Quick Facts
Biography
Géza Szőcs (born 21 August 1953 in Târgu Mureș) is an ethnic Hungarian poet and politician from Transylvania, Romania, who served as Secretary of State for Culture of the Ministry of National Resources in Hungary from 2 June 2010 to 13 June 2012.
Life
He is the son of István Szőcs, an ethnic Hungarian writer and translator from Romania. He studied until 1979 at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj. On a proposal by András Sütő, he received a scholarship for 1979-80 semester to the University of Vienna.
From 1986 to 1989, after working in the scientific literature seminar of Babes-Bolyai University, Géza Szőcs went into political exile in Switzerland, where he worked in Geneva as a journalist. Between 1989 and 1990, he conducted the Budapest studio of Radio Free Europe. In 1989, he joined the staff of the magazine Magyar Napló of the Hungarian Writers' Association.
In 1990, Szőcs returned to Cluj and was active in the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), for which he sat from 1990 to 1992 in the Romanian Senate. From 1993 to 2010, he was editor of the magazine A Dunánál in Hungary. He was co-editor of the magazine Magyar Szemle and a member of the supervision of the Hungarian state television Magyar Televízió (MTV).
In May 2010, he was appointed Hungary's Secretary of State for Culture by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. In 2011, he was elected president of the Hungarian Pen Club. He resigned from his position in June 2012. He was replaced by László L. Simon. Szőcs became an adviser to Prime Minister Orbán.
Géza Szőcs has five children.
Works
- Te mentél át a vízen? Bucharest, Kriterion, 1975.
- Kilátótorony és környéke Bucharest, Kriterion, 1977.
- Párbaj, avagy a huszonharmadik hóhullás Cluj-Napoca, 1979.
- A szélnek eresztett bábu Budapest, Magvető Könyvkiadó, 1986.
- Az uniformis látogatása New York City, Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, 1987.
- Kitömött utcák, hegedűk Köln-Budapest, Literarische Briefe/Irodalmi levelek, 1988.
- A sirálybőr cipő Budapest, Magvető, 1989.
- Históriák a küszöb alól Budapest, Szépirodalmi Kiadó, 1990.
- A vendégszerető avagy Szindbád Marienbadban Budapest, Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó, 1992.
- A kisbereki böszörmények Cluj-Napoca, Erdélyi Híradó, 1995.
- Ki cserélte el a népet? Cluj-Napoca, Erdélyi Híradó, 1996.
- Passió Budapest, Magvető Könyvkiadó, 1999.
- Drámák, hangjátékok Budapest, Kortárs kiadó, 2002.
- A magyar ember és a zombi Budapest, Kortárs Kiadó 2003. ISBN 963-9297-82-8
- Liberté 1956 Budapest, A Dunánál 2006. ISBN 973-7648-07-2
- Limpopo Budapest, Magvető 2007. ISBN 978-963-14-2554-3
- Beszéd a palackból Arad, Irodalmi Jelen Könyvek, 2008.
- Amikor fordul az ezred (Beszélgetőkönyv és dokumentumgyűjtemény; Sz. G. és Farkas Wellmann Endre) Budapest, Ulpius-ház, 2009.
- Nyestbeszéd (Szőcs Géza 33 verse Faludy György válogatásában) Budapest, Ulpius-ház, 2010.
- Tasso Marchini és Dsida Jenő Budapest, Szent István Társulat, 2010.
- La missione di Rasputin-Raszputyin küldetése Novara, Arcipelago Edizioni, ISBN 978-88-7695-510-5
Awards
- 1976 - Writers' Union of Romania Debut Award
- 1986 - Graves Prize
- 1986 - Milán Füst Prize
- 1990 - Book of the Year
- 1992 - Tibor Déry Prize
- 1993 - Gabriel Bethlen Prize
- 1993 - Attila József Prize
- 2006 - Award for Hungarian Art
- 2008 - Writers' Union of Romania's Award for Limpopo
- 2009 - Prize of the European Academy of Vienna
