Miklós Vámos

Biography

His father was Tibor Vámos, and his mother Erzsébet Ribárszky. He used the name Tibor until his 19th birthday, when he changed it to Miklós.

He graduated from the Kölcsey Gimnázium French department in 1968. He was a member of the Gerilla rockband between 1966 and 1971. On his first try he was rejected from ELTE art department because of political issues. From 1969 he worked in the university press as a setter. He wrote about this in his novel Borgis. Between 1969 and 1970 he was a soldier at Kalocsa. He studied at Faculty of Law University Eötvös Loránd in Budapest from 1970 to 1974, PhD in Law, 1975.

From 1972 he was the editor of the Jelenlét an arts faculty magazine. His first writings were published in literary journals "Új írás" in 1969.

After his graduation in 1975 he worked at the Objektív Filmstúdió as a dramaturg, until 1992. Between 1988 and 1990 he lived in the US. He worked at Yale School of Drama, City University of New York. He also was the reporter of The Nation an American weekly issued newspaper. From 1992 he is the president of the Ab Ovo organization. Between 1995 and 2003 he worked as a television talkshow host in popular series such as Rögtön, Lehetetlen and 2 ember. From 1997 until 2003 he also worked as the art director of the International Buda Stage.

Since 2005 he is the talkshow host of reports with famous writers and poets at Alexandra's bookhouse.

Its broadcast by the channels Pax and Duna II. He is also the Hungarian reporter of the Washington Post. He understands many languages like German, English, French, Spanish, Russian and even Latin. He has a sister Éva Vámos. From his first marriage with Judit Pataki, he has a daughter Anna Vámos. From his second marriage with Dóra Esze, he has twin boys Péter and Henrik.

Career

Works

Other books

His works published in English

The Book Of Fathers

This is a monumental family saga, the adventures of twelve generations. Over three hundred years of Hungarian history, and the story of all fathers. The story begins in 1706, when the Czuczor printer family, having recently returned to Hungary from Germany, is forced to flee again by the violence which ensues after the Habsburg army suppresses the war of Hungarian independence led by Prince Ferenc Rákóczi. They hide out in a cave but are found and all killed, except the youngest boy, Kornél Csillag. After this miraculous survival ( he is fed by a dog while living in the woods), Kornél grows up to become a talented and wealthy man, changing his name to Sternovszky. His son remembers the grandfathers's buried treasure and builds a tower on top of the blown up cave, whilst the next son, István, now called Stern, in order to marry his lover converts to Judaism and becomes a wine merchant. And so the lineage carries on, through the Hungary's Holocaust, its Stalinist terror of the 1950s, and eventually passing to America, where Henryk Csillag is born. He moves to Budapest, and it is his son who picks up the tale of the book of fathers in 1999, the year of the solar eclipse. Thus the lineage of sons is brought into conjunction with the heavenly ordained cycle of the son. In chronicling this remarkable dynasty. The book thrillers and tragicomedies which is shot through with strands of Hungary's history and rich culture, deploying an astonishing battery of literary styles appropriate to the period of each episode.

Translation other languages:

Films

Literary awards

Memberships