ÉVA JANIKOVSZKY

Contributions to culture and science

 While still a liberal arts student, she took up a ministerial post: she started working in the Ministry of Religion and Public Education in 1950, first in the Department of Education, then in the Department of Science, and finally in the Textbook Department until 1953. In 1952, she was appointed to a confidential post as a subordinate of Minister József Darvas. In October 1952, she married Dr. Béla Janikovszky, a high-ranking officer of the ÁVH, who she had known as a communist activist while still a student at Szeged University. In 1949, as an ÁVH officer, he was one of the leaders of the interrogations and torture in the Rajk trial, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy trials against György Pálffy and his associates and László Sólyom and his associates.

Between 1953 and 1957 and between 1964 and 1987 she was editor and later editor-in-chief of the Youth (later Móra) Book Publishing House. In the meantime, she was also editor of Minerva Publishing House in 1981-82. She retired in 1987, but continued to work for Móra Ferenc Publishing as a member of the board of directors. Since 1999 her writings have also appeared in the weekly magazine Hölgyvilág.

From 1978, its foundation, until 1995, she was chairman of the Hungarian committee of the International Children’s Book Council (IBBY). From 1991 she was chairman of the board of trustees of the Staféta Foundation (for the education of disadvantaged children), from 1996 she was chairman of the Children’s Literature Section of the Writers’ Union.

From the 1950s she has lived in Bajza Street. She died on 14 July 2003 in Budapest.

Short biography

 Éva Kucses was born as Etelka Nanetta to Pál Kucses, a technical trader, and Júlia Lili Bartos. She later changed her name to Kispál. Her Szeged birthplace is located at 19 Bolyai utca, where a memorial plaque is now placed on the wall. Her maternal grandfather, Lipót Bartos, was a book and paper merchant in Szeged. She completed her secondary school education at the St. Elisabeth of the House of Árpád Girls’ High School of the Hungarian Royal State in Szeged. Between 1944 and 1948 she continued her studies at the University of Szeged, studying philosophy, ethnography, Hungarian and German.
This was complemented by courses in philosophy, psychology and political economy at the Eötvös Loránd University between 1948 and 1950. In 1950 she obtained a teaching degree. As a student, she participated in left-wing demonstrations and was among the university organisers of the communist movement in Szeged. Her first volume was published in 1957, which he signed as Kispál Éva. The book was followed by 32 others, published in 35 languages. Their theme is the adult-child relationship, with its specific everyday experiences and conflicts. She has written film scripts, worked for weekly newspapers and magazines, and appeared frequently on television and radio. Several of her books have been made into cartoons and several of her children’s television plays have been broadcast.

In 1960, the name Éva Janikovszky first appeared on her novel Szalmaláng. By the end of the decade, she was known nationwide.

Interesting facts

Awards:

• 1973 Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis: in German-speaking area her novel, Ha én felnőtt volnék, was Child’s Book of the Year
• 1977 József Attila Award
• 1979 Youth’s Prize
• 1979 National Youth’s Prize
• 1985 SZOT Prize
• 1986 For the Children Award
• 1988 Order of Smile Knight (Poland)
• 1990 Greve Award
• 1993 For Budapest Prize
• 1994 Children’s Literature Proze of the National Association of Hungarian Authors
• 1996 Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
• 2001 Móra Award
• 2002 Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
• 2002 Szent Imre Award
• 2003 Kossuth Award