Hungarian Literature Online

It's open call season again at HLO! Got an article idea? A translation you've been pitching? A book that you loved? A short story? A poem? We're inviting submissions again, 14 July–15 August. 📨hlo.hu/news/send-us-y…

The first ever Jókai Fellowship, a program hoping to grow the presence of Hungarian literature in the international market, will host six publishing houses from six different countries at the Hungarian Translators House at Balatonfüred next week. hlo.hu/news/jokai-fel…

HLO21: When it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, why not read about the hard-boiled crime thrillers of Vilmos Kondor instead? A portrait by Mátyás Falvai for Könyves Magazin, 2013. hlo.hu/portrait/vilmo…

For the weekend: a podcast with George Szirtes on translation! We talked about translating monumental works like Madách's verse drama The Tragedy of Man, Krasznahorkai's The Melancholy of Resistance, and Sátántangó. Plus new poems by Krisztina Tóth. 🎙️ hlo.hu/interview/hlo-…

Translating to/from Hungarian? Now's the chance to apply for a residency through the Archipelagos project! ✍️hlo.hu/news/residency…

A 2012 interview with Noémi Szécsi about her novel The Finno-Ugrian Vampire, then recently translated into English by Peter Sherwood. We've published more interviews and excerpts from Szécsi since this interview came out, give them a read after this one! hlo.hu/interview/inte…

A fresh, fantastically tense, dynamic novel that deftly blurs the boundary between reality and fiction, play and memory, while managing to shift tones alongside taut dramaturgy. Read on in László Valuska's review of Imre Bartók's latest novel, Damien. hlo.hu/review/master-…

What a treat to hear two frequent HLO contributors in conversation for @TrafikaEurope! Give a listen to @agiborimottern's interview with Anna Bentley to hear all about Anna's translations of Orsolya Láng's poetry for TE, and much more! omny.fm/shows/trafika-…

Wasn't the world supposed to end in 2012 or something? Well, how about an interview from that year with the master of apocalypse himself, László Krasznahorkai, instead? hlo.hu/interview/kras…

Ottó Tolnai would have turned 85 today. To dive into the multifaceted mind of this avant-garde poet we lost in March of this year, read Miriam Grunwald's stirring introduction to his universe, from 2023. hlo.hu/portrait/an-in…

Don't speak Hungarian but want to watch theatre in Budapest? For our new Traveler's Guide series, Diana Senechal introduces the classic musical Frontátvonulás, by legendary songwriting duo Tamás Cseh & Géza Bereményi. Read and find out where to watch it: hlo.hu/zoom/a-travele…

This portrait of Miklós Mészöly is the final installment of our 2011 essay series in which Tim Wilkinson introduces readers to important, but often lesser discussed, Hungarian writers who were "in the vanguard of the quiet revolution". Enjoy! hlo.hu/portrait/an_ev…

"What her blondness was like, I can’t recall now, / But I do know how blond meadows can be" A more classical poem than we usually feature, from Gyula Juhasz, translated by Kinga Williams. hlo.hu/new-work/gyula…

"What I definitely want to say about myself I say in my poems; the rest just happens as it happens." HLO21: an interview with award-winning poet, writer, and translator Péter Kantor, from 2011. hlo.hu/interview/a_ri…

If you missed HLO's biggest interview ever with George Szirtes, then you definitely can't miss the beautiful portrait film that was born of that interview! Literature Comes Home: A Portrait Film on George Szirtes hlo.hu/portrait/liter…

Head into the weekend with this touching, somber tale of an unlikely, but never coincidental, relationship. Written by András Petőcz and translated by Ágnes Megyeri. hlo.hu/new-work/andra…

If you've never heard of the horrific anti-Roma judicial murders committed in Kemence in 1782, you're not alone. Be sure to read Róbert Bak's review for @Telexhu of Ákos Kele Fodor's 2024 novel, The Burial Mounds of Hont, which tells the victims' story. hlo.hu/review/reality…

📣 DOUBLE OR NOTHING! Litera & HLO’s future is at stake. 📍 13 June @ Három Holló, Budapest 🎬 George Szirtes film premiere 🎤 Live talk w/ HU writer András Visky 📖 First reading from his new novel (!) Litera needs just 1000 supporters. Be one of them: hlo.hu/news/double-or…

We spoke with George Szirtes—T. S. Eliot Prize-winning poet and translator of Hungarian literature—about identity, exile, and the paradox of becoming English. A long-form interview by Owen Good and Dóra Szekeres. #translation #hungary #poetry 👉hlo.hu/interview/geor…

HLO21: We like to think of ourselves as something of an expert on Hungarian literature, but we love when other literary outlets get in on the scene! Enjoy a look back at the August 2010 Hungarian issue from @wwborders, guest edited by Judith Sollosy! hlo.hu/news/words_wit…