George Szirtes, poet and artist, came to England as a refugee at the age of eight, following the Hungarian Uprising in 1956.  His family settled in London and he trained as a painter in Leeds and London. His first book, The Slant Door, was published in 1979, and went on to win the Faber Memorial prize. Szirtes became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982. His return visits to Hungary from 1984 onwards have resulted in a stream of translations into English. Szirtes now lives in Norfolk where together with his wife, the painter Clarissa Upchurch, he ran the Starwheel Press. In the autumn of 2007 he was appointed Reader in Creative Writing at UEA. His latest poetry collection, Reel (2004), was awarded the 2004 T. S. Eliot Prize. His translation of Sándor Márai’s novel, The Rebels, was published in 2007 and his Collected and New Poems are shortly forthcoming.

More information:

Szirtes' official website.

Interview with Radio 3.