Ferenc Máté (born 1945 in
Hungarian Transylvania) grew up 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 ...
. He escaped
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...
with his mother after the crushing of the
1956 revolution by
Soviet tanks. He graduated from the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
and worked on a railroad extra-gang, on
tugboats
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...
, and as a boat-builder. He then became a photographer, book editor, and writer. He has lived in Vancouver, Laguna Beach, Whistler Mountain, New York City, Paris, and Rome, and now resides on a wine estate in Tuscany with his wife, painter and winemaker Candace Máté, and their son, Peter.
For much of their first twenty years together, Máté and his wife lived on sailboats, traveling, photographing and occasionally publishing books on sailing. His first book, ''From a Bare Hull'', written when he was 28, was cited by ''
Yachting
Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on ma ...
''
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
as "worthy of a much older man with a lifetime of boat-building experiences."
The first, ''The Hills of Tuscany'' (1998), was translated into 15 languages. It recounts their first three years ("Charming, …lively…Titanic in appeal," — Washington Post), while the second, ''A Vineyard in Tuscany'', is the story of their converting an 800-year-old abandoned friary and its lands into a now world-acclaimed winery. Vineyard was cited by ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' as: “muscular prose…cool, robust and determined”. It was a ''New York Times''-notable book and was shortlisted for Spain's prestigious El Cid literary award. The third in the series, ''The Wisdom of Tuscany: Simplicity, Security and the Good Life'' (W.W. Norton & Company; 20 October 2009), examines our "chaotic, crises-driven society: and offers an alternative based on centuries-old Tuscan tradition. He emphasizes the importance of small communities and closeness to nature.
His book-length essay, ''A Reasonable Life'' (1992), was summed up by
Charles Bowden, author of Desierto:
A Reasonable Life will look insane to any normal American. Which shows how crazy we've become. Read it—you might get a life.
The second volume, ''Sea of Lost Dreams'', set in the
Marquesas
The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific ...
, was a
''National Geographic Travel'' selection. The upcoming third ''Sea of the Golden Dead'' chronicles the revolution that spanned the last days of the
British Empire in Burma and Ceylon. His forthcoming
non-fiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
thriller ''The Lost City of Tuscany'' is a narrative of the centuries-long hunt for the treasure-laden
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things:
**Etruscan language
** Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
**Etruscan coins
**Etruscan history
**Etruscan myt ...
sanctuary of Fanum Veltha, the Etruscan's long lost, sacred city that has been an obsession of historians, archeologists, adventurers, and grave robbers since Roman times.
Published books
*''From A Bare Hull: How To Build A Sailboat'' (1975)
*''Waterhouses'' (1977)
*''The Finely Fitted Yacht: The Boat Improvement Manual'', Volumes 1 and 2 (1978)
*''Shipshape: Art of Sailboat Maintenance'' (1982)
*''The World's Best Sailboats'' (Volume 1 1987, Volume 2 2003)
*''Best Boats to Build to Build or Buy'' (1982)
*''Seven Seas Sailors' Calendars'', (annually since 1985)
*''A Reasonable Life: Toward a Simpler, Secure, More Humane Existence'' (1992)
*''The Hills of Tuscany: a new life in an old land'' (1998)
*''Autumn: A New England Journey'' (2001)
*''Ghost Sea: A Dugger/Nello Novel'' (2006)
*''A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream'' (2007)
*''The Wisdom of Tuscany: Simplicity, Security and the Good Life'' (2009)
*''A New England Autumn: A Sentimental Journey'' (2010 W.W. Norton)
*''"Sea of Lost Dreams: A Dugger/Nello Novel'' (2011)
*''"A Real Life, Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community'' (2011)
*''Islands of Eden, St Vincent and the Grenadines'' (2012)
*''The Lost city of Tuscany'' (autumn 2020)
*''The Power of Darkness'' (a novel, 2021)
*''The Sea of the Golden Dead: a Dugger/Nello novel'' (2022)
References
*http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-books/the-death-of-the-idyll-20091030/
External links
*https://www.ferencmate.com/
*https://www.matewine.com/
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-NqqIPZZQo
*https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Travel-t.html
*https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/01/07/a-vineyard-in-tuscany
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mate, Ferenc
1945 births
Hungarian writers
Living people
Maritime writers
Nautical historical novelists