Péter Kuczka
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Péter Kuczka (Székesfehérvár, Hungary, March 1, 1923 – Budapest, Hungary, December 8, 1999) was a Hungarian writer, poet and science fiction editor.
After finishing high school, Kuczka studied at the University of Economy in Hungary while working several jobs. He started writing after the end of the World War II and from 1940 was influential in Hungarian literature circles.
Kuczka's poetry was first printed in 1949 but after 1956 he was not allowed to publish his poetry due to his political views and local political changes. He got national prizes for his early literature in 1950 (József Attila prize) and 1954 (Kossuth Prize).
He was the editor of the Kozmosz Fantasztikus Könyvek (Cosmos Fantastic Books) series, whose books were the first science fiction books in Hungary.
He was the founder and editor of Galaktika, the third largest science fiction anthology in the world, which had a definitive influence on the evolution of Hungarian science fiction literature.
He was the editor of the publisher Móra Ferenc könyvkiadó from 1976. Móra Ferenc könyvkiadó is a high-quality publisher that has helped the literary education of Hungarian children.
Criticism
After WWII, Kuczka became the number-one speaking-tube of the communist Rákosi system, as he put it, on a voluntary basis. After dozens of Stalin and party eulogies, he won Kossuth Prize in 1954. Later, after the 1956 revolution he found better to revise his former sectarian doctrines to gain some public awareness.
Science fiction writer István Nemere described Kuczka as being the state-installed overlord of Hungarian science fiction during the Kádár-era, and that writers who were not sympathetic to him could simply not get their works in print. Nemere accused him of setting throwbacks to his career in the early 1980s.[1]
Translator and current Galaktika editor Attila Németh told that Kuczka hated the Star Trek franchise (apparently without a reason), and that's why it was almost completely neclected in Hungary during the Socialist era. Németh, a Star Trek fan later translated Trek novels to Hungarian, and also served as translator and consultant on the Hungarian dubbed version of the Star Trek series and movies.[2]
