wokosiuk and Márta Pató translated works by Dániel Varró, Pál Závada, Rita Halász, Attila Szalai, János Háy, Péter Esterházy and others.
June 25-29 2023 Slovak Translators’ Seminar: Renáta Deák, Judit Görözdi, Gabriela Magová, Eva Andrejčáková and Lenka Nagyová discussed their current projects.
July 1-8 2023 Spanish Translators’ Seminar Week: Márta Patak and Adan Kovacsics led Veronika Major, José Miguel González Trevejo and Zita Máté as they worked on Zoltán Danyi’s novel A rózsákról.
September 1-7 2023 Estonian Translator’s Seminar: Lauri Eesmaa, Lea Kreinin, Leelo Jõulu, Kriszta Tóth and Mirjam Parve worked on Péter Nádas’ Saját halál, Szilárd Borbély’s Egy bűntény mellékszálai and Nincstelenek and Magda Szabó’s Tündér Lala as well as poems by Miklós Radnóti.
September 8-14 2023 Polish Translators’ Seminar: Led by Teresa Maria Worowska, Alicja Malanowska, Malgorzata Fedorowicz, Lukasz Woiński, Karolina Kacorzyk and Krzysztof Wokosiuk worked on poems by Anna T. Szabó, who was also present.
September 26- October 1 2023, Petőfi-Themed Spanish Translator’s Seminar: Led by Dóra Bakucz and Gergő Tóth, Camila Beatriz Parra Herrera, Miriam Palacios Martínez, Giuseppe Orrù, Gonzalo Luis Seco Gato és Esmeralda Malinalli Díaz Pérez translated poems by Sándor Petőfi. The resulting book has already been published. (See photo)
October 13-15 2023, Dutch Translators’ Seminar: Led by Anikó Daróczi and Jakob Faber, seven students from the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, two of them visiting students from Ukraine, worked on poems by the Dutch poet Hanny Michaelis and a short story by the contemporary Flemish writer Annelies Verbeke. They also rewrote and translated a medieval legend.
October 23-29 2023 Vice Versa German-Hungarian Translation Workshop Heike Flemming and László Győri led this workshop, which took place under the auspices of the German Toledo Programme. While the first occasion dealt with poetry, at this second workshop it was the turn of prose. The participants were Tünde Malomvölgyi, Kata Veress, Csilla Földes, Zita Balogh-Auer, Éva Zádor, Christina Kunze, Gitta Benkö, Melinda Pusztai, Laura Paschirbe and Eszter Toldi.
Events and other news
From January 2023 the Translators’ House running costs (water, gas and electricity bills, fire and building insurance) are being settled directly by the Petőfi Cultural Agency (PKÜ).
On February 26, 2023, at the Géza Szőcs Literary Salon, Gábor Schein talked with Ildikó Enyedi about her film A feleségem története [The Story of My Wife], her connection to Milán Füst, the making of the film and the many decisions she has made over the years. Their conversation was streamed to an online audience.
In July, a storm brought a rotten tree down onto the House, causing substantial damage. The building was insured and repair work was carried out with exemplary speed by Gótika Kft. Our thanks go to them.
In order to ascertain the condition of the older trees in the garden, we commissioned Imre István Sümegi, a tree surgeon accredited by the Hungarian Tree Surgeons’ Association (FV-22/019; FA-19/016), to conduct a visual inspection and an inspection using instruments of the linden tree, the horse chestnut trees and the other trees in the garden. The condition of these trees and the measures deemed necessary are now recorded in a 58-page report.
In 1997 we signed a contract permitting us to use the Lipták house. This contract ran out in August 2023. This issue has remained unresolved ever since. Our aim continues to be to ensure a peaceful working environment in the long term at the same location we have done so up till now.
In 2005, more than 18 years ago, the Balassi Literary Translation Programme was started, with grants being made available to students who enrolled on it. Every year, the programme trains ten foreign students in the art of literary translation, and they also come to work at the House for a week. The best of their translations will be published by PRAE Publishing in the spring of 2024 in a 15-language anthology entitled Kísérlet párbeszédre [An Experiment in Dialogue].
The entire first floor, including the library and the bedroom, was repainted.
At the end of November, the 9 students on the Balassi Scholarship Literary Translation Programme were given the opportunity to become acquainted with the Translators’ House and the contents of its library. In January 2024, they spent a week at the house working on their long translation pieces.
