Zoltan Danyi takes up Graz city writer post

Writer Zoltan Danyi has officially taken up the post of Graz city writer after being presented at the city’s Literaturhaus, a literary centre, ORF reported. He belongs to the Hungarian minority in Serbia and writes while also growing roses.

Danyi, who began as a poet, has published two novels in recent years that have won several awards. The jury’s choice was clear, juror Silvana Cimenti said, describing his writing as powerful both in its themes and style, and saying it holds readers’ attention.

In “The Carcass Cleaner”, Danyi writes about the Balkan conflict, a subject he had long avoided until physical symptoms forced him to confront it. He said he suffered headaches, a racing heart and panic attacks because he was trying to hide something that was there. Writing about the war changed his style, he said, and helped him find his own literary voice.

He also explores the trauma of the Yugoslav wars in “Rose Novel”, saying the books address not only his own experience but also that of society. Danyi is a rose grower, and in “From the Gardener’s Diary” he brings beauty and brutality together in short pieces.

Danyi will work for a year at the Cerrini-Schlössl, which is part of the former fortress on Schlossberg. He said he sees himself as a defender of literature, adding that its forms, rather than its content, should be protected from lies.