Since 2018, on the initiative of the Hungarian Writers' Association, we have been celebrating Hungarian Prose Day on February 18, Mór Jókai .
We are all witnesses to how the Hungarian Poetry Day, which was also celebrated for the first time on April 11, 1964 at the initiative of the Hungarian Writers' Association, has significantly contributed to the development of Hungarian poetry culture and the social appreciation of poetry over the decades. At the time, the Hungarian Writers' Association proposed the Hungarian Drama Day, which has been celebrated since 1984 on September 21, the anniversary of the premiere of The Tragedy of Man.
Mór Jókai's birthday is suitable for organizing the celebration of prose, because his work as a writer is still one of the greatest and unavoidable achievements of Hungarian literature, he has retained his importance in national literature even as a novelist, and he seriously contributes to our historical self-knowledge and the preservation of our identity. In addition, Mór Jókai was our first professional prose writer in the modern sense, who made a living from his work as a writer and editor, and also played public roles as a writer. In his time, his works were translated into many languages and received worldwide recognition and appreciation. His works were popular among readers and writers both at home and abroad, and his books are published and sold in unprecedented numbers to this day.
Source. Hungarian Diary
