Magvető is a Hungarian book publishing company based 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 ...

. It primarily publishes domestic and international works of literary fiction.

History

Magvető was established in 1955 as a publisher of the Magyar Írók Szövetsége (now the Hungarian Writers' Association). Its main task was to publish contemporary Hungarian fiction and classical Hungarian literature. However, it also published

world literature World literature is used to refer to the world's total national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European literature. ...

works since it was founded. Upon its founding, a special competitive situation was created within the framework of the state socialist system between Magvető and the similar publisher Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó. It soon became apparent that works which differed from the mainstream of literary policy, which provoked political or aesthetic debates, were more likely to be published by Magvető. Such works included Endre Fejes's '' Rozsdatemető'', Géza Ottlik's '' Hajnali háztetők'' and

Ferenc Sánta Ferenc Sánta (September 4, 1927 – June 6, 2008) was a Hungarian novelist and film screenwriter. He was awarded the ''József Attila Prize'' in 1956 and 1964, and the prestigious ''Kossuth Prize'' in 1973.Iván Mándy Iván Mándy (23 December 1918 in Budapest – 6 October 1995 in Budapest) was a Hungarian writer. Biography From 1945 on Mándy worked at the literary revue Újhold. After the Soviet takeover he became a freelance writer. In 1989 he got again t ...

, Miklós Mészöly, László Nagy,

Ágnes Nemes Nagy Ágnes Nemes Nagy (January 3, 1922 – August 23, 1991) was a Hungary, Hungarian poet, writer, educator, and translator. She was born in Budapest and earned a teaching diploma from the University of Budapest. From 1945 to 1953, she was emplo ...

, Géza Ottlik, Ottó Orbán, István Örkény,

Magda Szabó Magda Szabó (5 October 1917 – 19 November 2007) was a Hungarians, Hungarian novelist. Doctor of philology, she also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memoirs, poetry and children's literature. She was a founding member of the , an online dig ...

és

Sándor Weöres Sándor Weöres (; 22 June 1913 – 22 January 1989) was a Hungarian poet and author. Born in Szombathely, Weöres was brought up in the nearby village of Csönge. His first poems were published when he was fourteen, in the influential jour ...

is. After 1956, the publisher was "confiscated" from the association. Previously, the publisher's own shop, the Magvető bookstore on

Szent István Boulevard Nagykörút, also Grand Boulevard or Great Boulevard (also called "Big Ring Road", "Grand Ring Road", "Great Ring Road"), is one of the most central and busiest parts of Budapest, a major thoroughfare built by 1896, Hungary's Millennium. I ...

, also distributed the publisher's works. However, after the 1956 change of regime in Socialist Hungary, it merged into the network of the Libri book distribution company.

Management

The founder of Magvető was the secretary of the Writers' Association, Géza Képes, a poet and translator. Képes served as co-director of Magvető with

Géza Hegedüs Géza () is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: As regnal or forename * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

János Pilinszky János Pilinszky (27 November 1921 in Budapest – 27 May 1981 in Budapest) was one of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century. Well known within the Hungarian borders for his vast influence on postwar Hungarian poetry, Pilins ...

also worked as a proofreader on the publisher's first volumes. The founding director had to leave Magvető in 1957 due to his activities during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, and was replaced by

Ferenc Vadász Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány (1497–1566), Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Bene (1944–20 ...

. In 1961, György Kardos became the head of the Magvető. Kardos previously served as a Lieutenant Colonel working in military intelligence for the

State Protection Authority The State Protection Authority (, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible for supporting the ruling Hu ...

(ÁVH). Kardos is the longest-serving director Magvető, having served for approximately 25 years. During his tenure as its director, Magvető became one of the most successful Hungarian publishing companies of the time. It published the works of many important writers including Berkesi András,

István Csurka István Csurka (27 March 1934 – 4 February 2012) was a Hungarian nationalist politician, journalist and writer. He was the founder and inaugural leader of the Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP) from 1993 until his death. He was al ...

