Laszlo Darvasi (Törökszentmiklós, 1962) is one of the leading and most read Hungarian storytellers and novelists.
He graduated from the University of Szeged, then worked as the editor of the Szeged based magazine Pompeii, and since 1998 he has been a regular contributor to the Budapest literary journal Élet és irodalom.
Well known as a poet and dramatist as well, Darvasi is most appreciated for his short stories, three of which have been dramatised for theatre.
He started writing his first short prose pieces under a pseudonym, and started publishing short prose and novelettes under his own name in 1991.
The selected story collections: Rosebushes in Weinhagen (1993), The Saddest Orchestra in the World (1993), The Borgognoni Sadness (1994), How to Seduce Miss Librarian (1997), My Love, Comrade Dumumba (1998), To Get a Wife (2000), The Dog Hunters from Lojang. Chinese stories (2001).
Novels: The Legend of the Tear Tricksters (1999), The Secret World Football Team (2006), The Flower Devourers (2009).
Laszlo Darvasi has received a number of Hungarian literary awards, the most important among which are: Tibor Déry Prize (1993), Hungarian Book of the Year Prize (1994), Krúdy Prize (1996), Attila József Prize (1998), Füst Milan Prize (2005) and Sándor Márai Prize (2008). In Germany he was awarded the Brücke Berlin Prize (2004).
Laszlo Darvasi’s books have been translated into most of the languages of Europe.
The book of the war and love novelettes To Get a Wife, the most translated among Darvasi’s books, has been published in Germany, France, Holland, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.
Critics of Europe evaluated the novelette collection To Get a Wife as the best in Laszlo Darvasi’s opus. The book was written under a strong influence of the bloody civil war which ravaged the territory of former Yugoslavia.
Laszlo Darvasi lives in Budapest.