A good number of the translators who are frequent guests at the House were awarded the Milán Füst Translation Prize: Elżbieta Sobolewska, Marjanca Mihelič, Svetla Kioseva, Abdallah Al-Naggar, Marko Čudić, Nelli Dimova, Stefka Hrusanova, Martin Hristov, Mariarosaria Sciglitano and Sandra Buljanović Simonović. Congratulations to them!
In the spirit of artistic co-operation, we allowed the House to be used for a weekend by the film director Ildikó Enyedi’s students, who were working on a joint project.
On Nov 11, 2023, at the Géza Szőcs Literary Salon, Gábor Schein talked with the artist and writer István Orosz. They discussed the points at which their artistic endeavours meet, their relationship to Dürer’s work and how they interpret the presence of the arts in today’s context.
We arranged for the paths in the garden to be covered in fresh gravel.
A full list of the literary translations done in the House from 1999 to the present day can be viewed on our website. This list is updated every year.
Since 2021, we have also posted on our website details of how we have spent the money we have received in support of the House. These details are also updated on a yearly basis.
Precipitation measured in the garden broken down by month (2023): January 97 mm, February 8 mm, March 45 mm, April 50 mm, May 121 mm, June 79 mm, July 75 mm, August 78 mm, September 16,mm, October 69 mm, November 53 mm, December 134 mm. 825 mm in total.
In 2023, the following translations were published:
Éva Bánki: Aranyhímzés (Arabic) Abdallah Al-Nagar;
Margit Kaffka: Színek és évek (Spanish) Dóra Bakucz;
Szilárd Borbély: Kafka fia (English), Rachel Mikos;
Kálmán Mikszáth: Különös házasság (Slovak), Karol Wlachowský;
Miklós Bánffy: Erdélyi történet (Vol 1), Edit András: Kulturális átköltözés and excerpts from the diaries of Géza Csáth (Czech), all three translated by Robert Svoboda;
Several poems by Péter Kántor (Bulgarian), Martin Hristov, online at:
https://litvestnik.com/2023/02/23/%d0%bf%d0%be%d0%b5%d0%b7%d0%b8%d1%8f-25/, https://www.toest.bg/neka-da-sum-po-shtastliv/;
Excerpts from György Spiro’s short story collection, Álmodtam neked were featured on Radio Belgrade 2, and a chapter of Zoltán Danyi’s novel A dögeltakarító appeared in the Serbian literary quarterly Mostovi, (Serbian) Marko Čudić;
Three stories by László Krasznahorkai: (Állat Van Bent, Aprómunka Egy Palotáért, Mindig Homérosznak) (German), Heike Flemming: https://www.amazon.de/Im-Wahn-Anderen-Drei-Erz%C3%A4hlungen/dp/3103974957 ;
Poems by the Vojvodinan poet István Beszédes (Serbian) in the journal Zlatna Greda, Sandra Buljanović-Simonović;
Ferenc Karinthy: Epepe (Turkish), Sevgi Can Yağcı;
Péter Nádas: Goldene Adele. Esszék a művészetről, (Russian), Selected and edited Vyacheslav Sereda. Translated by: Olga Balla, Yurii Gusev, Olga Serebryanaya and Vyacheslav Sereda. Afterword by Olga Serebryanaya. – Ferenc Sánta: Az ötödik pecsét.
E-book and audiobook (Russian) in a new translation by Vyacheslav Sereda;
Péter Nádas: Mélabú, (Spanish), László F. Földényi: A melankólia dicsérete, (Spanish), László Krasznahorkai: Kegyelmi viszonyok (Spanish), Adan Kovacsics;
László Krasznahorkai:. ‘A Waterloo-ban’ (essay) Nexus 92/2023 (Dutch), László Krasznahorkai: Herscht 07769 (Dutch), two poems by Dezső Kosztolányi: ‘Anyák’ and ‘Öcsém,’ Hollands Maandblad 2023/10, Dezső Kosztolányi: Karácsony, Hollands Maandblad 2023/12. Juli Laczkó: texts for an exhibition (Dutch), Mari Alföldy Mari;
Krisztina Tóth: Porhó (poem cycle) Sztranica 4/2023, István Kemény: Közlemény, Literaturen vesztnik. 17/2023, Kovács András Ferenc: Naplótöredék, Literaturen vesztnik. 17/2023, László F. Földény: Melankólia (all four Bulgarian), Svetla Kioseva;. poems by Zita Izsó, Márta Júlia Nagy, Tamás Jónás, Dénes Krusovszky translated by Zornica Videnova, Elica Klimentieva, Teodora Todorova, Maria Koleva and Zornica Bahneva at the Bulgarian Translators’ Seminar, Literaturen vesztnik. 17/2023;
Zsolt Láng: Kovács Emma születése (English), Owen Good and Ottilie Mulzet;
László Szilasi: Harmadik híd, Szilasi László: ‘Hungarian microdose’ (essay), https://www.advojka.cz/archiv/2023/10/hungarian-microdose , Veronika Darida: ‘Karanténnéző,’ (essay), https://www.advojka.cz/archiv/2023/12/divak-v-karantene, (all three in Czech), Márta Pató.
