Renowned writer and playwright András Forgách to attend an event in Bucharest

Next week, Wednesday, September 8, starting with 19.00, literature lovers have the chance to meet András Forgách – writer, playwright, translator – at the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center in Bucharest (8 Gina Patrichi Street) , considered one of the most influential figures of the Hungarian cultural world today.

On this occasion, the launch of the Romanian edition of the novel The Acts of My Mother will take place, a book-event that reopened the debates about the role of the police state in Hungary, and the opening of the exhibition inspired by the story in the book, a project signed by the author’s brother, artist visual Péter Forgács.

Along with the author, Iulia Popovici – critic of the performing arts and curator, secretary of state within the Ministry of Culture – and the writer Bogdan-Alexandru Stănescu – coordinator of the ANANSI collection. World Fiction will also take part in the event on the evening of September 8th ; the moderator of the dialogue: the writer and cultural journalist Alina Purcaru.

In March 2014, András Forgách and his brother, Péter Forgács, faced a unique reality in their mother’s life, regarding some secret meetings and trips abroad from 1975-1985. This confrontation generated a shocking document, namely the book entitled The Acts of My Mother by András Forgách, and the equally disturbing exhibition by Péter Forgács.

András Forgách’s volume saw the light of day for the first time in 2015, the next editions being enriched with new chapters that complete the family story with new mosaic events. The Acts of My Mother, a powerful story in which family and politics clash during the collapse of the Hungarian communist regime, a love letter that is both dark and tender to a mother victim of history.

The Romanian edition of the book, published in the spring of this year, is based on the latest Hungarian version of the book and is signed by the writer Andrei Dósa.

András Forgách’s novel presenting the portrait of his mother is an integral part of the exhibition signed by his brother, Péter Forgács, whose working method is the processing of the private archive. In this exhibition, the artist worked with his own memories: he processed the archive that reveals the story of a family, in the center of which is the figure of the mother. Péter Forgács’s installation together with András Forgách’s novel is a chronology of a decade, which shows, through the reorganization of the private archive, the way in which the authoritarian practices of Kádár’s time defined everyday life.

The exhibition will be open until September 24, 2021.

The event will take place in compliance with all health protection measures in the current context.