, ,

György Moldova György Moldova (12 March 1934 – 4 June 2022) was the author of more than seventy books in Hungary that have collectively sold more than 13 million copies, more than any other Hungarian writer. He is best known for his richly detailed sociolo ...

and

. However, it also launched the careers of many young writers who did not have the opportunity to publish elsewhere. Kardos was followed by critic

Miklós Jovánovics Miklós (, ) is a given name or surname, the Hungarian form of the Greek (English ''Nicholas''), and may refer to: In Hungarian politics * Miklós Bánffy, Hungarian nobleman, politician, and novelist * Miklós Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom of H ...

and editor Mária Hegedős, respectively, as director of Magvető. In 1993, it transformed into a publishing company (kft.-vé). It was then purchased by Líra és Lant Kereskedelmi Rt. (now Líra Könyv Zrt.) and has been operating independently within the Líra publishing group ever since. From 1995 to 2015, Géza Morcsányi was the head of the publisher. Under Morcsányi's leadership, Magvető became one of the most prestigious Hungarian fiction publishers, where the works of the most prestigious Hungarian authors of the turn of the millennium were published, including

Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...

, the only Hungarian recipient of the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. Magvető is a member of the (MKKE). Magvető was presented the MKKE's "Publisher of the Year" award in 2003, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2013. From March 2015 to June 2016, Magvető was led by Krisztián Nyáry, who then continued his work as the creative director of Líra Könyv Zrt. He was succeeded on 1 July 2016 by , formerly Editor-in-Chief, as director of the publisher. The longest-serving employee of the publisher was Györgyi Bezúr, a technical manager who worked continuously at Magvető from 1961 to the end of 2016.

Series and sales

Magvető published ' (1974–1994) and the series of books in the Rakéta Regénytár (popularly abbreviated as ''Ra-Re''; from 1978). Successful book series include ''Világkönyvtár'', ''Magvető Kiskönyvtár'' and ''Új Termés'', which introduces the first-volume poets. Successful book series include ''Világkönyvtár'', ''Magvető Kiskönyvtár'' and ''Új Termés'', which introduces the first-volume poets. Magvető also publishes the ''Gyorsuló idő'' educational series as well as the ' memoirs series. In 1963, Magvető launched ', which has been a defining annual anthology of contemporary poetry ever since. An anthology of the most important Hungarian novellas, entitled ''Körkép'', has been published by Magvető since 1964. Within a decade after its founding, Magvető became one of the most influential Hungarian cultural institutions. In 1966, Magvető published more than two million copies. It continuously increased its output over time and, in 1981, Magvető published 5.4 million books. Today, it published a total of 6.4 million of the entire Hungarian literary book production.

Authors

Among the poets, Ferenc Juhász's collection of poetry entitled ''A virágok hatalma'' was published by Magvető in 1955. Cartoonist Tibor Kaján's book entitled ''Kaján rajzok'' was also published by Magvető in 1955. It also published Endre Fejes's volume of short stories entitled ''A hazudós'' in 1958. In addition to publishing the works of Hungarian writers already recognized by critics and the public audience, Magvető also focuses on publishing the debut works of young talented writers who are early in their careers, and promotes the continued output of these writers. Among others, Magvető publishes the works of Tibor Babiczky, Péter Bognár, Renátó Fehér, Ákos Győrffy, Lili Kemény, Noémi Kiss,

Tibor Noé Kiss Tibor is a masculine Hungarian given name. * Originated shortened form of the medieval Hungarian name ''Tiborc''; which originates from the ancient Latin surname Tiburtius. * from Etruscan name Tibur, which means "honest man" Some notable people ...

, , András Maros, Koppány Zsolt Nagy, László Potozky, Csaba Székely, Petra Szőcs, Kinga Tóth, Benedek Totth. The honours the best Hungarian contemporary fiction from the previous year. In 2015, 77 works of fiction were nominated for the 10th anniversary of the AEGON Art Award. Based on the decision of the jury, the works of ten authors advanced to the second round, eight of which were published by Magvető. As of 2020, the award has been won by 11 books published by Magvető since the award's inception in 2006: * 2006 – ''Fogság'' by György Spiró * 2007 – ''Visszaút az időben'' by Zsuzsa Rakovszky * 2008 – ''Asztalizene'' by János Térey * 2009 – ''Önkéntes vak. Versek, 2006–2007'' by Tamás Jónás * 2011 – ''Esti'' by

Péter Esterházy Péter Esterházy (14 April 1950 – 14 July 2016) was a Hungarian writer. He was one of the best known Hungarian and Central European writers of his era. He was called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature", and his books were ...

