Announcements/Other programmes, etc.

24 November 2009 - Book Launch of the latest volume of Oktoberi Tukor (excuse the lack of Hungarian diacritics) venue: Hungarian Cultural Centre, 10 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. To the uninitiated: this is a yearbook published by the National Federation of Hungarians in Great Britain, in the Hungarian language. The book can either be purchased at the event (£10) or ordered from (£12.50 incl p&p): Oktoberi Tukor 36 College Road Wembley, Middlesex HA9 8RJ *** Magda Czigány's book entitled Just Like Other Students is out now in English. She came to England after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 as a refugee student, wishing to continue her studies as soon as possible. She was one of over 300 Hungarian students who eventually successfully finished their studies at British universities, at least to first degree level. Her book is a useful sociological study for anyone committed to explore the entire field of the motivation, aims and dreams, as well as practical and emotional difficulties of the roughly 200 000 Hungarians who left their country in the wake of the Soviet suppression of the uprising. But it is also a successful amalgamation of her personal narrative and the anecdotal and statistical evidence describing both the welcome extended to, and the challenges met by, the students who arrived in England with little or no English, little or no preparation for life in a foreign country, often burdened by loneliness, worry about friends and relatives at home, and about their own and their country’s future. Probably the two main conclusions to be drawn from this survey are that British academe, and the society it reflected, showed themselves at their best: charitable, with a tremendous organistional ability which demands little the State, and capable to feel deeply for the misfortune of a foreign nation in the midst of Britain’s own profound political and moral crisis over Suez, and that regardless of all the goodwill and material help, the newly arrived students had to overcome gigantic difficulties before they left higher education with fully earned degrees and, in some cases, exceptional distinction. Hardback £40; paperback £20. It can be found at Waterstones, Blackwells, Amazon or, alternatively you can order it through the Hungarian Book Agency, PO Box 1956, Durham DH1 2GA or at info@hungarian-books.co.uk