Krasznahorkai László: Biography
László Krasznahorkai (Gyula, 5 January 1954
Kossuth and Attila József Prize-winning writer. Member of the Digital Literature Academy since 2004.
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1960–1968: Primary school, Gyula
1968–1972: Erkel Ferenc High School, Latin class, Gyula
1969–1971: Pianist of the beat band Flamingo
1973–1976: József Attila Univiersity, Faculty of Law, Szeged
1976–1978: Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law, Budapest
1977: First Publication: I Believed In You (Tebenned hittem)
1977–1982: Documentarist at Gondolat Publishing House
1978–1983: Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Hungarian and Cultural Studies (thesis on the emigration career of Sándor Márai)
1985: First publication of the novel Satantango (Sátántangó)
1986: First publication of the short story collection Relations of Grace (Kegyelmi viszonyok)
1987: Premiere of the film based on the screenplay of Damnation (Kárhozat), directed by Béla Tarr
1988: German-language publication of Relations of Grace
1989: Release of the novel The Melancholy of Resistance (Az ellenállás melankóliája)
Film adaptation of the short story The Last Boat (Az utolsó hajó), directed by Béla Tarr)
Guest of the Literarisches Colloquium in Berlin
1990: Travels in Mongolia and China
German-language release of Satantango
1992: German-language publication of the collection of short stories The Prisoner of Urga (Az urgai fogoly)
German-language publication of The Melancholy of Resistance
Journey on a cargo ship on the Atlantic; Madeira
Guest at Villa Waldberta, Lake Starnberg, Munich
1993: Publication of the volume The Theseus Universal. Secret Academic Lectures (A Théseus-általános. Titkos akadémiai előadások)
German-language publication of The Prisoner of Urga
1992–1998: European and American travels for War and War (Háború és háború) (Detroit, New York, Copenhagen, Helsingør, Cologne, London, Crete, Venice, Rome, etc.)
1994: Premiere of the film adaptation of the novel Satantango, directed by Béla Tarr
1996: Guest of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin
Travels to Bosnia
1997: Travels to Japan
1998: Publication of the short story Isaiah Has Come (Megjött Ézsaiás)
Publication of The Melancholy of Resistance in English
Travels to China
Guest of the Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbria (Italy)
1999: Publication of the novel War and War in Hungarian and German
Publication of a reportage on his trip to China, Only the Starry Sky (Csak a csillagos ég, in German and Spanish)
2000: Release of War and War on CD-ROM in Hungarian and German
Release of The Melancholy of Resistance in the US
Six-month fellowship in Japan (Kyoto)
2001: Release of Six in the Evening: Some Free Openings (Este hat, néhány szabad megnyitás), a book of art writings
Release of his essay about his trip to Japan, Going Mad in Paradise (Megőrülni a Paradicsomban, in Japanese and German)
Premiere of the film Werckmeister Harmonies, based on The Melancholy of Resistance, directed by Béla Tarr
Publication of Satantango in Bulgarian and French and The Melancholy of Resistance in Spanish
One-year scholarship in Switzerland
2002: Travels in China
2003: Publication of the novel A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East (Északról hegy, Délről tó, Nyugatról utak, Keletről folyó)
Publication of the interview collection Krasznahorkai Conversations (Krasznahorkai beszélgetések)
Soros Foundation Writers’ Prize
2004: Publication of the documentary novel Destruction and Sorrow Under the Sky (Rombolás és bánat az Ég alatt)
Member of the Digital Literature Academy
2005: six-month fellowship in Japan (Kyoto)
2006: Publication of the novel War and War in English by New Directions, New York
Writing of the screenplay The Man from London with Béla Tarr based on George Simenon’s crime novel
Curator of the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin
Publication of the novel The Melancholy of Resistance in French by Gallimard, Paris
The novel A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East published in Japanese by Shoraisha, Kyoto
The novel War and War published in German by S. Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt am Main
2007: Publication of the new edition of the novel Satantango by Ammann Verlag, Zurich
The novel A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East is published in German by S. Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt am Main
A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East is the ‘Book of the Month’ in Germany
Main Curator of the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin
Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Invitation from Cornell University, Ithaca, USA 2008
2008: Invitation from the Ortega Munoz Foundation to Spain
Guest at the Leukerbad Literary Festival, Switzerland
Curator of the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin
Publication of the short story collection Seiobo There Below (Seiobo járt odalent) by Magvető Publishing, Budapest
A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East published in Czech by Mlada Fronta, Prague
The CD project War Architecture, produced by the Budapest Music Center, in which the author narrates his novel War and War
2009: Prologue to Isaiah Has Come is published in Spanish by Acantilado, Barcelona
Publication of the novel War and War in Spanish by Acantilado, Barcelona
Publication of The Last Wolf (Az utolsó farkas) by the Ortega Munoz Foundation, Badajoz; book launch in Badajoz and Madrid
Lecture on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Conference with Antonio Tabucchi, Adam Michnik, Jiří Dienstbier and Norman Manea (San Sebastian, Spain).