* 2012 – ''Mellettem elférsz'' by Krisztián Grecsó * 2014 – ''Boldog észak. Aimé Billion mesél'' by Árpád Kun * 2016 – ''Távozó fa. Versek, 2005–2014'' by Imre Oravecz * 2017 – '' Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming'' by

László Krasznahorkai László Krasznahorkai (; born 5 January 1954) is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter known for difficult and demanding novels, often labeled postmodern, with dystopian and melancholic themes. Several of his works, including his novels '' Sat ...

* 2019 – ''A Vak Remény'' by Zsuzsa Takács * 2020 – ''Jól láthatóan lógok itt'' by Ádám Nádasdy Magvető publishes the most Hungarian authors from abroad: after Budapest, most Magvető writers were born or raised in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, Romania.

was Magvető's oldest published author, having published all of his works since the beginning of his career in the 1970s. As of 2015, the oldest active author of Magvető is

, 85, and the youngest is Lili Kemény, 22. Magvető continuously publishes several 20th-century Hungarian classical literature or other major works, including the works of

Géza Csáth Géza Csáth (; born József Brenner; February 13, 1887 – September 11, 1919) was a Hungarian writer, playwright, musician, music critic, psychiatrist, and physician. He was the cousin of Dezső Kosztolányi. Life Géza Csáth (pen name of J ...

, Péter Hajnóczy, G. Gyorgy Kardos, Gyula Krúdy, Alexander Lenard, Ottó Orbán, Géza Ottlik, György Petri, Szilárd Rubin, Miklós Szentkuthy,

Antal Szerb Antal Szerb (1 May 1901, Budapest – 27 January 1945, Balf, Hungary, Balf) was a noted Hungary, Hungarian scholar and writer. He is generally considered to be one of the most important Hungarian writers of the 20th century. Life and career Sz ...

and Sándor Tar. When publishing translations of contemporary works of

, Magvető selects works of the same quality that its readers are accustomed to and expect from in the field of classical and contemporary Hungarian literature. Some major foreign works Magvető has published includes works by

Andrzej Stasiuk Andrzej Stasiuk (pronounced: ; born 25 September 1960 in Warsaw, Poland) is one of the most successful and internationally acclaimed contemporary Polish writers, journalists and literary critics. He is best known for his travel literature and ess ...

, Anna Gavalda,

César Aira César Aira (Argentine Spanish: ; born 23 February 1949 in Coronel Pringles, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine writer and translator, and an exponent of contemporary Argentine literature. Aira has published over a hundred short books of st ...

, Charles Frazier, Colum McCann,

Cormac McCarthy Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr.; July 20, 1933 – June 13, 2023) was an American author who wrote twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Got ...

Daniel Kehlmann Daniel Kehlmann (; born 13 January 1975) is a German-language novelist and playwright of both Austrian and German nationality.Elena Ferrante Elena Ferrante () is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of '' Neapolitan Novels'' are her most widely known works. ''Time'' magazine ...

, Frank McCourt,

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

, Juan Marsé,

Hitomi Kanehara is a Japanese people, Japanese Japanese author, novelist. Her novel ''Hebi ni piasu'' (''Snakes and Earrings'') won the Shōsetsu Subaru Literary Prize and the Akutagawa Prize, and sold over a million copies in Japan. Her work has been translate ...

, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Mariam Petrosyan,

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. H ...

, Terézia Mora and

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...

Magvető Café

On 11 April 2017, Magvető opened a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

named Magvető Café on Dohány Street in Budapest. It serves as a meeting place for authors and readers. Books published by Magvető are sold inside. The café serves coffee, wines and breakfast.

