Ferenc Buda, Kossuth and Attila József Prize-winning Hungarian poet, translator, and Artist of the Nation, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88, his family informed MTI.
According to their statement, Ferenc Buda died after a long, serious illness, borne with dignity, surrounded by his loved ones.
Ferenc Buda was born on November 3, 1936, in Debrecen. He began his studies in Hungarian at the Kossuth Lajos University in Debrecen in 1955, but only received his degree in 1968, as he was convicted in 1957 for some of his poems. Because of this, from 1958 he worked as an unskilled laborer, and from 1963 as an uncertified educator in Pusztavacs, Pest County. From 1965 he taught in an elementary school in Kecskemét, from 1971 he was an employee of the Bács-Kiskun County Archives, and later joined the editorial staff of Forrás, where from 1986 he worked as senior editor. In 2002 he was elected a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.
Ferenc Buda published numerous volumes of poetry, but his activity as a translator was also significant: his translations include works from Bashkir, Finnish, Kyrgyz, Sami, Mari, Mordvin, Turkish, and Udmurt. His 1973 collection Varázsének (Magic Song) contains Turkish, Mordvin, Sami, Finnish, and Mari folklore. From Kazakh and Kyrgyz folktales, he compiled the volumes The Invisible Thief (1988) and The Grey Hawk (1988). For his 50th birthday, his friends and admirers published the book Silence, song, silence…, which included previously unpublished writings and a bibliography of his works.
In recognition of his work, he received the Miklós Radnóti and Attila József Prizes in 1973, and in 1994 he was decorated with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. In 1999 he received the Tibor Déry Prize, in 2000 the Balassi Bálint Memorial Sword and the Kölcsey Prize.
For his rich lyrical poetry, his formal innovations blending the traditions of folk poetry and modern lyricism, and his work as a translator, he was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 2005, and received the Artisjus Prize in 2007. In 2011 he was decorated with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, and in 2012 he was elected chairman of the Balassi Bálint Memorial Sword Board of Trustees.
In 2013 Ferenc Buda was elected a member of the Digital Literary Academy (DIA). In 2014 he received the Artist of the Nation Award as well as the Prima Prize, and in 2015 he was honored with the Hungarian Heritage Award. In 2021 he received the Széchenyi Heritage Document, and in 2022 the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of Hungary, Civil Division.
(MTI)
