Kossuth Prize-winning poet, author, and translator Sándor Kányádi died at age 89 in the early hours of Wednesday, in Budapest, his family told MTI.
Sándor Kányádi
Photo: MTI/Gyula Czimbal
Born in Romania’s Porembenii Mari (Nagygalambfalva) into a Szekler peasant family, Kányádi went to university in Cluj (Kolozsvár) and graduated in 1954. From an early age he wrote poems and worked for various periodicals.
From the 1960s on, his poetry focused on faithfulness to his ethnic Hungarian community and presenting the social conflicts of Ceausescu’s Romania. His poetry was a peculiar synthesis of traditional and modern lyric components.
Kányádi was honoured with a number of awards, including the prestigious Kossuth Prize (1993), the Herder Prize 1994), and two Orders of Merit of Hungary: Middle Cross (2004) and Grand Cross (2009).
The poet will be laid to rest in his native village in Szekler Land.
