Sunday, February 16, 2014

Eva Fejos: I Am A Dreamer and I Never Give Up


My childhood dream was to write stories, novels. I re-wrote the end of a short story at age 7, and it was a very special, uplifting feeling. I started writing novels when I was a teenager, however I was often stuck due to my lack of experience. I was able to finish my first book at age 18. My parents didn’t believe in my dreams, but despite this, they supported me. I was dreaming about writing novels and traveling. With my second novel, I won a novel competition, and I got a contract from a publishing house to publish my book. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt. I was disappointed, but accepted this situation, and began writing only for my own joy, without an intention to send any of my manuscripts to a new publisher. Writing has always made me feel happy. I shared my stories only with my friends, until I managed to write a novel, which I felt was good enough to be sent to a publisher again. I sent Till Death Do Us Part to a publishing company in 1999. The novel was published immediately, however printed in limited copies (around 3,000 only). I was working as a journalist that time, and thus very happy about my first success as a writer, but not completely satisfied. I felt this book should have reached more readers. When I finished Bangkok Transit (in 2007), I felt that I was ready for the big challenge. So I sent that manuscript to a well-known publishing company in Budapest. It didn’t take too long until it became a big bestseller in our small country. I was very happy. The novel sold more than 100,000 copies, and is still selling. This was followed by 12 more novels, which helped me to become a well-known author in Hungary. Last year brought me another challenge. Writing is my life, but I also like reading, and everything that’s connected to books. So, I decided to bring some of my favourite foreign titles to Hungarian readers. These are the books that I find amusing and entertaining, which help me unwind from my everyday tasks. These books are published now in Hungarian by my publishing house. It’s called ‘Erawan,’ named after the Thai elephant god. Of course, my own books are also published by my own company now. I was happy to re-publish my first novel (Till Death Do Us Part), and even happier that now, after more than a decade it’s started fulfilling its ‘destiny,’ and after the initial small success of this book, now it has reached a very wide audience with a new, symbolic title: Starting Now. As I am a dreamer, and I feel I will never stop dreaming, I have arranged the translation of some of my best books, and now I would like to bring them to English-speaking readers. And I hope they will like them as much as the Hungarian readers. Bangkok Transit is already available in English, and I’m waiting for the reviews with excitement.

Add Bangkok Transit to your Goodreads shelf! Follow along with the Bangkok Transit Tour via Fictionella! Connect with Eva at fejoseva.com!





No comments: