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George Szirtes

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GeorgeSzirtes

George Szirtes in 2011. Photo by Andrey Romanenko. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

George Szirtes FRSL (born 29 November 1948) is a Hungarian-born English poet, who writes in English, and a translator from the Hungarian language into English. [1]

Life[]

Born in Budapest on 29 November 1948, Szirtes came to England as a refugee in 1956 aged 8. He was brought up in London and studied fine art in London and Leeds.[1]

His poems began appearing in national magazines in 1973 and his debut collection, The Slant Door, was published in 1979. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year.

Szirtes lives in Wymondham, Norfolk, and teaches at the University of East Anglia. He is married to artist Clarissa Upchurch, with whom he ran The Starwheel Press and who has been responsible for most of his book jacket images. Her interest in the city of Budapest has led to over 20 years of exploration of the city, its streets, buildings and courtyards in paintings and drawings.

Recognition[]

Szirtes has won a variety of prizes for his work, notably the 2004 T.S. Eliot Prize, for his collection Reel and the Bess Hokin Prize for poems in Poetry magazine, 2008. His translations from Hungarian poetry, fiction, and drama have also won numerous awards.

Prizes and Awards[]

  • 1980 Faber Memorial Prize for The Slant Door
  • 1982 Elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
  • 1984 Arts Council Travelling Scholarship,
  • 1986 Cholmondeley Award
  • 1990 Déry Prize for Translation, The Tragedy of Man
  • 1991 Gold Star of the Hungarian Republic
  • 1992 Short listed for Whitbread Poetry Prize for Bridge Passages
  • 1995 European Poetry Translation Prize for New Life
  • 1996 Shortlisted for Aristeion Translation Prize New Life
  • 1999 Sony Bronze Award, 1999 - for contribution to BBC Radio Three, Danube programmes
  • 1999 Shortlisted for Weidenfeld Prize for The Adventures of Sindbad
  • 2000 Shortlisted for Forward Prize Single Poem: "Norfolk Fields"
  • 2002 George Cushing Prize for Anglo-Hungarian Cultural Relations
  • 2002 Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship
  • 2003 Leverhulme Research Fellowship
  • 2004 Pro Cultura Hungarica medal
  • 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize, for Reel
  • 2005 Shortlisted for Weidenfeld Prize for The Night of Akhenaton
  • 2005 Shortlisted for Popescu Prize for The Night of Akhenaton
  • 2005 PEN Translation Fund Grant from PEN American Center
  • 2007 Laureate Prize, Days and Nights of Poetry Festival, Romania
  • 2008 Bess Hokin Prize, Poetry Foundation

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Poetry Introduction 4 (with Craig Raine, Alan Hollinghurst, Alistair Elliott, Anne Cluysenaar & Cal Clothier). London: Faber, 1978.
  • The Slant Door. London: Secker & Warburg, 1979.
  • November and May. London: Secker & Warburg, 1981.
  • Short Wave. London: Secker & Warburg, 1984.
  • The Photographer in Winter. London: Secker & Warburg, 1986,
  • Metro. Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Bridge Passages. Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Blind Field. Oxford University Press, September 1994.
  • Selected Poems. Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • The Red All Over Riddle Book. London: Faber, 1997.
  • Portrait of my Father in an English Landscape. Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • The Budapest File. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2000.
  • An English Apocalypse. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2001.
  • A Modern Bestiary (with artist Ana Maria Pacheco). Pratt Contemporary Art 2004.
  • Reel. Newcastle, UK: Bloodaxe, 2004.
  • New and Collected Poems. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2008.)
  • Shuck, Hick, Tiffey - Three libretti for children (with Ken Crandell). Gatehouse, 2008.
  • The Burning of the Books. Circle Press, 2008.
  • The Burning of the Books, and other poems. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2009.

Non-fiction[]

  • Exercise of Power: The art of Ana Maria Pacheco. Lund Humphries, 2001.
  • Selected Prose. Cambridge, UK: Salt, 2005.

Translated[]

  • Imre Madách, The Tragedy of Man (verse play). Corvina / Puski, 1989.
  • Sándor Csoóri, Barbarian Prayer: Selected poems (part translator). Corvina, 1989.
  • István Vas, Through the Smoke: Selected poems (editor and part translator, Corvina, 1989.
  • Dezsö Kosztolányi, Anna Édes(novel). Quartet, 1991.
  • Ottó Orbán, The Blood of the Walsungs: Selected poems (editor and majority translator). Newcastle, UK: Bloodaxe, 1993.
  • Zsuzsa Rakovszky, New Life: Selected poems (editor and translator). Oxford University Press, 1994.
  • The Colonnade of Teeth: Twentieth century Hungarian poetry (edited with George Gömöri, and translator). Newcastle: Bloodaxe 1996)
  • The Lost Rider: Hungarian poetry, 16th-20th century (editor and chief translator). Corvina, 1998.
  • Gyula Krúdy, The Adventures of Sindbad (short stories). CEUP, 1999.
  • László Krasznahorkai, The Melancholy of Resistance. Quartet, 1999.
  • The Night of Akhenaton: Selected poems of Ágnes Nemes Nagy (edited & translated). Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 2003.
  • Sándor Márai, Conversation in Bolzano. New York: Knopf / Random House, 2004.
  • László Krasznahorkai, War and War. New York: New Directions, 2005.
  • Sándor Márai, The Rebels. New York: Knopf / Random House, 2007; London: Vintage / Picador, 2008.
  • Ferenc Karinthy, Metropole. Telegram, 2008.
  • Sándor Márai, Esther's Inheritance. New York: Knopf / Random House, 2008.
  • László Krasznahorkai, Satantango. New York: New Directions, 2009.
  • Sándor Márai, The Intended. New York: Knopf / Random House, 2009.

Edited[]

  • Freda Downie, The Collected Poems. Newxastle, UK: Bloodaxe, 1995.
  • New Writing 10 (edited with Penelope Lively). Picador, 2001.
  • An Island of Sound: Hungarian fiction and poetry at the point of change (edited with Miklós Vajda). Harvill, 2004.
  • New Order: Hungarian poets of the post-1989 generation. Arc, 2010.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy George Szirtes.[2]

Audio / video[]

Apples_and_Snakes_-_Wordsmiths_&_Co._featuring_George_Szirtes

Apples and Snakes - Wordsmiths & Co. featuring George Szirtes

Recordings[]

  • The Poetry Quartets 6 (cassette; with Moniza Alvi, Michael Donaghy & Anne Stevenson). London: London : British Council / Bloodaxe Books, 2000.
  • George Szirtes: Reading from his own poems (CD). London: Poetry Archive, 2005.

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Szirtes personal webpage
  2. ↑ Publications, Curriculum Vitae, George Szirtes. Web, Dec. 11, 2012.

External links[]

Poems
Prose
Audio / video
Books
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