The 2013/14 season of Literarium opens with what promises to be a memorable evening in the company of Ottó Tolnai, a dazzling poet and engaging personality from Palić (Palics) in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, a spa town evoking the atmosphere of the early 20th century. Anyone who has heard the poet speak from his deep personal experience of gypsum, pure wheat flour, tin gutters and the district’s local characters, both real and imagined, can scarcely be immune to his poetry’s magical spell. The one-time editor of legendary periodical Új Symposion, Tolnai is the author of several wonderful volumes of verse that breathed new life into the language of contemporary Hungarian lyric poetry, such as Vidéki Orfeusz (1983), Wilhelm-dalok (1992), árvacsáth (1992) and Balkáni babér (2001), as well as memorable prose works including Virág utca 3 (1983) and Kékítőgolyó (1994). He has also been the subject of radio interviews recorded with Lajos Parti Nagy and published in a volume entitled Költő disz¬nózsírból (2004), which can be read almost as a novel in its own right. Beyond this, Tolnai is an autonomous artist and bon viveur who defies categorisation and creates his own vast personal mythology from the facts, objects, fragments, legends, gossip and characters within the micro-environment that surrounds him, a unique world on which the shadows of Kosztolányi and Csáth fall. An evening with Ottó Tolnai promises to be an unmissable intellectual adventure and a glimpse into the workings of one of the most exciting minds in contemporary Hungarian literature, with authentic musical accompaniment provided by the Berci Márkos – Márton Kovács Duo. Our visitors are kindly informed that this performance will be presented in Hungarian. Presented by: Palace of Arts

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