The Last Wolf published by Magvető, Budapest
The Last Wolf published in English by Words Without Borders, USA
Publication of the essay On Speed in Tate Modern's How is it for the exhibition Mirosław Bałka, London
Travels in Portugal, Spain and China
Readings in Pécs and Szeged
Elected as a full member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Art
2010: Collaboration with Max Neumann and Ornan Rotem on the AnimalInside project
Invitation from Stanford University
Participation in the PEN Word Voices festival in New York (with Patti Smith, Salman Rushdie and others)
Seiobo There Below takes second place in the Bestenliste in Germany
Readings in Zagreb, Fiume, Berlin, Leukerbad, Erlangen, Elmau, Zurich, Paris, Darmstadt, Munich, Budapest, Krakow and several Romanian cities
Invitation from the Almost Island Project (New Delhi)
Visits Ukraine
Writing the books There Is No Question, There Is No Answer (Nem kérdez, nem válaszol) and The World Goes On (Megy a világ)
2011: Film interview about Miklós Mészöly
Writing the book The World Goes On
Reading in Veszprém
Conversation about Seiobo There Below with János Szegő and Heike Flemming in the Petőfi Literary Museum
Barbara Epler visits the author in Hungary
Reading tour in France (Bordeaux, Strassbourg, Tours, Paris)
Polish and Israeli editions of War and War
French edition of Theseus General
French edition of The Melancholy of Resistance, paperback edition in Germany
Interview with Sharmishta Mohanty for Almost Island
Publication of There Is No Question, There Is No Answer in Budapest
Publication of James Wood’s article in The New Yorker
Visits the Spycher Prize Centre (Leuk, Switzerland)
Reading at the Edinburgh Festival
Opening of the Bizottság-exhibition (with Ottó Tolnai) at the Kunsthalle in Budapest
Travels to Istanbul
Interview in Haaretz (Tel Aviv)
Talk at Corvinus University
Talk at the Austro-Hungarian Literary Conference in Szeged
Saving the library: a conversation with actor György Cserhalmi and literary historian László Szörényi at the Szentendre Municipal Library which was to be closed by the authorities
Meeting in Budapest with Mama from Beijing
2012: French premiere of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a play based on music by J. S. Bach and László Krasznahorkai’s narrative The Melancholy of Resistance, at MC93 Bobigny (Paris)
German premiere of the play at Schaubühne (Berlin)
László Krasznahorkai from the inside. The author, among his doctors. Extraordinary talk at the Petőfi Literary Museum
Talk and reading at the József Attila High School
Publication of Satantango in the United States and the Netherlands
Talk and reading in Oradea
Publication of the paperback of Seiobo There Below in Germany
Interview in Haaretz
Interview in The Million Travel in Israel
The 3rd edition of Satantango in the United States and the Netherlands
Article in The Guardian about the New York reading
Reading at the Edinburgh Book Festival (Aberfeldy)
Post-production of Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens for Seagull Press
Nomination for the Angelus Prize for War and War (Poland)
Romanian edition of Satantango
Essay in The New York Times
Joint programme with Colm Tóibín at the London Review Bookstore
2013: Trip to Rome – Villa Borghese, Fra Angelico
Visit to Vienna – Japanese exhibition at the Leopold Museum
Writing the revised edition of Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens
Revisions for the Hungarian edition of The World Goes On
Invitation to Almost Island Dialogues (Delhi)
Reading at the Israeli Embassy in Budapest with Ambassador Ilan Mor
Reading in Dresden
Joins the RCW literary agency in London
Publication of The World Goes On by Magvető Publishing
Lecture at the The German School of Budapest – Thomas Mann High School
Book launch in Budapest, Pécs, Veszprém, Tatabánya, Szeged and Miskolc
Proofreading the manuscript of Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens for Seagull Publishing House in Mumbai
Satantango wins the Best Translated Book Award 2013 (Translated by George Szirtes)
The reception of the Mihály Babits Memorial Prize for Literary Authorship at the Petőfi Literary Museum in Budapest
Spycher Prize in Switzerland (Leuk, Bern, Basel)
Seiobo There Below published in English by New Directions, translator: Ottilie Mulzet
French edition of Isaiah Has Come, translated by Joëlle Dufeuilly, published by Cambourakis
Interviews and readings at the Festivaletteratura 2013 in Mantua
Travels to Florence – S. Marco, Fra Angelico
French edition of War and War, translated by Joëlle Dufeuilly, published by Cambourakis
