Ágnes Rapai

The native form of this personal name is Rapai Ágnes. This article uses the Western name order.

Ágnes Rapai (born in Szekszárd, Hungary, on 13 March 1952) is a Hungarian poet, writer, and translator.

Biography

Rapai spent her childhood in Budapest, Szekszárd, and Pécs. Her son Attila Nyéki was born in Moscow. She graduated from the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University where she studied dramaturgy in 1975.

Work

Rapai has been a freelance poet and writer since 1989. She was elected a member of the board of the poetry section of the Hungarian Writers’ Association (1989-1990). By her own account, the crucial poets for Rapai's development were Dezső Tandori, Imre Oravecz, Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath. She translated some of Sylvia Plath's poems into Hungarian. Rapai is considered a Hungarian representative of the New Sensibility.

At the invitation of Werner Bucher[1], writer and manager of the publisher orte-Verlag, and the Association of Swiss Writers she visited Switzerland several times in the 1990s. She stayed away from Hungarian literary life for more than ten years, so much so that many take her for a Swiss poet. She returned to Hungarian literary life only in 2004 when she became a member of the Literature Society, learned to use a computer, and started to write short stories. She has published poems under a masculine pen-name (Olivér Láng)[2] in the Hungarian literary reviews Holmi, Élet és Irodalom, and Mozgó Világ. Rapai’s grotesque humor best shows itself in her parodies of contemporary Hungarian poets. By means of these men’s poems and parodies she had the intention of fighting prejudice and stereotypes, changing the negative image of women poets.

At the same time she took part in feminist campaigns, for instance in the Movement for Hungary without Prostitution. When in 2007 the Hungarian Parliament rejected the bill on women’s quota, presented by Bálint Magyar and Klára Sándor, she protested by organizing a red card showing demonstration in the gallery of parliament together with writer Zsuzsa Forgács and other women.

Since 2007 she is a Member of the Board of ARTISJUS (Hungarian Bureau for the Protection of Authors' Rights). She is a member of the Literature Society (Szépírók Társasága), the Hungarian National Association of Creative Artists (MAOE), and the Hungarian P.E.N. Club.

Bibliography

She has published five collections of poetry in Hungary. Her works have been published in Switzerland in two collections and in anthologies such as Frauenfelder Lyriktage, Poesie Agenda, Ungarische Poeten. All her publications in German have been translated by András Sándor.

Collections

• Máshol (Elsewhere) Magveto Press 1985
• A darázs szeme (Eye of the Wasp) Orpheusz Publishing House 1990
• Spaziergang mit Hölderlin orte-Verlag 1995
• Zadarnál a tenger (The Sea by Zadar) Orpheusz Publishing House 1997
• Budapest.. orte Verlag 1999
• Arc poétika (Face of Poetry) Novella Publishing House 2006
• Mindenhol jó (Everywhere's Good) Novella Publishing House 2007

Anthologies

• Szép versek (Beautiful Poems) Magvető Kiadó, 1984, 1988, 1990, 2006, 2007
• Rodo Tykim Ulina (We are Blood-brothers, Anthology of Finno-Ugric Writers) Mari Press, Yoshkar-Ola, 1989
• Poesie Agenda orte-Verlag 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003
• Hét évszázad magyar költői (Hungarian Poets of Seven Centuries) Tevan Kiadó, 1996)
• Magyar költőnők antológiája (Anthology of Hungarian Women Poets) Enciklopédia Kiadó, 1997
• 4. Frauenfelder Lyriktage, Verlag Im Waldgut Frauenfeld 1997, ISBN 3 7294 0261 7
• Lecsukott szemeden át látom, Kortárs magyar női szerelmes líra, (I can see through your closed eyes. Contemporary Hungarian Women's Poetry of Love), 2005, ISBN 963 8103 52 3
• Éjszakai állatkert (Night Zoo. An Anthology About Female Sexuality) Jonathan Miller Kiadó, 2005
• MÉGSE LÉGYOTT - KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ+VERIZMÓ ELMARADT RANDEVÚJA (UNTRYST – THE CANCELLED RENDEZVOUS OF BLUEBEARD+VERISMO) Miskolc 2006
• Ötvenhat író Esztergomról (Fifty Six Writers about Esztergom) Pont Kiadó 2006
• LÉGYOTT – B.ARTÓK + P.ÁRIZS RANDEVÚJA (TRYST – RENDEZVOUS OF B.ARTÓK+P.ARIS) Miskolc 2007
• Zsuzsa Bruria Forgács (ed). Szomjas oázis. Antológia a női testről (Thirsty Oasis. An Anthology about the Female Body). Budapest, Jaffa Kiadó, 2007

Awards

• The Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies 1995
• The Hungarian Art Fund 1996
• "János Arany"-Prize 1999

Participations

• Frauenfeld Switzerland

In 1997 she took part in the International Poetry Festival.

• Frankfurt, Germany

In 1999 Hungary was the guest of honor (Schwerpunkt-country) at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Rapai's second collection of poems in German was published for this occasion.

• Prague, Czech Republic

9th Annual Prague International Poetry Days, 2007

Reviews of her work

• Béla Bodor: Mindig máshol jó (It’s Always Good Elsewhere) Kortárs 2008 [3]
• István Bella: A fűszál színeváltozása (The Discoloration of a Blade of Grass) Élet és Irodalom 1985
• Györgyi Pécsi: A darázs szeme (Eye of the Wasp) Életünk 1991
• András Lukácsi: Magyar költőnő Svájcban (A Hungarian Poetess in Switzerland) Magyar Hírlap 1994
• András Sándor: „E ruhátlan lét: a költészet” („Poetry – This Unclothed Existence) Tekintet 1995
• Ilona Legeza : Zadarnál a tenger (The Sea by Zadar) Ilona Legeza’s Literary website [4]
• Zsuzsa Kapecz: Láng Olivér tündöklése és bukása (Oliver Láng High and Low) Élet és Irodalom 2007 [5]
• Tünde Fodor: Hétköznapok töredékei (Bits and Pieces of Everyday Life) Spanyolnátha 2007 [6]
• Gábor Kálmán: Amikor a háziasszony verset ír (When the Housewife Writes Poetry) Könyvesblog 2007 [7]
• BARBARA TRABER: Elegie am Nachmittag (Badener Tagblatt, Samstag, 29 October 1994)

External links

• Ágnes Rapai's homepage
• Ágnes Rapai's homepage
• Ágnes Rapai's blog in literary portal Litera
• Ágnes Rapai's blog in cultural magazineTerasz
• interview with Ágnes Rapai
• Readme.cc (book tips)
• [8] in SpanishFlue art webroom
• Ágnes Rapai (4. Frauenfelder Lyriktage 1997 - Autorinnen und Autoren)
• Agnes Rapai (Orte Verlag & Schweizer Literturzeitschrift
• http://www.frankfurt.matav.hu/nemet/
• http://www.mozgovilag.hu/2005/08/09vers2.htm