Menyhért Lakatos (April 11, 1926,
Vésztő — August 21, 2007,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
) was a
Hungarian Romani writer
["Lakatos Menyhért"]
a bio at the Lakatos Menyhért School website, citing Lajos Rácz, ''Roma értelmiségiek arcképcsarnoka''
Since 1988 he was President of the Hungarian Romani Cultural Association (Magyarországi Cigányok Kulturális Szövetsége).
[
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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It is a ''bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is import ...
'' 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.
There is the Lakatos Menyhért School in Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.
Books
*1975: ''Füstös képek''
**Bulgarian: Окадени картини, 1977
**German: ''Bitterer Rauch.'' Verlag Volk und Welt. Berlin 1978 (), 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,
*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 (), 1999
*1998: A titok
*1999: Tenyérből mondtál jövendőt
Märchen der langen Nächte. Roma-Märchen. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2004
Awards
Significant awards include:"LAKATOS MENYHÉRT"
''Kortárs magyar írók'' (''Contemporary Hungarian writers''), 1998,
*2000: National Romani Self-Government Lifetime Achievement Award
*1999:
*1995: Book of the Year Award
*1993:
Attila József Prize The Attila József Prize is an annually awarded Hungarian literary prize for excellence in the field of belles-lettres. It was first presented in 1950 in honour of the poet Attila József. Another major Hungarian literary prize is the Kossuth Prize ...
*1976: Attila József Prize
*1976: Milán Füst Prize
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakatos, Menyhert
1926 births
2007 deaths
Hungarian writers
Romani writers
Attila József Prize recipients