This quarter-century opened with Janos Kadar exercising a third decade of political power, in the wake of the Soviet invasion of 1956.Hungary, however, was instrumental in the changes of 1989, initiating free elections. The transition to democracy was peaceful. A number of Hungarian poets included in this volume are already known to Anglophone poetry-lovers, Gyula Illyes, Otto Orban, Gyorgy Petri and Sandor Weores among them.

Poets: Istvan Baka, Zsofia Balla, Laszlo Benjamin, Gyozo Csorba, Gyorgy Faludy, Gyozo Ferencz, Agnes Gergely, Gyula Illyes, Laszlo Kalnoky, Istvan Kemeny, Endre Kukorelly, Laszlo Lator, Agnes Nemes Nagy, Otto Orban, Gyorgy Petri, Sandor Rakos, Zsuzsa Rakovszky, Zsuzsa Takacs, Dezso Tandori, Janos Terey, Krisztina Toth, Istvan Turczi, Szabolcs Varady, Istvan Vas, Sandor Weores. Translators: Edwin Morgan, Christopher Whyte, Tom Hubbard and Ron Butlin.

Hungarian Original is the first in a series of bilingual poetry anthologies featuring twenty-five poems, one for each year from 1978-2002, from a particular European country. Poems feature in the original language and in new translations commissioned from Scottish poets. An introduction by the editors and biographical and bibliographical information are also included.