Panel Literature Association

23/12/2025

We wish you all happy winter days filled with joy, laugh, love, good books and creativity.
See you next year at our events and elsewhere!

Yours,
Panel team

05/12/2025

This year we literally took our books everywhere — in tote bags, on trains, to cafés, on trips. We read them, gifted them, talked about them with so many people… and honestly, both of our collections have been the best little companions.

They have become our go-to picks for memorable gifts and cozy reading moments. And we are sure that anyone would love getting one of these books as a gift for the winter holidays. ❄️📚✨

Grab "Narratives" and "If We're Talking Budapest" separately or - only in our online shop - as a gift pack! 🎁💕

02/12/2025

Traditional, annual meeting of our association gave a lovely start to a Christmas season.
This year has been relatively quite in terms of formal achievements (yet busy!) for our group, but we are cooking something new and, probably, exciting for the upcoming year!
Not only we are releasing the in Spring, but we will come with quite a bunch of new activities and projects.
Stay tuned:)
And - to happy cozy December evenings, everyone! Just like the one we had yesterday.

19/11/2025

Congratulations to Noémi Saly on being awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Budapest!

Noémi is a journalist, a local historian, a writer and an expert on Budapest’s past and present. Noémi was born and raised in a family that’s been rooted in Budapest for its last six generations.

We were very lucky to meet and talk with Noèmi Saly for the "Narratives of Budapest". She is one of those true keepers of the city, a careful researcher and an amazing storyteller.

17/11/2025

Happy Birthday, Budapest!

Today is the birthday of the city that brought us together — the city that continues to inspire writers, artists, readers, and, of course, our team. Day by day, we keep writing our love letter to Budapest as we explore its cultural scene, its stories, its people, and its memories.
At Panel, we’re proud to honor this spirit through our publications.

If We’re Talking Budapest — an anthology of short stories inspired by and set in Budapest.
Narratives of Budapest — a non-fiction collection that goes beyond postcards and landmarks, introducing readers to some of the city’s most remarkable people.

As Budapest marks another year, we continue our mission to share the stories that make this city truly unique.
Here’s to Budapest — its past, its present, and all the new events, publications, and encounters still to come. Voices to be heard.
— Panel team

Illustration - Maria Gyarmati

10/11/2025

David Szalay has won the Booker prize!
Congratulations!! 🎉 We are proud to know him and we admire his work!

06/11/2025

The winner of the 2025 Booker Prize will be announced on Monday in London.
One of the shortlisted authors – our long-time friend David Szalay – is competing with his thought-provoking and captivating novel "Flesh", partly set in Hungary.

We published our first interview with David in 2020, in Issue 4 of "Panel", when our magazine, and its team members, were young(er) and daring. We reached out to David – already a very successful writer at the time – with a request for an interview. He quickly, and kindly, agreed.
We’ve stayed in touch since then, and our upcoming book, "Narratives of Hungary", will feature a new conversation with Szalay – about his work on "Flesh", his relationship with different countries, and his hometown of Pécs, here in Hungary.

We wish David Szalay the best of luck on Monday – he absolutely deserves the Booker.
We at "Panel" are rooting for you, David!

Issue 4 of "Panel", featuring our interview with David Szalay, can be downloaded for free from our online store.

Photos

31/10/2025

Only few copies of "If We're Talking Budapest" left in our stock!
Order online or look for a copy in the retail (the list of them is on the website).
Thank you for reading these stories - apparently, they know their way to readers' hearts :)

23/09/2025

Manager of Panel Literature Association Masha Kamenetskaya talked about writing, Budapest and our projects on the Expat show on Tilos radio.
Thanks so much for the opportunity!
(Just click on the icon and there'll be a "play" button to hit).

The direct link to the show in the first comment.

A Tilos Rádió egy budapesti nonprofit rádió. A műsorkészítők a legkülönbözőbb polgári foglalkozásúak, talán éppen újságíróból és médiaszakemberből van köztük a legkevesebb.

