Zilahy is the first writer to win the Albert Einstein Scholarship, which seeks to encourage researchers to try other disciplines. When the scholarship finishes at the end of the year, Zilahy will devote himself full-time to writing his novel.
This year, Zilahy has written several essays that have been published in the German press. Most recently, an essay on the war crimes of Radovan Karadzic appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Zilahy recounted his experiences at the Annual Moth Members' Show, a storytelling showcase that has become part of New York's literary scene over a period of more than a decade, in another piece for the newspaper.
Zilahy is best known for his book The Last Window-Giraffe, published in English last year.
The book recounts Zilahy's experience protesting with Serbian students in Belgrade against Eastern Europe's last dictator Slobodan Milosevics between November 1996 and March of 1997. He thoughtfully catalogues the events with feeling and humour, and with a child-like voice. In addition to the protestors' story, Zilahy describes his own experience growing up in communist-era Hungary. The book is illustrated with Zilahy's own photographs.
Péter Esterházy, one of Hungary's best-known contemporary authors, said it as if The Last Window-Giraffe "was written by a journalist with the pen of a poet."
The Last Window-Giraffe has been translated into 22 languages.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
