Atala Kisfaludy (6 April 1836 – 18 February 1911) was a Hungarian poet, writer from Hungary. She was the first woman to be a member of the Petőfi Society.

Biography

Atala Kisfaludy was born on 6 April 1836 in

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

Kötcse Kötcse (german: Kötsching) is a village in Somogy county, Hungary. The village is known for being a summer resort because of its proximity to Lake Balaton and its good weather conditions. Several houses are weekend houses and have no permanent ...

to the Kisfaludy family, of noble origin in

Kisfalud Kisfalud is a village in Fejér county, Hungary. Notable residents *Adolf Kertész Adolf Kertész (15 March 1892 – November 1920; nicknamed "Kertész III") was a Hungarian footballer who played as a half back at both the professional leve ...

. Her father was Captain Mihály Kisfaludy, and her mother was Amália Hanovszky. She was related to

Károly Károly is a very common Hungarian male given name. It is also sometimes found as a Hungarian surname. The origin of this name is the Turkic Karul, which means hawk. Nowadays Károly is considered the equivalent of English Karl or Charles (beca ...

and

Sándor Kisfaludy Sándor Kisfaludy (27 September 1772 – 28 October 1844) was a Hungarian lyric poet, ''Himfy's Loves'' his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist. He is considered to be the first romantic poet from Hungary. He was the brother of K ...

as well as

Pál Ányos Pál is a Hungarian masculine given name, the Hungarian version of Paul. It may refer to: * Pál Almásy (1818-1882), Hungarian lawyer and politician * Pál Bedák (born 1985), Hungarian boxer * Pál Benkő (1928–2019), Hungarian-American chess ...

. Kisfaludy loved poetry immensely. In 1852, she married the lawyer Károly Szalay (also written Kálolyné Szalay) and they lived in

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvá ...

where they had three daughters. Kisfaludy was a member of the cultural life in the city but in 1858, she fell ill. During this time, she began to write poetry. Her poems appeared in ''Hölgyfutár'' and then ''Vasárnapi Újság''. Her work was published only under her given name, Atala. She only began to use her family name in 1876, and was never published under it. Kisfaludy was the first woman in the Petőfi Society in 1878. In 1861, she founded and edited a children's magazine with Richard Szabó. She died on 18 February 1911 in

Bibliography

* Atala költeményei (Poems of Atala), 1861 * *

References and sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kisfaludy, Atala 1836 births 1911 deaths Hungarian women poets 19th-century Hungarian poets