Congregation Emanu-El Adult Education Committee is pleased to present a talk Innocence Stolen: Hungary, the Shoah and the Revolution of ’56 at the synagogue, 1461 Blanshard Street, Victoria, BC V8W 2J3 on Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 pm by Endre Farkas, author of Never, Again, a story set in post-war Communist Hungary. Farkas, the son of Holocaust survivors who escaped with his parents during the 1956 Hungarian uprising and settled in Montreal, is a poet, playwright and novelist. He recently visited Hungary and will speak about what has and what has not changed since the revolution. Admission is by donation.
The main character in Never, Again is a seven year old boy, who has his innocence stolen by the ugliness of the underbelly of the Hungarian revolution that turns anti-Semitic. There is a parallel with the loss of youth endured by his parents who end up in concentration camps at the ages of 18 and 21. Farkas will base his talk around this theme, Innocence Stolen, and read a couple of short excerpts from his book Never, Again and a sampling from his book of poems Surviving Words which deal with the same theme. If time permits, he will talk a little about his last visit to Hungary, and what has and what has not changed since the revolution.
Estival
The son of Holocaust survivors, Endre Farkas was born in Hajdunánás, Hungary. He escaped with his parents during the 1956 Hungarian uprising and settled in Montreal. A poet, playwright and now novelist, Farkas has published nine books of poetry — including Murders in the Welcome Café, Romantic at Heart & Other Faults, How To, and Quotidian Fever, New and Selected Poems, and has had two plays produced — Haunted House, which is based on the life and work of the poet A.M. Klein, and Surviving Wor(l)ds, an adaptation of his book of poems Surviving Words. He collaborated with poet Carolyn Marie Souaid on the video poem Blood is Blood, which won first prize at The Berlin International Poetry Film Festival in 2012. Farkas has given readings throughout Canada, USA, Europe and Latin America. He is also the two-time regional winner of the CBC Poetry Face-Off competition. His poems have been translated into French, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Slovenian and Turkish.
