Menyhért Lakatos (April 11, 1926, Vésztő — August 21, 2007, Budapest) was a Hungarian Romani writer[1][2]
Since 1988 he was President of the Hungarian Romani Cultural Association (Magyarországi Cigányok Kulturális Szövetsége).[2]
His most famous book, Füstös képek ("Images in Smoke", translated in English as The Color of Smoke) is a novel based on personal experience, set in World War II. It is a bildungsroman[3] that shows life in a Roma village in Northeast Hungary, from 1940 until the German occupation of the country in 1944 when Roma people were put into death camps. While filled with amusing anecdotes, with a petty criminal subplot, and adolescent eroticism, it portrays dehumanization of Romani in the society.[4][5]
Books
edit- 1975: Füstös képek
- Bulgarian: Окадени картини, 1977
- German: Bitterer Rauch. Verlag Volk und Welt. Berlin 1978 (ISBN 9783421018335), 1979, 1980, 1982
- French: Couleur de fumée : une épopée tzigane, Paris, Actes Sud, 1986.
- English: The Color of Smoke: An Epic Novel of the Roma, 2015, ISBN 0985062347
- 1975: Angárka és Busladarfi
- 1979: A hét szakállas farkas
- 1979: A paramisák ivadékai
- 1981: Az öreg fazék titka
- 1981: Csandra szekere
- German: Csandras Karren. Zigeunergeschichten. Volk und Welt, Berlin 1984
- 1982: Akik élni akarta
- 1995: Hosszú éjszakák meséi
- German: Märchen der langen Nächte. Roma-Märchen. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2004 (ISBN 9783851294538), 1999
- 1998: A titok
- 1999: Tenyérből mondtál jövendőt
Awards
editSignificant awards include:[7]
- 2000: National Romani Self-Government Lifetime Achievement Award
- 1999: Hungarian Laurel Wreath Award
- 1995: Book of the Year Award
- 1993: Attila József Prize
- 1976: Attila József Prize
- 1976: Milán Füst Prize
References
edit
- ^ "PORT.hu - Lakatos Menyhért". Archived from the original on 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
- ^ a b "Lakatos Menyhért", a bio at the Lakatos Menyhért School website, citing Lajos Rácz, Roma értelmiségiek arcképcsarnoka ISBN 963 00 5586 4
- ^ "The Color of Smoke". Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
- ^ "Hungary's future: anti-immigration, anti-multiculturalism and anti-Roma?", August 4, 2015,
- ^ Kovacshazy, Cécile. "To understand the Roma, you need to read their literature".
- ^ Károly, Barlog. "Lakatos Menyhért Általános Iskola és Gimnázium". www.lakatosmenyhert-iskola.hu.
- ^ "LAKATOS MENYHÉRT", Kortárs magyar írók (Contemporary Hungarian writers), 1998, ISBN 963-8477-31-8