György Dragomán: Máglya (Polish), Karolina Kacorzyk;
Péter Eötvös: Valuska, an opera libretto (German), György Buda.
We would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals and institutions:
Thank you to all those to whom the smooth running of the Hungarian Translators’ House at Balatonfüred is important, and who have been selfless in offering their assistance.
Éva Szabó, Anna Bentley, András Imreh, Zoltán Jeney, Károly Klimó, Andrea Andócs, Zoltán Bakos and Mrs. Ágnes Kárpáti Bakos, †László BITÓ, Dr. István BÓKA, Olivia CARINO, László CSERÉP, Balatonfüred Town Council, Kata Csorba, Anikó Mórocz, †Kari KEMÉNY, Judit Klein, Dr. Evelin Hust, Katalin Hanusovszky, all the staff at The Writers’ Bookshop, Budapest (Írók Boltja), András Jékey, Márta Józsa, Judit GESKÓ, Péter Bozsik, the artists who lent us their works, Krisztián Tóbiás, András Lipták, Lídia Nádori, the Hungarian Literary Translators’ Association (MEGY), István Ladányi, Tibor Martinovics, Zoltán Kosler, Judit Garai, János Szakács, Probio Rt., László Somogyi; Szilveszter Szabó, Dániel Bíró, Ágnes Rácz, Judit Rácz, Júlia Rácz, Rebeka Rácz, Boglárka Mészáros, István Széles and Ildikó Firczi, Kinga Szokács, Katalin Vida, Gabi Nagy, Károly Szamosfalvi, Mrs. Zsuzsa Bocsor Szamosfalvi, Mrs. Katalin Rácz Csonka, the Lipták Gábor Town Library; Barnabás Poór (Mikrocomp Kft.), Gábor Dénes, Júlia Lázár, Horváth Lili and Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó. And lots of lots of literary translators. Apologies to anyone we may have omitted!
Closed: Februar 5, 2024
English translation by: Anna Bentley
Layout: Anna Egyed (egyedanna.com)
Printing: Kontaktprint Kft.
Magyar Fordítóház Alapítvány / Hungarian Translator's House Foundation
H-1094 Budapest, Tűzoltó u. 5.
Phone: (361) 215 40 75.
E-mail: mfordhaz@t-online.hu
www.forditohaz.hu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/forditohaz
Tax reference number: 18072749-1-43
Magyar Fordítóház / Hungarian Translators' House
H-8230 Balatonfüred, Petőfi Sándor u. 28.
Phone / Fax: (36 87) 481 794
E-mail: forditohaz.bf@gmail.com
Kereskedelmi és Hitelbank Rt. / Commercial and Credit Bank Rt.
BIC (SWIFT) OKHBHUHB
HU96 1040 2166 2163 5449 0000 0000 (HUF)
Foreign Exchange Account (IBAN):
HU29 1040 8007 2521 4956 4011 0000 (USD);
Board: Zoltán Jeney, Ágnes Orzóy, Péter Rácz, Gábor Schein, István Vörös
Caretaker: Kinga Fogarasi
Social Media Manager: Júlia Rácz
A Magyar Fordítóház Alapítvány működését, a magyar irodalom fordítását támogathatja adójának 1 %-ával. Adószám: 18072749-1-43. Köszönjük.
You can support the operation of the Hungarian Translators’ House Foundation and the translation of Hungarian literature with 1% of your tax. Tax reference number: 18072749-1-43. Thank You.