György Dragomán (born 10 September 1973) is a Hungarian author and literary translator. His best-known work, ''The White King'' (2005) has been translated to at least 28 languages. He was born in

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It lies on the Mureș River, the ...

(''Marosvásárhely'')

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. In 1988, his family moved to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. He attended high school in the western Hungarian city of

Szombathely Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...

, then college 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 ...

, getting a degree in English and Philosophy. He has received various literary awards for his writings, such as the Sándor Bródy Prize (2003). His first novel, ''Genesis Undone'', was published in 2002. He has become famous because of his second book, ''The White King'', which received very favorable reviews from many influential newspapers, such as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. It is a collection of loosely connected stories told by an 11-year-old boy waiting for his father to be released from politically motivated imprisonment. Dragomán lives in Budapest with his wife and two children.

Works

* ''A pusztítás könyve,'' 2002 (lit. "The book of destruction" but often referred to as ''Genesis Undone'') * ''The White King,'' 2005 (original: ''A fehér király'', English translation by Paul Olchvary and Doubleday/Houghton Mifflin, 2008) * ''The Bone Fire,'' 2014 (original: ''Máglya'', English translation by Paul Olchvary and Mariner Books, expected March 2018 ) * Oroszlánkórus, 2015 (lit. "A Chorus of Lions", collection of short stories)

Awards and honors

* 2002: Soros Fellowship * 2002: Award for Excellence by the literary journal ''Mozgó Világ'' * 2003: Sándor Bródy Prize * 2006: Tibor Déry Prize * 2006: Sándor Márai Prize * 2006: Artisjus Prize (given by Society ARTISJUS Hungarian Bureau for the Protection of Authors' Rights) * 2007: Attila József Prize * 2008: Youth of March Prize (the name refers to the

1848 revolution in Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

) * 2010: special commendation by the literary journal ''Litera'' * 2011:

Jan Michalski Prize for Literature Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language. It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world liter ...

, ''The White King'' * 2014: Gold Medal Prize

References

His English-language website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragoman, Gyorgy Romanian people of Hungarian descent Romanian expatriates in Hungary Hungarian male novelists People from Târgu Mureș 1973 births Living people Attila József Prize recipients 21st-century Hungarian novelists 21st-century Hungarian male writers