Bloomsday Festival in Szombathely

“We will guarantee the free operation of the book market, initiate broad consultations with all stakeholders regarding its regulation, suspend the application of the fixed-price law, and review those laws that Fidesz-KDNP passed for their own ends, falsely using child protection as a pretext,” – announced Zoltán Tarr on Thursday in Budapest at the opening of the Festive Book Week.

The 97th Book Week was opened on Thursday, 11 June, by David Szalay, a British-Canadian writer of Hungarian descent, at Vörösmarty Square. His novel Flesh, which won the Booker Prize last year, was published in translation for Book Week under the Hungarian title Test. His speech was interpreted by the book's Hungarian translator András Barabás.

It's open call season again at HLO, and we want to read your writings and translations!

With opening remarks by Katalin Gál, president of the Hungarian Book Publishers’ Association (MKKE), a speech by Booker Prize-winning author David Szalay, and an address by Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony, the 97th Book Week opens tomorrow at Vörösmarty Square.

This "trio of darkly elegant, women-centric novellas from a master of twentieth-century Hungarian literature" was released in April of this year by Seagull Books, in John Batki's translation.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, on May 31, 2026 – after welcoming Péter Nádas into the ranks of the Pour le Mérite Order of Science and Art during an open session – awarded the writer the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The shortlist for this year’s Esterházy Literary Prize was announced on 12 May. The seven works in the running for the prize are by Ferenc Barnás, Péter Bognár, Kinga Fancsali, Árpád Kollár, Balázs Szálinger, Zsuzsa Takács, and Krisztina Tóth.

"This is not a practical manual, but a book of essays at the crossroads of nature, culture, and thought." – The Art of Beekeeping has been published by Northern Bee Books in the United Kingdom, in Deborah Marshall's translation.

Tímea Tankó’s German translation of András Visky’s novel, Kitelepítés, was shortlisted for the prestigious literary award Internationaler Literaturepreis.

This spring (and early summer) has seen a host of exciting new releases for Hungarian literature, with more yet to come. This list features some of HLO's favorites from two of Hungary's most prominent publishing houses.

An unsettling collection of short stories revealing hidden traumas – Krisztina Tóth's White Wolf has been published by Seagull Books in Owen Good's translation. Readers living in London will have an opportunity to see Tóth speak at the European Writers' Festival at the British Library, this Saturday, 16 May.

The 21st International Comics Festival is being held this weekend, Friday 8 May through Sunday 10 May, in the Gömb Auditorium on the ELTE campus. Read on to learn more about the events, guests, and opportunities open to participants.

A follow-up to the 2024 Narratives of Budapest, Narratives of Hungary is an English-language collection of personal stories exploring the country beyond Budapest through landscapes, local traditions, and lesser-known histories, published by the Panel Literature Association.

Edith Eger, a clinical psychologist, writer, Holocaust survivor, and author of The Choice, has died. The author, who lived in the United States, was 98 years old. Her Hungarian publisher, Open Books, announced her death in Hungary.

The PesText Festival is back again, and will be running May 8 and 9 across two locations in Budapest. Read on to see the exciting lineup of international authors participating!

The jury of the Attila Hazai Foundation has awarded this year's Attila Hazai Literary Prize to Ilka Papp-Zakor. The award ceremony will be held on 30 April, the anniversary of Hazai's birthday.

Three literary events will celebrate the publication of The Song of the Cosmos, a Attila József collection translated by Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette and published by Shearman Books.

We're elated to share that Anita Moskát's short story, “Liecraft”, translated by our very own Austin Wagner has been awarded a British Science Fiction Association Award in the Best Translated Short Fiction category. It is the second year in a row for Hungarian sci-fi to take the award. The same award was given to Mónika Rusvai's short story "Bone by Bone", translated by Vivien Urbánin last year.

The Hidden Wonder of Reality, Faith, and the Soul, the memoir of Sándor Czakó, a founding member of the "shaman punk" and "psychedelic hardcore" band Galloping Coroners (Vágtázó Hallottkémek), has been published in Diana Senechal's English translation by Serving House Books.