04/09/2025

The books have arrived!

The third print run of the "If We're Talking Budapest" collection is out!

The book features fifteen stories:
✍🏻“A Season in Budapest,” Rita Horanyi
💢“Pest miniature,” Nikola Tutek
✍🏻“Varga’s Run,” László Garaczi (translated by lldikó Nagy)
💢“Campaign Promise,” Paul Olchváry
✍🏻“If We're Talking Budapest,” Timea Pénzes (translated by Anna Bentley)
💢“The Butterfly Court,” Claudia Leporatti
✍🏻“Lime Powder Everywhere,” Gabi Csutak (translated by Anna Bentley)
💢“Wounded,” Ramon Martensen
✍🏻“Mr. Szakacs,” István Orosz (translated by Anna Bentley)
💢“Two Wives,” Masha Kamenetskaya
✍🏻“Gutenberg Square, Summer of 2009”, Emma Rault
💢“Szent István Park,” Zsofia Ban (translated by Jim Tucker)
✍🏻“Zoo,” Mark Blayney
💢“Two Meters Apart,” Jennifer Walker
✍🏻“Girlkiss,” Ildikó Nagy

"If We're Talking Budapest" collection is a part of a multimedia project under the same name that we put together several years ago. The project allso included an interactive literary map of Budapest and short films, based on the stories from the anthology. Both are still available to watch and explore on our website and YouTube channel.

We've put a lot of love into this book and we're incredibly happy that it has such a long life.

Preorders will be shipped tomorrow.
The book is now available for order via our website, and starting next week - in the independent bookstores around the city.

19/08/2025

📚✨ Great news! ✨📚

Many of you have been asking if we’d print more copies of "If We’re Talking Budapest" — and we finally can say: "Yes, we will!"

We’re thrilled to announce the third edition of this wonderful short story collection, inspired by Budapest. After two successful print runs (both completely sold out!), the book is now back at the printer.

"If We’re Talking Budapest", our first big publishing project, is more than just a book.
It’s a unique literary initiative that also includes:
🎥 A series of short films
🗺️ An interactive literary map
🌍 Stories from both Hungarian and international writers

You can explore these on our website and YouTube channel (links in the comments).

📦 You can pre-order your copy now!
The new edition will arrive in just a couple of weeks.
💙

22/07/2025

NEW BOOK IS COMING SOON!

As some of you might know, our team and our amazing contributors have been working hard on the sequel to Narratives of Budapest, with the working title “Narratives of Hungary”.

This new collection continues our journey—this time, beyond the capital. We've heard unique stories, met remarkable individuals, and explored hidden corners of the country.

We set out in search of distinctive stories, places, and cultural traditions—with the aim of “translating” them into English.

Our goal – to hear different voices and to make them co-exist under one cover – has become the main complication of this huge project.
However, the book is shaping up and we are ready to share a few details!

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS OF THE NEW “NARRATIVES''?
*Healers and witches
*Naturists
*Foresters
*Road travelers
*Paprika producers
*Naughty busós
*Singers of Magyar Nóta
*The Angel Makers of Nagyrév
*Poets, writers, artists and cultural workers living outside Budapest—such as Dávid Szalay, Gábor Gyukics, the Barabás siblings, Orsolya Karafiáth...
*And many others.

WHAT ARE THE STORIES ABOUT?
*Childhood memories
*Forgotten monuments
*Artistic colonies
*Little museums
*Old cemeteries
*Abandoned industrial buildings
*Labyrinths and dungeons
*Woods and beaches
*And so much more.

Our journey has taken us from Veszprém to Balaton, from Győr to Mohács, from Pécs to tiny villages.

We are nose-deep in the editing process now -- excited, frustrated, the whole rollercoaster.
We hope to release the collection before the end of this year.

Follow our social media for the updates! We'll tell more soon.