{"id":5822,"date":"2026-10-16T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/?p=5822"},"modified":"2026-10-15T16:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:19:03","slug":"10000-books-so-that-the-new-generation-can-discover-hungarian-contemporary-literature-beyond-the-required-reading-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/10000-books-so-that-the-new-generation-can-discover-hungarian-contemporary-literature-beyond-the-required-reading-list\/","title":{"rendered":"10,000 books so that the new generation can discover Hungarian contemporary literature \u201cbeyond the required reading list\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five Interesting Facts About Ott\u00f3 Tolnai,whose works are now being introduced to thousands of high school students thanks to Libri<\/p>\n\n

Libri hopes to bring one of Hungarian literature\u2019s most original authors closer to young people by distributing 10,000 free copies of Ott\u00f3 Tolnai\u2019s books. The anthology Mi volt k\u00e9rded a legszebb D\u00e1ni\u00e1ban, published by Jelenkor Publishing, is the latest addition to a book donation program that has been running since 2021, through which tens of thousands of free books have reached students in recent years. Previously, the program has made the works of Mikl\u00f3s M\u00e9sz\u00f6ly, \u00c1gnes Nemes Nagy, P\u00e9ter N\u00e1das, Szil\u00e1rd Borb\u00e9ly, and J\u00e1nos T\u00e9rey, among others, available for free. But who was Ott\u00f3 Tolnai, and why might his poetry be of interest even to young people encountering his name for the first time?<\/p>\n\n

In the history of Hungarian literature, there are writers whose names are known to almost everyone, and there are others whose bodies of work are influential, yet about whom we know less. Ott\u00f3 Tolnai belongs to the latter group. One of the most important figures in Hungarian literature from Vojvodina, he created a unique, playful, and often surprising world; in his poetry and prose, even the most seemingly insignificant everyday objects, memories, and moments could give rise to literature.<\/p>\n\n

Libri and Jelenkor Publishing now want to make this world accessible to high school students as well. And to do that, you don\u2019t necessarily need knowledge of literary history\u2014just curiosity.<\/p>\n\n

Five Things You Might Not Know About Ott\u00f3 Tolnai<\/p>\n\n

1. He entered the world of literature while still in high school<\/p>\n\n

Ott\u00f3 Tolnai was born in Magyarkanizsa in 1940 and turned to writing at a young age. His first publications date back to his high school years. In other words, the author whose works are now read by thousands of high school students began to find his own voice at a similar age. Later, he created one of the most distinctive poetic worlds in Hungarian literature.<\/p>\n\n

2. A single magazine influenced an entire literary generation<\/p>\n\n

The name Ott\u00f3 Tolnai is inextricably linked to \u00daj Symposion, the literary and arts journal based in Novi Sad that became one of the most exciting hubs of Hungarian cultural life in Vojvodina during the 1960s and 1970s. As the journal\u2019s editor, he championed a creative approach that was open to experimentation, contemporary arts, and new forms of expression. \u00daj Symposion was not merely a literary journal; it also shaped the thinking and artistic quest for freedom of a new generation.<\/p>\n\n

3. He even clashed with the authorities in his fight for literary freedom<\/p>\n\n

The political conflicts surrounding \u00daj Symposion also influenced Ott\u00f3 Tolnai\u2019s career. In the course of his editorial work, he came to realize that literary freedom is not a given, and that artistic experimentation can have political consequences. He was forced to step down from his position at the magazine, but he continued his creative work. His story also serves as a reminder that literature is not merely a collection of stories and poems: it can also be a form of free thought.<\/p>\n\n

4. He was just as interested in the visual arts as he was in literature<\/p>\n\n

Ott\u00f3 Tolnai was not only a poet and prose writer, but also had a passionate interest in the visual arts; in his writings, painting, the world of objects, and literature often intersect. For him, art did not consist of separate genres, but of worlds in constant dialogue with one another. This is why his texts may be of interest to those who engage with culture not necessarily through poetry, but through music, film, or the visual arts.<\/p>\n\n

5. For him, almost anything could be poetry<\/p>\n\n

One of the most distinctive features of Ott\u00f3 Tolnai\u2019s poetry is that he did not necessarily seek out major historical events or lofty themes. An everyday object, a color, a small memory, or a seemingly insignificant observation could set in motion an entire world of thought for him. In his writings, unexpected associations, personal memories, and peculiar images intertwine. Perhaps this is precisely why it\u2019s worth discovering his work at a young age. He shows that literature isn\u2019t just about what we\u2019ve been taught is important, but also about what we ourselves notice in the world.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

From M\u00e9sz\u00f6ly to Tolnai: Tens of Thousands of Free Books for Young People<\/p>\n\n

The Ott\u00f3 Tolnai volume is part of a long-term initiative. Since 2021, Libri and Jelenkor Publishing have been striving to engage young readers with anthologies that offer a taste of the works of influential figures in Hungarian literature.<\/p>\n\n

The series began with Mikl\u00f3s M\u00e9sz\u00f6ly\u2019s volume Nem felelt meg neki, and continued with \u00c1gnes Nemes Nagy\u2019s Szil\u00e1nkos f\u00e9nyjelek, P\u00e9ter N\u00e1das\u2019s Berlini sz\u00fcrke, Szil\u00e1rd Borb\u00e9ly\u2019s Egyre r\u00f6videbb szavak, and J\u00e1nos T\u00e9rey\u2019s anthology \u00c1rny\u00e9kunk \u00fatra v\u00e1lt. In 2025, the program featured the publication of Andr\u00e1s Visky\u2019s Vissza a nyomokon; this year, the focus has shifted to the poetry of Ott\u00f3 Tolnai.<\/p>\n\n

The goal of the initiative is not simply to donate books, but to enable young people to establish personal connections with authors whose works are an important part of Hungarian culture, even though they are not necessarily among the most frequently chosen reads.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cPromoting reading doesn\u2019t just mean putting books into the hands of young people that they\u2019d be happy to read anyway. It\u2019s just as important that they encounter authors and stories that open up new worlds for them. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve been working with Jelenkor Publishing for years: we want the leading figures of Hungarian literature to be present in the lives of the next generation not only as part of the school curriculum but also as a personal reading experience. Ott\u00f3 Tolnai\u2019s unique, playful, and free-spirited poetry offers an excellent opportunity for this,\u201d said \u00c1kos Zulik, deputy CEO of Libri.<\/p>\n\n

Ten Thousand Opportunities for a New Reading Experience<\/p>\n\n

Ten thousand copies of the anthology Mi volt k\u00e9rded a legszebb D\u00e1ni\u00e1ban?<\/em>\u00a0are intended for high school students. The initiative is based on the realization that, when discovering an author, the first encounter is often the most important moment. If a book is made available for free, it can reach young people who might not otherwise pick it up from a bookstore shelf.<\/p>\n\n

What makes Ott\u00f3 Tolnai\u2019s works so special is precisely that they offer more than one way to read them. Some readers may be drawn in by the humor, others by the unusual imagery, and still others by the freedom of the texts. Libri\u2019s initiative creates an opportunity for 10,000 young people to discover for themselves what this literary world means to them.<\/p>\n\n

The book Mi volt k\u00e9rded a legszebb D\u00e1ni\u00e1ban<\/em> is available at Libri bookstores while supplies last, upon presentation of a valid student ID, with no purchase required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libri and Jelenkor Publishing want to make the world of contemporary literature
\naccessible to high school students as well. And this doesn\u2019t necessarily require knowledge of literary history\u2014just curiosity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5823,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822\/revisions\/5823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libribookline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}