Biography

• Born on 2nd April 1933 in Berettyonifalu (eastern Hungary)
• Studied Literature, Sociology and Psychology in Budapest (until 1956), worked subsequently as a social worker, sociologist and psychologist. From 1959 to 1965 he worked as a child-welfare inspector for the Guardianship Authority in an urban district in Budapest; his first essays were also published at this time. In 1965 he was employed as a Sociologist in the Budapest Institute and Town Planning Office.
• He published his first novel ‚The Case Worker‘, which brought him widespread recognition, in 1969; from then on he concentrated increasingly on his literary works. Between 1978 and 1988, when he was banned from publishing his works in Hungary, he undertook expansive studies and trips through Western Europe, America and Australia.
• After the democratic reforms in Central and Eastern Europe he was elected President of the International PEN Club in May 1990 (until 1993), in 1997 he became President of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin (until 2003). He is considered one of the most important novelists and essayists of his country, has won several awards for his literary works and enjoys world-wide recognition as one of the most important theoreticians of a ‚new Central Europe‘.