Etelka Kenéz Heka () (26 October 1936 – 5 May 2024), sometimes Etelka Heka () was a Hungarian writer, poet and singer.

Life and career

Kenéz Heka was born on 26 October 1936 in

Gajić Gajić (, sr-Cyrl, Гајић) is a settlement in the region of Baranja, Croatia. Administratively, it is located in the Draž municipality within the Osijek-Baranja County Osijek-Baranja County (, , ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in Cro ...

(), Yugoslavia but she was raised at

Zmajevac Zmajevac (; sr-Cyrl, Змајевац; ) is a settlement in the region of Baranja, Croatia. Administratively, it is located in the Kneževi Vinogradi municipality within the Osijek-Baranja County. The population is 974 people. Zmajevac was fou ...

(). She graduated from the secondary grammar School at

Bački Monoštor Bački Monoštor ( sr-cyr, Бачки Моноштор) is a village located in the municipality of Sombor, West Bačka District, Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011 census, it has a population of 3,485 inhabitant. The village has a Croat majority (that ...

(). She took a degree at the Teachers' Training Faculty in Hungarian in

Subotica Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...

University of Novi Sad The University of Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Универзитет у Новом Саду, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu; ) is a public university in Novi Sad, Serbia. Alongside nationally prestigious University of Belgrade, University of Novi Sad is ...

. After her graduation she started to learn to sing from opera singer Margit Markovics privately. Kenéz Heka played at Novi Sad Theatre and sang at

Radio Television of Vojvodina Radio Television of Vojvodina, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Vojvodine, , , , Rusyn: Радіо Телебачення Воєводини; abbr. РТВ/RTV (RTV) is the regional public broadcaster in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, headquartered ...

. She also sang in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1966, then in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and Denmark. Although she was a Hungarian, she visited Hungary for the first time in 1974, and she met her husband, opera singer Ernő Kenéz in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. They moved to Vienna where they married and they had a restaurant. In 1997 they came to Hungary when her husband became deathly ill and her spouse died at his birth town,

Hódmezővásárhely Hódmezővásárhely (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, on the Great Hungarian Plain, at the meeting point of the Békés-Csanádi Ridge and the clay grassland surrounding the river Tisz ...

in 1998. Kenéz Heka held three citizenships: Hungarian, Austrian and Croatian. She had houses in Vienna and

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

but lived primarily in

. She wrote about 90 books. Kenéz Heka died on 5 May 2024, at the age of 87.

Selected books

*''Séta a múltban'', Bába Kiadó, Szeged, 2003. * ''A lélek rejtelmei'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2004. *''Régi idők dalai versben'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2005. * ''A kozmosz titkai, hermetikus filozófia és vegyes költemények'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2005. *''Kenéz Heka Etelka novellái'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2006. * ''Laura különös históriája'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2007. * ''Trubadúr spirituálék'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2007. *''Őszi szerelem: lírikus költemények'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2007. *''Istar, a szerelem úrnője: válogatott költemények 50 kötetből'', Antológia Kiadó, Lakitelek, 2008. *''Kína varázsa: kínai versek'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2008. *''Vásárhelyi regős tanyák'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2009. *''Varázslatos Adria'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2009. *''A teremtés költészete szanszkrit stílusban'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2009. *''Istennel levelezem: szakrális ódák, költemények'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2010. *''A szellem bűvöletében'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2015. *''1050 karácsonyi haiku ének'', Hódmezővásárhely, 2015.

Awards

Signum Urbis Honorantis Award – 2003 *Hódmezővásárhely Pro Urbe Award – 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenez Heka, Etelka 1936 births 2024 deaths Hungarian women poets 20th-century Hungarian women singers People from Hódmezővásárhely 20th-century Hungarian poets 20th-century Hungarian women writers