Dalos received the award, which comes with a EUR 15,000 purse, at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair.
The Hungarian writers Imre Kertész and Péter Nádas were earlier recipients of the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding,
In his acceptance speech, Dalos acknowledged both writers, who are widely read in Germany. He also congratulated two young Hungarian writers, György Dragomán and Terézia Mora, who writes in German, for gaining a foothold in the German market.
Mora was recognised with this year's Chamisso Prize for non-native German authors.
In his latest book, published in German under the title Der Vorhan geht auf - Das Ende der Diktaturen in Osteuropa, Dalos examines the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Dalos, born in 1943, has lived in Germany for 15 years. His first book of verse was published in 1964 and he was a member of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party until 1968, when he was accused of being an enemy of the state and prohibited from publishing. He went to Germany on a scholarship and later worked as a correspondent in Vienna for Hungarian papers in the '80s. Dalos headed the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Berlin between 1995 and 1999.
More than 20 of Dalos's books - some written in German - have been published in Germany. In Hungary, 15 of his books have been published.
Dalos writes weekly columns for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Berlin's Tagesspiegel.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI / EPA
