Celebrated UEA poet translates Nobel-winning Hungarian novelist for global audience
By: Communications
A celebrated poet and translator has taken a key role in bringing the Nobel Prize winning work of László Krasznahorkai to an English-speaking audience.
George Szirtes, a former University of East Anglia (UEA) academic, was the first to translate 'Satantango', 'War and War', and 'The Melancholy of Resistance' by László Krasznahorkai into English – playing a vital role in bringing his literary voice to a wider audience.
Krasznahorkai is a Hungarian novelist, screenwriter, and the 2025 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. Only a few of his works have been translated into English, with Szirtes the principal translator; others have been by Ottilia Mulzet and John Batki.
Following last year’s recognition of Han Kang, this marks a second consecutive year where UEA’s expertise in literary translation has helped bring Nobel-winning voices to English-speaking audiences.
Szirtes retired from his role as a reader within the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing in 2013. He has since been awarded the prestigious King's Gold Medal for Poetry 2024 for his deeply personal pieces of work, informed by his dual perspective, looking both east and west.
George said: “László Krasznahorkai is a unique voice in literature. His extraordinary long sentences and paragraphs create a tide of realistic yet apocalyptic and visionary narrative in the tradition of Kafka and Dostoevsky.
“W. G. Sebald, a UEA friend and colleague, compared him to Gogol and said it ‘surpasses all the lesser concerns of contemporary writing’.”
Prof Tiffany Atkinson, Professor of Poetry at UEA, said: “It's marvellous news that Lázsló Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
“UEA has a long history of fostering world-class writing that expands the possibilities of literature, and it is in large part thanks to the translations of our former LDC colleague and celebrated poet, George Szirtes, that the Anglophone world has been able to enjoy the richly nuanced work of this remarkable Hungarian novelist.”
A continuing global literacy legacy
Through the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT), UEA fosters excellence in literary translation and international cultural exchange.
This includes the acclaimed BCLT Summer School, which sees literary translators and authors from around the world coming together at UEA, for a week of exploring translation and creative writing.
The Summer School recently celebrated its 25th anniversary this July – with more than 130 writers and translators from 23 countries in attendance.
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