Directors

* Géza Képes and

(1955–1957) *

(1957–1961) * György Kardos (6 October 1961 – 1986) *

(1986–1990) * Mária Hegedős (1990–1993) * Géza Morcsányi (1995–2015) * Krisztián Nyáry (2015–2016) * Anna Dávid (2016–)

Book series

* Gyorsuló idő (English, "Accelerating Time") –

general knowledge General knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various media and sources. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General know ...

series (since 1975) * Harminc év (English, "Thirty Years") – the most significant works of post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Hungarian literature Hungarian literature is the body of written works primarily produced in Hungarian,

(up to 1980, jointly with Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó) * Időmérték (English, "Timeline") * Körkép (English, "Panorama") – anthology of novellas * Magvető Kiskönyvtár (English, "Magvető Small Library") * Magvető novellárium (English, "Magvető Short Story") * Magvető Remekírók (English, "Magvető Great Writers") * Magvető Zsebkönyvtár (English, "Magvető Pocket Library") * Milleniumi Könyvtár (English, "Millennium Library") * Nemzet és emlékezet (English, "Nation and Memory") * (English, "From Idea to Movie") * és Rakéta Regénytár (English, "Rocket Novel Newspaper" and "Rocket Novel") * Rivalda – anthology of plays * Szép versek (English, "Beautiful Poems") – anthology of poetry * Tények és tanúk (English, "Facts and Witnesses") – autobiographies, memoirs * Új Termés (English, "New Crop") – first-volume poetsÚj Termés
worldcat.org. Retrieved 16 February 2021. * Világkönyvtár (English, "World Library") – contemporary works of

Notable publications

Tibor Déry Tibor Déry (18 October 1894 in Budapest – 18 August 1977 in Budapest) was a Hungarian writer and poet. He also wrote under the names Tibor Dániel and Pál Verdes. György Lukács praised Dery as being "the greatest depicter of human b ...

: ''Niki: The Story of a Dog'' (1956) * Géza Ottlik: ''School at the Frontier'' (1959) * Endre Fejes: ''Rozsdatemető'' (1962) *

Ferenc Sánta Ferenc Sánta (September 4, 1927 – June 6, 2008) was a Hungarian novelist and film screenwriter. He was awarded the ''József Attila Prize'' in 1956 and 1964, and the prestigious ''Kossuth Prize'' in 1973.Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...

: '' Fatelessness ''(1975) *

: ''Termelési-regény (kisssregény)'' (1979) *

: '' Satantango'' (1985) * László Krasznahorkai: '' The Melancholy of Resistance'' (1989) * Péter Esterházy: '' Harmonia cælestis'' (2001) * Attila Bartis: ''

Tranquility Tranquillity (also spelled tranquility) is the quality or state of being tranquil; that is, calm, serene, and worry-free. The word tranquillity appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism—where the term refers to ...

'' (2001) * László Krasznahorkai: '' Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming'' (2016) * Zsuzsa Takács: ''A Vak Remény'' (2018)

Notable authors

* Zsófia Bán * Attila Bartis * László Bertók *

Ádám Bodor Ádám Bodor (born 22 February 1936 in Cluj) is a Hungarian author of Transylvanian Hungarian origin. Life and writing Bodor was born in Romania to a staunchly anti-communist father and was himself an anti-communist. In his youth he believed ...

* Ildikó Boldizsár * Centauri * László Csabai * András Cserna-Szabó * László Darvasi * György Dragomán * Virág Erdős *

* László Garaczi * Krisztián Grecsó * Péter György * Viktor Horváth * Péter Kántor * István Kemény *

* András Ferenc Kovács *

* Dénes Krusovszky * Árpád Kun * Júlia Lángh * Aliz Mosonyi *

Ádám Nádasdy Ádám Nádasdy (born 15 February 1947) is a Hungary, Hungarian linguistics, linguist and poet. He is professor Emeritus#In_academia, emeritus at the ELTE School of English and American Studies, School of English and American Studies of the ELTE ...

* Ottó Orbán * Lajos Parti Nagy * György Petri * Zsuzsa Rakovszky * György Spiró * Anna T. Szabó * Balázs Szálinger * Ferenc Szijj * László Szilasi *

István Szilágyi István Szilágyi (born October 6, 1950, in Tököl) is a Hungarian former handball player. His first major international tournament was the 1974 World Championship, where he finished seventh with Hungary. He represented his country on further ...

* Zsuzsa Takács * Krisztina Tóth * Dániel Varró * Pál Závada

Notes

# #

References

External links

Magvető official websiteMagunkról
{{authority control Book publishing companies of Hungary Publishing companies established in 1955 1955 establishments in Hungary Mass media in Budapest Coffeehouses and cafés in Budapest