 |
| A self-portrait, 2011, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy |
The idea of our blog, The Balkanita, came to me when I began to write a novel in English. Originally I wanted to launch a blog for publishing The Balkanita Diary of a writer from the West Balkan, EU, 2012, similarly to the publishing of my former novel, a Japanese ghost story in my blog in Hungarian.
Concealment is a poison. That is why I determined my mind to document events, as I experience them, with fiction. Anyway, this is my profession. I am a writer and a photographer.
The idea of The Balkanita documentary fiction evolved and we improved it into this blog of art and lifestyle, which represents the everyday life in today Hungary. This is a blog, and as such, it mediates my personal opinion. The word Balkanita is a creation from Balkan and the Spanish affix, -ito/-ita which means 'little' if added to a noun. So Balkanita is an affectionate term of the geographical-based concept, expressing my ambivalent feelings and ideas about my home country, Hungary. Klemens von Metternich, Austrian Chancellor said: "The Balkans begin at the Rennweg"
Judge it yourself!
Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy, writer and photographer, is an author of two books. She published a third novel in her blog in Hungarian, which is in the 'top 10 most-read blogs' in the Hungarian art portal, prae.hu.
 |
| Tamás Prágai, 2012, photo: Ildikó Szilágyi-Nagy |
I am a poet and writer, co-founder and former editor of some reputable literary journals in Hungary. I live in Hungary, and as it is quite common in the region the history of my family has several roots. My family name originates in the revolutionary movements of Johannes Husz, whose followers migrated to Hungary in the 15th century. Besides Hungarian ancestors I also have an Irish origin on my mother's side. Hungary is in the focus of debates in the meantime, but I do not think these debates are about the life of people who live here. I am using this blog to document my thoughts and everyday impressions about Hungary and the region, and also as a publicly available forum to show that Hungary is still a tiny place and a nice area to live in.
Join!
Tamás Prágai is an author of ten books including poetical works, short stories and essays, his 'Foreword to Poetry – How to read contemporary poems?' is on the department reading lists at Hungarian Universities. BA in English and Hungarian, MA in Literary Studies and Linguistics, PhD in Literary Studies. Attila József awarded.
