Fourth Newsletter
Events of 2001
In January we laid flowers on the behalf of the Hungarian Translators House Foundation at the newly inaugurated Gábor Lipták memorial in the Pantheon of Balatonfüred. - Péter Rácz gave speeches about the work of the Hungarian Translators House Foundation at the Sofia Hungarian Institute in February, at the Prague Hungarian Institute in May, and at a translation conference held in the Paris Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in October. - In March Jurij Skrobinec an Ukrainian poet and translator, the former guest of the House passed away. - In March Szava Babic and Sándor Pálffy, the mayor of Balatonfüred, unveiled a Béla Hamvas memorial. - In April the Indian translator, Indu Mazaldan held a public lecture about her work in the local high school and the Lipták Szalon.
On the 16 of June we had our traditional garden party. Our fine arts exhibition displaying works generously lent by Hungarian artist acquired several new pieces. The House now displays works by: Ferenc Banga, Imre Bak, Márton Barabás, Imre Bukta, Mária Chilf, József Darázs, Pál Deim, EI Kazovszkij, Miklós Erdély, László Fehér, László Felugossy, Áron Gábor, Bálint Havas, Katalin Káldi, Károly Kelemen, György Kemény, Ilona Keserü, Károly Klimó, András Koncz, Antal Lakner, Lois Viktor, Rezső Móder, László Mulasics, István Nádler, Réka Nemere, István Orosz, Sándor Rácmolnár, Gábor Roskó, Zsuzsa Szenes, Ágnes Szépfalvi, Klára Szilárd, János Szirtes, László Szotyory, Gábor Szörtsey, József Szurcsik - many thanks. The exhibition was once again organized by the art historian Krisztina Jerger. Following the welcoming words of the town's mayor, Sándor Pálffy, the exhibition was opened by the writer Gábor Németh (see:www.c3.hu/forditohaz). The Dresch Quartett had their now traditional concert - with great success. In the second week of June we organized a French translator's seminar, with the participation of nine French translators. The seminars were led by professor György Kassai (Paris), lectures were presented by Györgyi Máté (JPTE, Pécs) and the interpreter András Fáber. The event was sponsored by the Cultural Department of the Embassy of France and was opened by director Stanislas Pierret. The National Cultural Programme donated 300.000.- Ft, for expanding the library. - The Soros Foundation donated a computer configuration. - The Royal Embassy of Holland sponsored the acquisition of Dutch reference works in the value of 1000.- NLG. - In September Péter Rácz held a lecture about the reception of Hungarian Literature Abroad at a symposium organized by the Károlyi József Foundation and the János Kodolányi College. We are thankfull to the AB-AEGON insurance copmany for insureing the House.
In the course of the year the following media reported about the work of the Translators House: Napló (Veszprém); Füred TV, Magyar Rádió, Rádió Bridge, Új Dunatáj, Élet és Irodalom, Világgazdaság, Népszabadság, Bécsi Napló, Magyar Nemzet, Füredi História, the Bulgarian and Czech media, a Japanese woman's weekly etc.
For the last three month of the year the House was closed, because the long planed remodeling of the attic was finally under way. The work was jointly financed by the Prins Bernhard Fonds (The Netherlands), The Ministry of National Cultural Heritage and members of the Lipták family. The contractors were the Pannon Régio Ltd. and the Papp & Pálffy Ltd. of Balatonfüred and Tapolca, following the plans drawn up by Mihály Tar, Annamária Cseh and Levente Szabó. As a result an addítíonal quest room and an a 80 m2 space was created, the later will be used as a library and as a venue for translation seminars and other cultural events. The works were supervised by the architect Katalin Hanusovszky.
Our caretaker Zsuzsa Bocsor Mrs. Szamosfalvi - was a splendid help throughout the year.