Sándor Kányádi (; 10 May 1929 – 20 June 2018) was a Hungarian poet and translator from the region of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He was one of the most famous and beloved contemporary Hungarian poets. He was a major contributor to Hungarian children's literature. His works have been translated into English, Finnish, Estonian, Swedish, German, French, Romanian and Portuguese.

Biography

He was born in

Porumbenii Mari Porumbeni ( hu, Nagygalambfalva ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is composed of two villages, Porumbenii Mari (the commune center; ''Nagygalambfalva'') ...

(Hungarian: ''Nagygalambfalva''), a small Hungarian village in the region of Transylvania, to a family of Hungarian farmers. He was educated in the nearby town of Odorheiu-Secuiesc (Hungarian: ''Székelyudvarhely''). Present-day Tamási Áron Gimnázium was his ''alma mater. ''He moved to

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

in 1950. Nowadays, he split his time between

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and his cottage in the Transylvanian countryside. Kányádi graduated from Bolyai University (before Bolyai University was forced to merge with the Romanian university to form present-day Babes-Bolyai University) with a teacher's qualification and degree in

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. He published his first volume of poetry in 1955 while an assistant editor and frequent contributor to several literary magazines, including poems in children's magazines that are still very popular today. His translations are also very popular and include

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

folk poetry, contemporary

Romanian poetry Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language. History The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with that ...

, and major

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and

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poets. He also gave several literary talks abroad during the 1960s and 1970s to Hungarian communities in Western Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and South America. He was active in political issues throughout the years, as shown in his numerous works relating to the oppression of the Transylvanian Hungarian minority. In 1987, the Romanian Communist government refused him a passport to visit an international poets' conference in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, which resulted in his resignation from the

Romanian Writers' Union The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

out of protest.

Awards

He garnered more than 30 awards and honors, among others: *

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the ...

, Budapest, 1993 * Poetry Prize of the Romanian Writers' Union *

Herder Prize The Herder Prize (german: Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Sout ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1995, * Central European Time Millennium Prize, 2000

References

External links

*
Dancing Embers
', a selection of poetry in English translation
Travis Jeppesen on Kanyadi's ''Dancing Embers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanyadi, Sandor 1929 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Hungarian poets Babeș-Bolyai University alumni People from Harghita County 20th-century Romanian poets Hungarian translators Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 5th Class Hungarian children's writers 20th-century translators Hungarian male poets Herder Prize recipients 20th-century Romanian male writers 20th-century Hungarian male writers Romanian people of Hungarian descent