The critic and aesthete Sándor Radnóti, speaking for the prize jury, praised Térey for his "monumental poetic works...his multi-layered plays...and for examining timely questions about Hungarian life without offering any commentary."
At the same time, Radnóti added, the decision might seem a surprise, as the play had not yet been published when the jury evaluated it. (The play, which takes place in a restaurant in Buda and builds a story on the gossip and romantic entanglements of several people, was published on Wednesday by Magvető Kiadó.)
Térey explains that he thinks of himself more as a poet than a playwright, and would define the play that the Radnóti Theatre has been performing since last year as an expanded work of poetry. "I looked for life for the poetry, and there is life for the poetry on stage," he says.
AEGON Magyarország established the AEGON Arts Prize in 2006 to recognise outstanding literary achievement and draw attention to an important work. The prize is awarded to a living author whose work has premiered or been published in the previous year. Nominations for the prize are collected from the editors of literary journals and other professionals and submitted to the prize jury. This year, 14 nominations were made, including Zsófia Bán for her book Night School: a Reader for Adults (Esti iskola: olvasókönyv felnőtteknek), Zoltán András Bán for his volume of poetry Shushanka and Silk Pussy (Susánka és Selyempina), Pál Békés for No Problem (Semmi baj), Péter Farkas for Eight Minutes (Nyolc perc), János Háy for his collection of poems entitled The Child (A gyerek), László Lator for The Only Chance (Az egyetlen lehetőség), Ádám Nádasdy for That's The Taste (Az az íz), Imre Oravecz for The Pit of Ondrok (Ondrok gödre), Bálint Solymosi for Annuity (Életjáradék), Zsuzsa Takács for The Guest with the Deceiving Appearance (A megtévesztő külsejű vendég) and Dezső Tandori for Disentanglement Puzzle (Ördöglakat).
The jurors for the prize were Balázs Lévai, István Margócsy, Sándor Radnóti, Ágnes Széchenyi and Erzsébet Vojnich.
Photo: Máté Nándorfi