Readings and talks at the Belgrade Book Festival
Readings and talks on the Serbian edition of The Melancholy of Resistance
Croatian edition of The Last Wolf
Essay in The New York Times
The Bill – published by Sylph Editions
Talk with Jutta Hausmann at the Petőfi Literary Museum
Travels in India – Delhi, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
2014: László Krasznahorkai 60. on the occasion of his birthday “K.L. 6.0” series opening event at the Rózsavölgyi Salon in Budapest
Presentation of the new edition of War and War – K.L. 6.0 event at the Writers’ Shop in Budapest
Inaugural meeting of the K-Archivum, the K.L. 6.0 literary heritage archive
László Krasznahorkai searching for his place – K.L. 6.0 event at the Petőfi Literary Museum
Lecture at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Lecture at the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences as part of the K.L. 6.0 series of events
Discussion at the Molnár Ferenc Literary Salon in Eger
The Bill book launch lecture at the Renaissance Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts – the fifth event of the K.L. 6.0 series
Dialogue with the Krasznahorkai works – reading theatre from the works of László Krasznahorkai in the Rózsavölgyi Szalon
Croatian and Turkish editions of War and War
Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York
Readings and discussion at Columbia University
Ottilie Mulzet’s translation of Seiobo There Below wins the Best Translated Book Award 2014 in the prose category
Reading and discussion with Forrest Gander at Brown University
Travels to Arrowhead, Massachusetts
Reading and discussion at PEN World Voices Festival, New York
Reading at European Voices in Translation Festival, Boston
America Award in Literature 2014
Vilenica Award Ceremony, Vilenica
Events at the 29th Annual Vilenica International Literary Festival (Trieste, Lokev, Ljubjana)
Swedish edition of The Melancholy of Resistance Spycher Prize in Switzerland – Leuk
The final event of the “K.L. 6.0” series with Joachim Sartorius, Max Neumann, Thuon Burtevitz, Ulrich Schreiber and Verena Aufermann at the Berlin International Literary Festival
Reading and discussion in Timisoara
Reading at the ZKM Theatre and discussion at the Booksa Literary Club in Zagreb
Croatian edition of The Melancholy of Resistance
The subject is infinite – discussion at the Petőfi Literary Museum in Budapest
2015: German edition of The World Goes On
New York Public Library’s Cullman Fellowship 2015/2016
Nominated for The Man Booker International Prize 2015
Reading and discussion at the Passa Porta Festival in Brussels
Spanish edition of Seiobo There Below
Greek edition of War and War
Reading and discussion at the residence of Israeli Ambassador Ilan Mor
Meeting with Robert Wilson in Budapest
French edition of Relations of Grace
Interview in The Guardian
Working on the manuscript of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming
Interview in Népszabadság
Guest of the Guardian Live before the award ceremony of The Man Booker International Prize 2015
Lunch with the French Ambassador at the Ambassador's residence in London
Wins The Man Booker International Prize 2015
Interviews in The Guardian, BBC, etc.
Guest of Honour at the Hay Festival (Hay-on-Wye, Wales)
Spycher Prize in Leuk, Switzerland
Meeting with Péter Eötvös about his opera based on The Last Wolf
The Swedish edition of Satantango
New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow
Reading and discussion at the Brooklyn Book Festival
Working on the manuscript of The Manhattan Project (A Manhattan-terv) and Spadework for a Palace (Aprómunka egy palotáért) in New York, Nantucket and New Bedford
Last long talk with Péter Esterházy
Visit to Bartók House, Bronx
Attendance at Henry Grimes’ birthday party in New York
First meeting with Alexandra Wagner
Talk with Eli Keszler about a joint literary-musical project
Talk with Diane Lewis about Lebbeus Woods in Gramercy Park, New York
Reading and talk with Salman Rushdie at Y92, New York
2016: The New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow
Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens is published in English
Readings and discussion at Brown University
Participation in the Hopp Ferenc Museum of Asian Art, Budapest “In the Footsteps of Prince Genghis Khan – Japan in Image and Writing”
Ornan Rotem creates a photo diary of Krasznahorkai in New York
War and War and The Melancholy of Resistance, UK editions
Reading at the eightieth anniversary party of the founding of New Directions in New York.
