Szilárd Rubin (1927–2010)

Szilárd Rubin was born in Budapest, Hungary. In 1937, when he was 10 years old, his mother died of tuberculosis, and he was raised by his maternal great-grandmother in Mohács. His father József Rubin, an accountant, was Jewish, and disappeared as a forced laborer at the beginning of 1945, near the end of World War II. Szilárd graduated from high school in Pécs, where he became friends with Pongrác Galsai. Between 1945 and 1947, he studied at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, majoring in English and Hungarian. Immediately after the war, he started publishing poetry in Hungarian magazines. In the 1950s, he began to write prose. He published film reviews and articles in Filmvilág and Filmkultúra in the 1960s and later wrote the screenplays for three films. He worked as a proofreader, and became an editor at the publishing house Interpress Kiadó. From the 1980s, he was constantly ill and spent much time in hospital. Rubin's five novels earned him a late in life, but worldwide recognition.