Rafi Lajos Stockholmban
Lajos Rafi in Stockholm

Summary/Abstract: This autobiographical essay reconstructs the circumstances of the Hungarian Roma poet Lajos Rafi’s visit to Stockholm in 2012. The journey grew out of the Swedish translation of Rafi’s volume Földhöz vert csoda, prepared by Ove Berglund with the assistance of Tamás Gergely, Éva Gergely, and a broader network of editors, translators, and literary mediators. The text reflects on the practical and linguistic difficulties of translating Rafi’s distinctive Hungarian and Romani poetry into Swedish, while also recounting his friendship with the Swedish poet and tinsmith Gunnar Svensson. Through episodes from Rafi’s arrival, public readings, library appearances, museum visits, and encounters with Swedish cultural life, the essay presents him as a curious, self-assured, and intensely observant poet. Written after Rafi’s early death, the account also preserves the memory of an important moment of intercultural recognition and literary solidarity.

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