Cullman Fellowship ends in May
Serbian-language edition of Satantango
The Melancholy of Resistance is released in Macedonian and French
Shooting of Adam Breier’s documentary in Budapest
Hungarian edition of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (Báró Wenckheim hazatér)
Dark book launch at the Pesti Theatre
Hungarian reading tour of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming
Stays on the island of Korčula – joint literary project with the Multimedijalni Institut MaMa
Reading and discussion at Literarischer Salon International in Cologne
2017: War and War in Vietnamese
The Melancholy of Resistance in Hebrew
The Last Wolf in the UK
Seiobo There Below published in Macedonian and Croatian
The Melancholy of Resistance in Greek
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming is awarded the Aegon Prize, the most prestigious book award in Hungary honouring the best Hungarian contemporary fiction from the previous year
The shooting of Adam Breier’s documentary continues in Budapest and Berlin
A reading of Chasing Homer (Mindig Homérosznak) in Max Neumann’s Berlin studio
Adam Thirwell’s first interview with the Paris Review
"Bach and the Impossible" – A theatre performance based on Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming at MÜPA Budapest
"Re-reading" – a discussion on Satantango at the Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
The World Goes On is nominated for the Best Translated Book Award 2017
Satantango is nominated for the Premio Strega Europe (Rome) and the Gregor von Rezzori (Florence)
Mitsuo Sasaki visits Hungary
Meeting William Basinski in Berlin
The Melancholy of Resistance nominated for Europese Literatuurprijs 2017
"Author of the Month" – London Review Bookshop
The Manhattan Project is published in English first
The World Goes On in the New York edition of the Publisher Weekly
Presentation of the Manhattan Project at the Berlin International Literature Festival and the Hoffmann Gallery
Second interview with Adam Thirwell for The Paris Review
Croatian edition of The World Goes On
Arabic edition of Satantango, Cairo-Beirut-Tunis
English edition of The World Goes On
Chinese edition of Satantango, translator: Yu Zemin
2018: Satantango is China’s Book of the Year
Krasznahorkai is shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize for the second time: now with the English translation of The World Goes On
Paperback edition of The Last Wolf in the UK
French translation of Seiobo There Below by Editions Cambourakis, translator: Joëlle Dufeuilly
Reading tour of the French edition of Seiobo There Below
The Manhattan Project is published in Hungarian by Magvető Publishing House. A special theatre premiere based on The Manhattan Project at the Margó Literary Festival in Budapest
The Last Wolf is published in Tallinn, Estonia, translator: Reet Klettenberg
The American Literary Translators Association shortlists The World Goes On for the National Translation Award
German translation of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, Frankfurt
Swedish translation of Seiobo There Below shortlisted for The Kulturhuset Stadsteatern International Literary Prize 2018
Publication of Spadework for a Palace in Hungary by Magvető
Readings in Madrid
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming is the book of the month in November in Germany
Reading tour of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming in Germany: Frankfurt am Main, Potsdam
Korean edition of Satantango, Seoul
Greek edition of Satantango, Athens
The Melancholy of Resistance in Italian, translated by Dóra Mészáros and Bruno Ventavoli
The Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca awards him the title of doctor honoris causa
2019: Readings and discussions in Thessaloniki and Athens with the Greek edition of Seiobo There Below
Seiobo There Below is published in South Korea and Norway
Turkish edition of The World Goes On
Croatian edition of Chasing Homer
Book launch of the Croatian edition of Chasing Homer at FESS in Zagreb
Readings in Belgrade, Vienna
Reading with Icelandic author Sjón at the Louisiana Literature Festival
Readings in Malmö and Oslo
Danish edition of Satantango
French edition of The Last Wolf
English edition of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, translator: Ottilie Mulzet
Publication of Chasing Homer by Magvető Publishing House
Presentation of the Dutch edition of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming at the Crossing Border Festival
Readings in The Hague and Brussels
Both author and English translator of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming win the National Book Award
Reading in Milan
The Melancholy of Resistance in Russian. Translation by Viacheslav Sereda
2020: Relations of Grace in Chinese by Zhejiang Literary and Art Publishing, translator Yu Zemin
