Poet

Péter Závada

(Hungary, 1982)

Biography

Péter Závada was born in Budapest in 1982. He studied English and Italian at ELTE University, as well as Theatre Studies at the Károli Gáspár Protestant University (both Budapest). At an early age, Závada was part of the highly successful rap and slam poetry group Akkezdet Phiai before turning his primary focus to poetry and theatre. His first collection of poems, Ahol Megszakad, was published by Libri in 2012. His second, Mész, followed in 2015, and his third, Roncs Szélárnyékban, in 2017 – for which he won the Horváth Péter Literary Scholarship. In the summer of 2018, he was a Poet in Residence at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin. Internationally, his poems have appeared in English translation in The White Review and Cordite Poetry Review, as well as most recently in Modern Poetry in Translation. Several of his theatre plays have been produced to acclaim. For his third individual play, Je suis Amphitryon, he was awarded the Szép Ernő Prize.

The themes and focus of Závada's poetry have developed significantly over the course of his career. His early poems were more playful, searching for form, while his second collection, Mész, was dominated by the themes of mourning and loss arising from the poet's losing his mother to suicide at an early age. His more recent poems are focussed on greater, more universal themes counterpoised with the precision (both conceptual and linguistic) of science and its terminology. Thus, themes as broad as Greek mythology and Christology are married to biology and geometry. Formally, Závada is shifting the boundaries of his poetry in ways that – while not necessarily immediately noticeable – will affect the reader subtly, and with time.

Poetry
Ahol megszakad. Libri Kiadó, Budapest, 2012
Mész. Jelenkor Kiadó, Budapest, 2015
Roncs szélárnyékban. Jelenkor Kiadó, 2017

Plays
Je suis Amphitryon. Jelenkor Kiadó, Budapest, 2018

Plays produced
Reflex. 2013, director: Dániel D. Kovács
Holdkő. 2017, director: Bence Benkó and Péter Fábián
Je suis Amphitryon. 2018, director: Zsófia Geréb

Awards and Prizes
Örkény István Playwriting Scholarship (2016)
Móricz Zsigmond Literary Scholarship (2017)
Horváth Péter Literary Scholarship (2017)
Szép Ernő-díj Prize (2018)
Látó-nívódíj Prize (2018)

Poems

REQUIEM FOR STEVE IRWIN OEDIPUS FAMILY ALBUM A THEORY OF CALVARY/CALVARY-THESIS

Festival

50th Poetry International Festival Rotterdam

Poems

Poems of Péter Závada

Partners

LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère

Péter Závada

Péter Závada

Poems

Festival

Requiem for Steve Irwin

Oedipus

Family album

A theory of Calvary/Calvary-Thesis

Sponsors

Partners