Hungary will participate in the London Book Fair 2024, which takes place between March 12-14, 2024, with programs organized by the Petőfi Cultural Agency. During the event, when the city is buzzing with literature, publishers, book agents, rights traders, and prominent representatives of the book industry from all over the world will be present, writes Magyar Nemzet.
The London Book Fair, held annually since 1971, is one of the world’s largest and most important book trade and publishing events, and this year Hungary will be hosting a literary program instead of a trade fair stand. Representatives of the Petőfi Cultural Agency will meet with international translation support institutions, publishers, agents, translators, and representatives of the literary and book industry, while their events will also address the Hungarian community in London and the community of Hungarian literature lovers.
The Hungarian literary programs held in parallel with the fair have a long tradition.
This year, on Wednesday March 13, the Liszt Institute in London will host an event titled “The Night of Hungarian Literature.” The evening will feature a presentation of the latest issue of The Continental Literary Magazine, a quarterly English-language publication of the Petőfi Cultural Agency.
The “Beast” issue of the magazine, focusing on Central European literature, will be discussed by Susannah Dickey and Péter Závada, two of the magazine’s authors, and moderated by Owen Good, the magazine’s editor. The launch will be followed by a roundtable discussion on recently published Hungarian books in English translation with Jozefina Komporaly and Owen Good. Prominent translators of Hungarian literature will be interviewed by Balázs Keresztes.
Good has translated Pál Závada’s Market Day and Zsolt Láng The Birth of Emma K., a collection of short stories, in a joint translation with Ottilie Mulzet. Both translators have previously translated works by several other Hungarian authors for the Anglo-Saxon audience, hence the program will not only discuss these translations, but also the situation of Hungarian literature in the Anglo-Saxon market and general issues of literary translation.
After the London Book Fair, the Petőfi Cultural Agency will promote Hungarian literary works published in German at the Leipzig Book Fair from March 21-24.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Facebook/The London Book Fair