Ildikó Lovas was born in Subotica on 18. August 1967. She enrolled the Hungarian Language and Literature Department of the Faculty of Liberal Arts in Novi Sad, and received her diploma in 1991. She is a professor of Hungarian language and literature by profession.
She was working at the Novi Sad Television from 1987 to 1991. She then became a reporter to the cultural section of Magyar Szó, the ”Kilátó”, in 1995. In 1998 she taught hungarian language and literature in the ”Bosa Miličević” Economic Secondary School.
She became the editor-in-chief of Üzenet in 1998. During her editorship, the periodical became available on the Internet, and the editorial was invited to several events together with other periodicals as well as to separate evenings dedicated to the Üzenet. It started publishing thematic issues which were an integral part of the Subotica cultural and culture-historical life – that is the reason why, apart from the writers, she enlisted several other professionals: historians, architects, ethnologists, cultural historians among her co-workers – as well as connecting to the broader ”audience”.
Ildikó Lovas has been organising and presenting literature evenings in the ”Danilo Kiš” Town Library since 1998.
She was the City Councillor for Culture and Information in Subotica between 2003-2010.
Since 2010 she is the Councillor for Culture in National Council of the Hungarian Ethnic Minority.
Publications:
Her writings have been published in Serbian and Hungarian periodicals (”Új Symposion”, ”Üzenet”, ”Rukovet”, ”Književna reč”, ”Matica Srpska”, ”Ex Symposion”, ”Jelenkor”, ”Kalligram”, ”Győri műhely”, ”Új Forrás”, ”Art Limes”).
Her short stories have been printed in several novel anthologies: Varázsszobor (Forum, Novi Sad, 1990), Felütés (Jászberény, 1990), Kapun kívül (Kriterion – Pelikán, Budapest, 1993), Budapesti aggadák (Múlt és Jövő, Budapest, 1999), Könyv-Jelző (Park Kiadó, Budapest, 2002), Huszonnyolc colour totál (Zetna, Zenta, 2003) and an anthology published by the Hungarian Writers’ Association in 2001.
She also had some of her writings published in the Serbian language in a prose collection of the periodical ”Symposion” (Novi Sad, 1999) as well as in the book ”Jedina priča” (Forum, Novi Sad, 2003) which features the writings of Vojvodina Hungarian writers and has the title of one of her short stories as the title for the book.
The Slovenian anthology titled ”Vzvalovano Blatno jezero” (Študentska založba, Ljubljana, 2003) giving an overview of the contemporary Hungarian novels as well as the Italian-Hungarian anthology ”Scrittori ungheresi allo specchio” (Carocci, Rome, 2003) also feature her writings.
Translations from Serbian and Croatian languages:
She translated two books by Boško Krstić (wh was both the author and the editor of the books): Gradska kuća Subotičko čudo – Városháza, a szabadkai csoda (1999) and Secesija u Subotici – A szecesszió Szabadkán (Književna zajednica – Íróközösség – Kijárat, Szabadka-Budapest, 2002), as well as the book Sjećanja (Publisher: Durieux, Zagreb, 1997) by Eva Grlić – Emlékezések (published by: Múlt és Jövő, Budapest, 2000).
Her own volumes:
Her first original volume titled Kalamáris (Forum, Novi Sad) was issued in 1994. It was followed by the book A másik történet (Osvit, Subotica) containing her short novels in 1995. Her first novel, Meztelenül a történetben (Forum, Novi Sad) was issued in 2000. Her third volume containing short stories was published in 2001, titled Via del Corso (Orpheus, Budapest). She had three novels published in 2005: the Kijárat az Adriára – James Bond Bácskában (Kalligram, Bratislava – reprinted in 2007), the A spanyol menyasszony (Kalligram, Bratislava – reprinted in 2008) and the A kis kavics (Kalligram, Bratislava 2010).
In Serbian language, the Via del Corso, translated by Árpád Vickó, was published in 2005 (Fabrika knjiga, Belgrade) the Spanska nevesta in 2009 (Árpád Vickó, Fabrika knjiga, Belgrade.
In German language, Zugang Zur Adria James Bond in der Batschka (Ballasi Institut, 2005.
In Bulgarian language Izlaz na Adriatika Dzeims Bond i Backa (roman, Ergo, Sofija, 2008)
In Croatian language Izlaz na Jadran James Bond u Backoj (roman, Meander, Zagreb, 2009)
Awards, acknowledgements:
In 1994, the Kalamáris won the Szirmai Literary Award, which is awarded every second year to the best volume of short stories.
In 2000, the novel Meztelenül a történetben (Nude in the Story) won the Bodrogvári Prize as the most outstanding literary work of the year.
In 2005 Ildikó Lovas received the Sziveri Prize for her work as an author and editor, and within the same year her novel Kijárat az Adriára won the Bezerédy Award.
In 1998 she received the Móricz Zsigmond scholarship, in 2004 the scholarship for prose witers and in 2007 the NKA belles-lettres scholarship…