The Last Wolf in Swedish by P A Norstedt & Söner AB, translator: Daniel Gustafsson
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming is on the shortlist of the Dutch Europese Literatuurprijs
Following the English, German, Dutch and Italian editions, new foreign language editions of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming are in preparation (French, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, Croatian, Greek, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Danish and Brazilian Portuguese)
Krasznahorkai wins the award of the Greek literary magazine, literature.gr for the most important sentence of the year, taken from Satantango, translated by Ioanna Avramidou
Second edition of The Last Wolf, published by Magvető
War and War in Italian, published by Bompiani, Milan, translated by Dóra Várnai
New English edition of The Last Wolf, published by Tuskar Rock, London, translator Ottilie Mulzet (the new translation is based on the work of George Szirtes)
2021: New novel Herscht 07769 is published by Magvető
The author receives the Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europaeische Literatur (Austrian State Prize for European Literature) from Secretary of State Andrea Mayer at the Salzburger Festspiele at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
Herscht 07769 in German, published by S. Fischer, translated by Heike Flemming
Seiobo There Below in Italian, translated by Dóra Várnai, published by Bompiani
Chasing Homer is published in the United States with music by Szilveszter Miklós and illustrations by Max Neumann (translated by John Batki, publisher: New Directions)
The German edition of Herscht 07769 leads the ORF Bestenliste in December
The Romanian edition of Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, published by Pandora M, translated by Ildikó Gábos-Foarţă
Audiobook version of Chasing Homer with music by Szilveszter Miklós is published
2022: Readings and conversations in Rome, Eisenstadt, Graz and Vienna
Herscht 07769 wins the seventh Libri Prize, award ceremony in Budapest
Reading and conversation in Venice
The Dutch edition of War and War published by Wereldbibliotheek, translated by Mari Alföldy
The Melancholy of Resistance in Finnish, published by Kustannusosakeyhtiö Teos publishing house, translated by Minnamari Pitkänen
Essay in The New York Times, translated by Ottilie Mulzet
Reading tour in Germany with Herscht 07769 (Frankfurt, Berlin, Jena, Weimar)
Vietnamese edition of Satantango by Nha Nam Publishing in Hanoi, translated by Giap Van Chung
Korean edition of Seiobo There Below
László Krasznahorkai receives the Serbian Milovan Vidaković Prize: he receives the lifetime achievement award at the opening of the Prosefest international prose festival in Novi Sad
Publication of Spadework for a Palace in New York in the Storybook ND book series edited by writer and translator Gini Alhadeff for New Directions
Italian edition of Herscht 07769 by Bompiani, translated by Dóra Várnai
The English edition of A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by New Directions, translated by Ottilie Mulzet
Participant in the Nexus Institute's roundtable discussion “The War and the Future” in Amsterdam
Premiere of the stage adaptation of Herscht 07769 at the Theater Rudolstadt in Thuringia on 26 November 2022. The police guard the event because of neo-Nazi attacks on the theatre building and staff in the days before the premiere
2023: Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming is published by Éditions Cambourakis in Paris (translated by Joëlle Dufeuilly)
Norwegian edition of Herscht 07769 by Cappelen Damm, Oslo (translated by Ove Lund)
War and War is shortlisted for the Dutch European Prize for Literature
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming wins the French Laure Bataillon Prize (past winners include Bohumil Hrabal, John Updike, W.G. Sebald and Daniil Harms). The prize also honours translator Joëlle Dufeuilly
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming is on the shortlist for the French Prix Médicis 2023
Spanish edition of Relations of Grace is published by Acantilado (translated by Adan Kovacsic)
On the author’s 70th birthday, S. Fischer Verlag publishes Im Wahn der Anderen, a volume of three shorter texts (AnimalInside, Chasing Homer, and Spadework for a Palace translated by Heike Flemming).
In its 2023/24 season, the Hungarian State Opera will present the first opera by Péter Eötvös written in Hungarian, a musical stage adaptation of the novel The Melancholy of Resistance (the libretto is written by Kinga Keszthelyi and Mari Mezei based on the novel, the director is by Bence Varga).
2024: The novel Zsömle odavan is published by Magvető
Gábor Szabó’s monogpraph, View from the Last Ship. The prose world of László Krasznahorkai is published by Magvető
Paperback edition of The World Goes On published by New Directions