Hungarian writers and poets always gave hope, faith and determination.

This year, the Arany János Prize, established in 1995, was awarded to the writer, poet, and literary historian Ferenc Vitéz for his outstanding literary work by the board of trustees of the Arany János Foundation of the Hungarian Writers' Association; the award was presented at the association's celebratory event on Wednesday in Budapest.

At the unfolding of each of our revolutions and major historical events, our famous writers and poets were there, and it was no different in 1956 either - said the Deputy Secretary of State for Art and Community Culture of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) at the ceremony.

In October 1956, the headquarters of the Writers' Association in Bajza Street became one of the intellectual centers of the revolution, the manifestos and chronicles of the events written here gave strength to the fighters and provided support to those who, in the words of Sándor Márai, dared to say: enough is enough! - said the state secretary of KIM, according to whom Hungarian writers and poets gave hope, faith and determination, but also collected money for the relatives of the victims during the revolution.

According to the deputy state secretary, the communist government was always afraid of writers: during the reprisals, in the writer's trials, several outstanding artists received prison terms, the goal was to silence the writers.

He recalled that the Association of Hungarian Writers was dissolved in 1957, and the organization could only be re-established later. But they could not break the Hungarian writers-poets, many of them in emigration, many of them fleeing into their inner spiritual world, guarded the flame of freedom - he pointed out, emphasizing that freedom still needs to be done today.

Ferenc Vitéz received the Golden János award at the ceremony.

The eulogy of literary historian János Imre Hegedűs was read by actor Balázz Lázár. János Imre Hegedűs called his oeuvre monumental: Ferenc Vitéz was a lyricist, master of prose, literary historian, journalist, newspaper founder, textbook writer and university associate professor and vice chancellor, who has published 60 independent volumes so far, including 25 poems, 9 prose, 20 academic books, and university notes. you can claim a lot of it.

According to the literary historian, Ferenc Vitéz performs the superhuman work with a cheerful disposition, with the calmness of wise thinkers, he does not hunt for laurels, he does not do it for himself, but always works for the good of the public. According to János Imre Hegedűs, the essence of being an intellectual can be found in the works of Ferenc Vitéz.

At the ceremony, the Debut Award of the Hungarian Writers' Association, founded in 2019, was presented, which was awarded to three young authors this year as well: Andrea Birtalan for his book of poems Mifelénk nijná padok, Péter Újszászy Kovács for his work The Stripping Gothic, and Benedek Sarnyai for his prose book Elfeledték zadam.

Literary historian Róbert Smid praised the Debut award winners. According to the literary historian, Andrea Birtalan's book of poems is an identity poem in the sense that it evokes the old world, childhood and the attitude towards life that seems to be adopted today, and with its faithfulness to form it evokes the tradition of Hungarian poetry and the great figures of Hungarian poetry, including Attila József.

Praising the book of poems by Péter Újszászy Kovács, he said that the carefully constructed volume "would like to see the bestial depths to which only humans can sink in the eyes of animals". He emphasized: the young poet does not use the didactic crooked mirror-holding character of the verse, instead he looks for the source of suffering.

Róbert Smid stated about Benedek Sarnyai's volume of prose: the young writer puts the report form at the service of fiction. His novel speaks eloquently about the problems of the Hungarian countryside, the loss of faith in change, the harmfulness of rumors or alcoholism in such a way that we laugh the whole time, he said.

MTI

Cover image: The poet, writer, literary historian Ferenc Vitéz awarded the János Arany Prize (b2), the Debut Prize-winning poet Andrea Birtalan (k) and the writer Benedek Sarnyai (j2) Irén Novák, the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM) for art and community Deputy State Secretary responsible for education (b) and Kinga Erős, president of the Hungarian Writers' Association
Source: MTI/Noémi Bruzák