The Netherlands, Budapest Book Festival Guest of Honor

The Netherlands and American science fiction author John Scalzi will be the guests of honor at the 28th Budapest International Book Festival, which will feature 140 exhibitors, 40 foreign authors, 180 programs and more than 200 book signings between September 28 and October 1 at the Millenáris Park in Budapest.

The Budapest International Book Festival is the largest international book event in Central Europe and traditionally hosts the world's most prestigious writers and poets.

Katalin Gál, President of the Association of Hungarian Publishers and Book Distributors (MKKE), pointed out that, although an increasing number of Dutch books have been published in Hungarian translation in recent years, Dutch literature is still undeservedly little known to the wider Hungarian public.

Visitors to the book festival will have the chance to meet dozens of prominent Dutch writers, poets and illustrators, including Arnon Grunberg, author of The Man Without Illness, writer and journalist, Abram de Swaan, essayist and sociologist, Martin Michael Driessen, writer, theater and opera director, and Annamarie Bon, a popular youth author.

Gábor Zech, Press and Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of The Netherlands in Budapest, recalled that the Dutch Guest of Honor had been organized for almost two years with the MKKE and the departments of German Studies at Eötvös Loránd University and Károli Gáspár Reformed University.

This brings the "cream of contemporary Dutch literature" to Budapest for book launches, discussions and other events. But it is not only Dutch authors who will be presented in the company of Hungarian writers, translators and experts: the panel discussions at the Guest of Honor stand will also provide an insight into the past of Dutch-Hungarian relations and many aspects of Dutch culture, he said.

Ildikó Váradi, Head of the Budapest Book Capital Project Office of the Szabó Ervin Library, recalled that this year Budapest celebrates the 150th anniversary of its unification. Among the jubilee events, the Budapest Book Capital event series will be a special highlight, and as part of this, the program office will have its own stand at the book festival under the name of Literature Empire.